“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is looking for a little harmony over rules used to enforce a ban on ivory,” reports an Associated Press article on Friday (5/1). “Craig Hoover, chief of the wildlife trade and conservation branch in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s division of management authority and international affairs, said this week that the ivory ban will remain in place but the new rule will make accommodations for things like musical instruments. ‘The criteria caused some concern,’ Hoover said. ‘We met with the League of American Orchestras and based on those concerns, we made some changes.’ Hoover said he couldn’t provide specifics of the rule changes because they’re still making their way through other government agencies that will need to weigh in.… ‘Our goal is to harmonize our regulations across these various pieces of ivory restrictions,’ he said. Musicians will still require a certificate showing the ivory in their instrument was harvested before 1976 but Hoover said the agency will propose specific ways to allow certain activities to continue.”
Posted May 4, 2015
