The Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a final rule that, effective May 1, will increase protections for imported elephants by:
- imposing Endangered Species Act enhancement permit requirements for international trade in live elephants;
- establishing specific enhancement requirements for imports of wild-sourced elephants;
- instituting requirements to ensure that all proposed recipients of live African elephants are suitably equipped to house and care for them;
- clarifying the existing enhancement requirement during FWS evaluation of an application for a permit to import African elephant sport-hunted trophies; and
- limiting imports of live African elephants, African elephant sport-hunted trophies, and
African elephant parts and products (other than ivory) to countries that have enacted national legislation to effectively implement the basic requirements of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and are designed to ensure species conservation.
The FWS states that this rule does not affect the regulations pertaining to imports of African elephant ivory, imports and exports of which are generally prohibited.
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