Pianomaker Fined $35,000 for Smuggling Endangered Elephant Ivory
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Today’s entry on the “rotten bastards in your backyard get a slap on the wrist” department goes to…
Image: FWS
The CEO of an Atlanta piano company has been fined $35,000 after pleading guilty to importing piano keys made from real ivory. The shipment of pianos imported from Africa was intercepted by US Fish & Wildlife agents two years ago, after being notified by a fishy documentation request made to an international endangered species protection group in Switzerland. The story reveals two things — that the clumsy bureaucratic process we rely upon to catch importers of such stuff seems pretty easy to circumnavigate, and that, yes, evidently there are still rich folks prowling the black…Read the full story on TreeHugger
