Quest Outdoors

Les · Par Joined: 09 Mar 2004 Posts: 39 Location: Novi, MI

A question I've had for quite some time....

Does anyone know the laws regarding possesion of exotic bird feathers, protected species, etc if they were purchased legally at the time? I would assume resale is definitely out of the question.

BrianD · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:29 pm Post subject: Exotic Materials and the Law

Hey Les,
great question and a rather complicated answer. I'll do my best here, but keep in mind I'm not a legal expert, just an avid fly tier!

International
International trade of many exotic species is protected/governed by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). It is an international agreement designed to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Basically, it limits and regulates the trade of exotics between countries. In practical terms, it means you need a permit to export materials from any animal protected by CITES. Jungle . comes to mind as a CITES protected species, since it natively comes from India (although most is bred in England now). Technically, just mailing a fly with Jungle . cheeks from the US to Canada requires a permit. Practically, I'd only be concerned with quantities of partial capes or larger.
More information can be found on the CITES website.

In the U.S.
In the US, use of exotics is governed by a handful of federal laws. Chief among them is the MMPA, the ESA, and the MBTA.

MMPA
The Marine Mammal Protection Act does pretty much what it says, and has all but eliminated the take and trade of any US marine mamal. For the fly tier, this boils down to polar bear and seal. The important part is that it's illegal to sell or posess materials from marine animals without a federal permit (which is generally only granted for research purposes). Species collected prior to the permit (1972) are grandfathered. Basically, if you come across polar bear in the States it's either illegal or yellowed and split from somebodies old rug. In either case, it's ungodly expensive. Angora goat can make a decent substitue for seal, and some synthetics get close to polar bear. If you live in Canada, polar bear and seal is both readily available and reasonably priced. Remember that importing it to the States is illegal though.
NOAA makes the complete MMPA available online.

ESA
The Endangered Species Act is the one you most often hear about in the news. It's the act that created the Endangered Species List and Treatened Species List. Again, it's illegal to sell, trade, or even posess materials from an endagered or threatened species without a permit. Collections taken prior to listing on the ESA is grandfathered. Since the list is constantly updated, the year varies. You can find the year a species was listed on the Fish and Wildlife website, and anything prior to the acts enactment in 1973 is fine.
See the complete ESA and endangered species list for more.

Raptors and Songbirds
Raptors, songbirds, and virtually all migratory bird species are protected under the MBTA (Migratory Bird Treaty Act) enacted in 1918. This covers just about any domestic feather you can think of, but eagles, hawks, herons, owls, cranes, ducks, and all songbirds (like jays) comes to mind in fly tying. Once again it's illegal to sell, trade, or posess any migratory bird without a permit. The one big exception is birds taken legally with a hunting permit. In a nut shell, pheasants, ducks, etc... are fine, while eagles, heron, songbirds, etc... are strictly off limits. Since the law was enacted in 1918, it's unlikely to find materials that qualify for the grandfather provision. Also, this act was adopted by Canada around 1916, so at least it's spirit affects Canadian tiers although I'm unsure about the exact wording or enforcement. The treaty was later extended to Mexico, Japan, and the former Soviet Union.
A list of protected migratory birds is available from the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Buying Materials and Enforcement
In very practical terms, I believe that it's OK to purchase SOME materials from licensed aviaries/bird farms but do not take this as gospel. In any case, assume it's illegal to transport or ship materials to another country. In almost every case, non-protected species are available as very good substitues for most materials (like blue-eared or white-eared pheasant for heron), although generally via small aviaries and quality and price can very widely. Bottom line, be careful before you buy any of these types of materials.

On the enforcement front, I've never heard of a US fly tier getting "busted" for illegal materials. Last summer however, an Ann Arbor artist was arrested by FWS for selling art that contained songbird feathers collected from her back yard! By my reconing, selling or shipping materials could get you in trouble, while posessing very small quanities for personal fly tying is likely to go unnoticed. Not that I have any reason to even think about this! Laughing

Sorry for the information overload! Hope this helps.

Best,

Brian

Chromebuck · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 8:15 am Post subject:

Great question Les, and the level of response that brings me back to this board.

Thanks!

~CB

fish2much · Lunker Joined: 06 Mar 2004 Posts: 285 Location: Monroe, MI

Wow Monkey! I didn't know you had it in ya. Shocked

That answer reminds me of a movie with Dustin Hoffman... gotta go to Kmart, need some jungle ., ya gotta go to Kmart, Kmart.
Laughing

Just kidding, great info.

I'm afraid to tie now. My bb gun has procured many fine tying materials!

Dredge · Fry Joined: 12 Mar 2004 Posts: 26 Location: Chicago

'm afraid to tie now. My bb gun has procured many fine tying materials!

Haha that was funny! If you only knew what others do or have done. Sometimes the best way to get something through customs is to make it visible to all!

Dredge

Les · Par Joined: 09 Mar 2004 Posts: 39 Location: Novi, MI

Thanks a lot Brian for the in depth response. I always wondered about the eBay items you see on occasion. I knew the majority of Jungle . was farm raised, but it still seemed like you would need to some sort of authenticty certificate to distribute it.

Les

Chromebuck · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:54 pm Post subject:

Les,

I've had know problem buying jungle fowl cape off Ebay...Turns out it was from a place here in Michigan. The prices can't be beat...

~CB

Bow_buster · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:22 pm Post subject:

In some of the fly fishing/tying magazines I've seen ads from aviaries. You might consider looking up the companies and whether or not the feathers are from birds that have molted. I don't remember the company I spoke with (looking for Bustard). The prices were a bit up there for the top quality but fairly reasonable for some of the lesser quality feathers. But like I said look at the ads in the magazines. I'll look into this later. Needless to say I didn't order the feathers because I couldn't justify breaking the bank on one Bustard tail feather.

Also Cabelas sells some good heron substitutes for your spey/dee patterns.

Randy

BrianD · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:21 pm Post subject:

Hey Les,
Jungle fowl and most of the stuff on ebay is fine IF it's from a US source, because these are non-indigenous species they are not protected under the US laws. If the seller is out of the US, then CITES kicks in. My last Jungle . neck came off of eBay from a seller in Canada. I enquired about a export permit before I bid and only bid because the seller knew what he was talking about.

Funny you bring up yer BB gun Brian. I've got a bunch of materials (squirrel tail, turkey feathers, etc...) procured off the side of the road. I forgot to mention this earlier, but this is TECHNICALLY illegal as well even though none of them are covered by the laws above or are threatened in any way. Plus, they were all ready dead when I found them! Laughing

But your state game laws also apply, so it's posession without a license and out of season. Of course, if I get "busted" for taking bolt cutters to a road-pizza squirrel I'm going to have to find a new hobby!

Best,

Brian

SageDrifter · Lunker Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 726

watch your appendix's on C.I.T.I.E.S permits in regards to Avian species.

When filling out the neccassary paperwork for Import or Export, It's important to differentiate(sp??) between App I/ II/ or III. It gets more complicated as certain sub-species of birds can be rated differently then the main genus.

USFW & Canadian Agriculture is extremely particular when it comes to a complete and precise set of . for Import / Export purposes, so much so that i've seen birds quarrantined for extended periods due to no dotted I's & crossed T's

toddsbernina · Egg Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Walla Walla WA

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php?t=30318

this is a discussion we had on another flyfying forum and there is some realy good accurate info if you still have questions. the thread is mainly about polarbear fur but you might still find it useful.

T