Update: This bill failed to pass before the end of the 113th Congress.
Bill Description:
This bill amends the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 (AECA).[teaserbreak]
It clarifies what ivory can be imported/exported under the AECA and Endangered Species Act (ESA):
• Ivory that was legal to import on February 24, 2014, regardless of when it was acquired
• Worked ivory that was previously lawfully possessed in the U.S.
• Ivory for a museum
It gives the Secretary of the Interior authority to station one Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) law enforcement official in each African country with a significant elephant population, to assist local rangers in apprehending poachers.
It instructs the Secretary to report to the President when a country is found to be a significant transit or destination point for illegal ivory. This then enables the President to use the Pelly Amendment (to the Fishermen’s Protective Act) to impose sanction on nations that do not make adequate efforts to crack down on wildlife trafficking.
It specifies what ivory can be possessed, sold, delivered, received, shipped, or transported within the U.S.:
• Any ivory that has been lawfully imported or crafted in the U.S.
It clarifies that the AECA or ESA shall not be construed as authorizing any means of determining whether ivory has been lawfully imported, including any presumption or burden of proof applied in such determination, other than means used by the Secretary as of February 24, 2014. This places the burden of determining which ivory is and is not legal on the FWS.
It clarifies that the AECA or ESA shall not be construed as prohibiting anyone from importing a sport-hunted African elephant trophy, as long as the country has elephants that are listed on Appendix II of CITES. Trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Tanzania are currently prohibited, and this would end that prohibition for Zimbabwean elephants, which are listed on Appendix II.
In providing financial assistance under the AECA, the Secretary must give priority to projects designed to supply equipment and training to wildlife officials in ivory-producing countries, to be used in anti-poaching efforts.
Background:
This bill was introduced as part of a tide of legislation and regulations seeking to address the elephant poaching crisis. It is, in part, a piece of the broader attack on the new FWS rules, which some say will unfairly restrict the rights of those who legally own ivory in the U.S. Read more about the FWS rules here — including how they do not inhibit anyone’s right to continue owning their ivory items.
The new FWS rules were born out of the President’s National Strategy For Combating Wildlife Trafficking (February, 2014). This ground-breaking document finally gave the appropriate weight and urgency to government’s responsibility to address the elephant poaching crisis, and mandated the necessary scope of actions to deal with it. If these new regulations are now weakened by bills like this, that seek to maintain or widen the loopholes in importing and selling ivory, we are simply moving back to square one, and elephants are not receiving the international support they require. All ivory trade increases the demand for ivory and encourages poaching, particularly because it is so difficult to tell old ivory apart from new ivory. Exemptions for certain ivory pieces allow for the exploitation of these exemptions, and inevitably serve as a loophole for illegally trafficked ivory.
Read more about devastating poaching crisis here.
Read the full text and follow the progress here.