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Buy Responsibly: The Consumer Connection
Over the last century, threats to the planet's wildlife have grown
exponentially — despoiled and diminished habitat, decreasing
food supplies, pressures from a growing and sometimes warring human
population. Increasingly, however, conservationists are discovering
that the most insidious threat to the world's wildlife is posed
by the consumer.
Every year, thousands of elephants are slaughtered to satisfy the
illegal market for ivory products for bracelets, necklaces, ornaments
and piano keys. A host of animals, birds, reptiles and marine creatures,
many of them near extinction, routinely meet the same fate.
Lizards and snakes are killed for watch bands, belts and boots.
Turtles are butchered to satisfy demand for tortoiseshell combs,
ornaments and medicinal products. Walruses are killed — sometimes
legally and humanely, sometimes not — for their ivory, used
in carvings and jewelry.
Whales of every variety are hunted for their meat, served as a delicacy
in restaurants, as well as their teeth and bone, fashioned into
netsuke and other decorative objects. Birds are captured, robbed
of their plumage and left to die. Their feathers turn up in earrings,
decorative masks and ceremonial objects.
Still other creatures are deprived of the environment they need
to survive when crucial components of their habitat — coral,
for example — are harvested and made into rings, bracelets
and baubles.
Internationally, the illegal traffic in wildlife and wildlife products
has grown into a multibillion-dollar business, often run by organized
crime. Interpol, the international police organization, reports
that wildlife trafficking has surpassed arms smuggling and trails
only drug smuggling as the largest form of “black-market commerce.”
The buyer's responsibility — what you can
do
The United States is the world's largest consumer of wildlife and
wildlife products. Many stores stock products incorporating illegally
obtained animal byproducts. Don't let your store be among them.
Stocking these products stokes the demand for them.
Through its Ethics
Policies on Endangered Natural Heritage, MSA urges members to
abide by laws governing the sale of products made from wildlife.
We call it buying responsibly.
Buying responsibly is not always easy. The laws involve hundreds
of species all over the world. Plus, the sheer number of objects
incorporating illegally obtained wildlife products is staggering.
It's often difficult to distinguish those products from products
that are legal. It takes a cultivated eye and a commitment to vigilance
to make the right buying decisions. Here's how you can help.
- Be wary of products incorporating feathers, hair, teeth, skin
or bone. Used extensively in ethnic arts and crafts, these often
are obtained in violation of international laws and treaties.
- Question the origins of any products incorporating lizard, snake
and crocodile skins. Though some products are made from farm-raised
reptiles, many use skins from protected species.
- Ask suppliers of suspect merchandise to document the origins
of questionable materials. Ask also for appropriate permits. For
example, permits are required for the sale of handicrafts incorporating
walrus ivory. And, anyone importing animal products must file
Form 3-177, “Declaration for Importation or Exportation
of Fish or Wildlife,” with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS).
- Familiarize yourself with all applicable local, state or provincial
and federal laws.
- When you have doubts about a product or supplier, call your
local agents of the USFWS.
- If you're unable to determine the origins of any suspect product,
heed the advice of the USFWS's Division of Law Enforcement: When
in doubt, don't buy!
For more information
If you'd like to know more about the efforts under way to protect
endangered wildlife, contact
MSA for a list of involved organizations.
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