US Fish and Wildlife Service Creates Ivory Repository
February 18, 16
(IDEX Online News) – The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has announced the creation of a repository for donations of legally-owned ivory products.
The facility, based at the USFWS’s Office of Law Enforcement’s National Wildlife Repository in Commerce City, Colorado, has responded to a demand from ivory owners, who wish to safely and legally dispose of items made from the material and reduce the overall ivory market.
Permitted donations include antique ivory items, which currently be sold with some restrictions, as well as non-antique pieces, which are now prohibited from commercial trade by state or federal law.
The collected items will be used to educate the public about the ivory trade and wildlife conservation, but will not be returned to the market for sale.