Fancy a fur seal's penis or a guitar made from a rare South American armadillo?
Buying them on the internet is easy, but you may have problems bringing them into New Zealand, says Department of Conservation officer Lisa Hankey.
DoC, Customs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry are confiscating more of
the remains of such animals. DoC figures show that 29,500 animal items were confiscated last year, up from 18,500 the year before.
About 13,000 items were confiscated in the first five months of this year.
"The internet is a growing problem," says Ms Hankey, who is responsible for dealing with endangered species.
"If people buy stuff on the net and it does not have the correct permits, then it won't be allowed to come in."
The same applies to animal goods bought on holiday.
She says if people declare items when they arrive on an international flight, they can produce permits at a later date to reclaim the goods.
But if the items are sent by mail without permits, they will be permanently confiscated.
Shells, skins or souvenirs made from animal parts are the most common seized items.
Rare confiscated items are "bonded" to museums, universities or schools for educational purposes. Other items are destroyed.
Ms Hankey says the strangest items she has come across at DoC are a fur seal's penis, an Asian deer's musk gland and a chicken-skin bra - which turned out to be legal and was returned to the owner.
Raymond Coory, land reptile, amphibian and land mammal manager at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, says the museum receives some items for display, but is usually sent items to help DoC identify them.
"One they sent over was a small guitar-type instrument that had been made from an armadillo's body."
The World Wide Fund for Nature says trade in goods made from endangered animals is huge and items are freely available on the net.
- NZPA
nzherald.co.nz/environment
