U.S. Federal Laws

This is the most widely adopted international law on the trade in animal parts. A tremendous number of species of animals and plants are affected, and anyone owning, buying or selling animal parts may find this helpful. Anecdotally speaking, when someone is speaking of “pre-ban” animal parts, such as large cat parts, they’re speaking pre-CITES. IT IS ILLEGAL TO SELL PRE-CITES APPENDIX I ANIMAL PARTS INTERSTATE OR INTERNATIONALLY.

In the United States, almost all wild birds are protected by the MBTA; this includes many song birds, raptors, and waterfowl. Possession of any part of the birds or their eggs or nests is illegal under the MBTA, even molted feathers found on the ground (you can’t prove that you found it instead of ripping it off a bird you just shot).

While the Lacey Act is generally better known in the trade of plants and plant-based materials, it affects a wide variety of species of animal as well. It particularly makes prohibited trade in animal parts across state or national boundaries a federal offense (III, B, 2a)

This law makes it illegal to possess marine mammal parts (which includes polar bears) in the United States. There is still limited trade in antique parts that predate the law. Please also see the Fur Seal Act of 1966 further down this page for exceptions made for some indigenous peoples.

The Endangered Species Act is probably the best-known among the general American public. Debates about including or excluding species, and the effects these decisions have, crop up every so often in the media.

This is the infamous “eagle feather law”; occasionally there will be an article in the news about someone possessing eagle feathers, killing eagles to sell the feathers on the black market, and in one case, giving then-President Bill Clinton a dreamcatcher decorated with them! There is also debate among Native American communities about whether this law violates the right to practice indigenous religions, as eagle feathers are important culturally and spiritually to a number of indigenous peoples here.

This law, among other things, prevents the mass importation of wild birds from out of the country for the pet trade and other purposes. Most of the birds covered under the Convention for the International Trade of Endangered Species are also covered here.

While these laws primarily apply to fur garments over $150 in value, they do cover the misrepresentation of furs. The FPIA seems to have been rolled into the Textile Products Identification Act.

Text of the DCPA

This law makes trade in domestic dog and cat fur illegal. It is particularly important because these furs are often misrepresented as “rabbit”, “Chinese wolf”, and any of a number of other misidentified or fake animals.

Prohibits the taking and trade of fur seals and sea otters and their remains, with exceptions made for north Pacific coastal Natives

An amendment to existing fur labeling laws, this removes exemptions for products that only includes a small amount of fur, but provides an exemption for fur from hunted or trapped animals, and certain crafted and other small-business items.

This is an agreement among the majority of the states in the U.S. that residents of one that who violate wildlife-related laws in another may be considered, for the intents and purposes of the violation, to be residents of the state in which the violation took place.

International trade in animal parts requires a lot of paperwork and information; it is NOT as simple as putting a customs form on the package. This set of laws covers a wide range of trade in endangered species, including prohibition on importing and selling even pre-ban CITES I animal parts.