Man Fined $50K for Illegally Importing Whale Tooth, Walrus Tusk Carvings from Canada

69-year-old man pleads guilty to misdemeanor charge for smuggling carvings made from protected sperm whale teeth and walrus tusks, breaching the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

• A 69-year-old man from California has been fined $50,000 for illegally importing Inuit carvings made from sperm whale teeth and walrus tusk across the U.S.-Canadian border.
• The carvings were discovered at the Highgate Springs border crossing when the man and his wife returned from Montreal, where they had purchased nine Inuit carvings from an art gallery.
• Upon inspection, U.S. Customs and Border Protection found nine statues in the trunk of the car, four of which were made from ivory. The man admitted these were made from walrus tusk and they were seized.
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service later determined that three of the four ivory carvings were made from sperm whale teeth, protected under the Endangered Species Act, and the fourth from walrus tusk, protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
• The man, who was living in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the time, pleaded guilty to unlawfully importing wildlife parts, a misdemeanor, and received his sentence of a $50,000 fine. He reportedly did not possess the required permits for such imports.

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