The Pennsylvania State House of Representatives recently passed a bill aimed at combating the trafficking of animal body parts within the state.
According to reporting from PennLive in late June, House Bill 994 would ban the sale of ivory and parts from other endangered and at-risk animals in Pennsylvania. While there is a federal ban on the import and sale of these products across state lines and nationally, courtesy of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, there have been no codified protections for these species at the state level and no ban in place for the sale of these animal parts within the state.
The list of protected species reportedly includes baleen whales, bonobos, cheetahs, chimpanzees, dolphins, elephants, giraffes, gorillas, hippos, jaguars, leopards, and lions. It even extends to the mammoth, which has been extinct for thousands of years.
"We need to shut down the demand," Representative Leanne Krueger, one of the bill's sponsors, told the local outlet. "And so if we can shut down the sales within Pennsylvania, it reduces the demand for animals to be killed."
Krueger also explained that mammoth was included in the list because poachers often try to pass off elephant ivory as mammoth ivory as a way to continue selling it on the open market.
Despite efforts to restrict the sale of endangered animal parts, a thriving market for them persists in many parts of the world, including Pennsylvania. PennLive noted that an investigation by the organization Humane World for Animals identified auctions in 27 counties for goods made from endangered wildlife.
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Restricting the sale of goods made from endangered animals can be an effective way to curb the trade of such products and help prevent poaching. This can support populations of vulnerable species and biodiversity more broadly.
Many efforts to clamp down on poaching globally have targeted trafficking and trade. In Mexico, for example, authorities recently seized over 5,000 pounds of shark fins.
HB 994 is now with the Pennsylvania State Senate Game and Fisheries Committee. Should it pass the Senate, it would next head to the governor's desk for approval.
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