I'm a bit of an amateur taxidermist, and was looking on ebay for supplies(I check all taxidermy categories from time to time). I found a mount of what is said to be an alligator attacking a snake that looks more like a spectacled caiman. I thought caiman skin products were illegal-am I wrong, or is the seller just being dishonest and hoping nobody notices? The snake in the mount looks to be a poorly mounted red-tailed boa-the whole mount is probably somebody's souvenir from a South American vacation. Not sure of the item number, but if you type "alligator snake taxidermy" into ebay's search it should come up.
If this actually is illegal, how do we get it stopped? All ebay will do is pull the auction and issue a warning, and he'll relist in a week or so(I've reported other items).
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New to this particular forum, wondering if this is legal?
Replies (2)
Ryan,
This merchant has been offering such items for some time, advertising a mounted caiman as an alligator. Federal law regulates shipment of caimans into the U.S., even though c. crocodylus is so common in South America. This is done, as you may know, to protect the other caiman species whose hides may be mistaken for c. crocodylus. but if these specimens are from domestic breeding stock, then they are probably legal (The seller is from New Orleans, and I'm not as familiar with Louisiana law). In Florida, to the best of my knowledge, such items are legal, and state law also allows for merchants to describe such caiman products as "alligator." So it may be similar in Louisiana.
The laws that took effect in 2000 allow for the importation of the skins and products of all three specimens, yacare, fuscus, and spectacled - provided proper paperwork and identification are provided. One of the reasons for the law was to allow yacare (parts) to be imported from areas in which they are NOT endangered (most of it's range) while having a vehicle in place to trace the point of origin prior to acceptance through customs. Skins, products, mounts etc can be freely traded once they are in the country.
As you know, live animals and/or live eggs of these animals are not.
For more information, go to the USFWS web site and click on endangered species. Then search "caiman" and read the PDF file.
Cheers,
Bill
