An effort in the General Assembly to stop the spoils of big-game trophy hunting from coming to Connecticut, inspired by last summer’s killing of a famous African lion, has prompted an outcry from museums and antique dealers that worry such legislation could prevent them from exhibiting or selling antique pieces that include ivory.
Many of Connecticut’s high-end dealers turned out for a recent public hearing to tell lawmakers that Cecil’s Law, the bill named in honor of a Zimbabwean lion that was killed by a U.S. hunter, could harm their livelihoods because the banned specimens could include “any part, product” or “dead body or parts thereof, except fossils.”
“Passage of this bill would constitute a de facto ban on ivory, including antiques and musical instruments,” said Arthur Liverant, the third-generation owner of Nathan Liverant and Son LLC, an antiques and fine art business in Colchester. “This would irreparably harm the preservation, collecting, study, understanding and promotion of Connecticut’s history.”
Liverant voiced similar concerns last year about a bill that banned the import, sale and purchase of ivory or rhinoceros horns. That proposal ultimately died, but a similar bill has been resurrected this session. Proponents of Cecil’s Law, however, insist they want only to stop people from bringing their big-game trophies back to Connecticut.
“This wasn’t about criminalizing Connecticut residents who own a piece of ivory or putting antique stores out of business. That’s not what we’re trying to do,” said Nicole Rivard, who represents Friends of Animals in Darien.
In hopes of making that point clear, Friends of Animals is now offering a change to the General Assembly’s Environment Committee that spells out how “ivory and ivory products that are otherwise legal to possess, transport, import and sell under federal law are not subject to the prohibitions” in the bill. The committee has until Wednesday to consider the change and vote on the bill.
“We didn’t want the real intent of the bill to not be heard or not be considered because people were mad about a bill that was introduced last year, which had nothing to do with our bill,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, submitted this year’s bill after attending a musical performance organized by a Darien teenager to draw attention to Cecil’s death.
“There were folks, including me, asking, `Is there anything that we can do that would prevent trophy hunting from coming into Connecticut or encouraging trophy hunting?”‘ Duff said. “This is not anti-hunting. When people are hunting animals for trophies, especially endangered animals, that’s when we have to stand up and say that’s not right.”
The legislation focuses on specimens of the “big five African species,” which includes the African elephant, lion, leopard, black rhinoceros and the white rhinoceros. While it may be legal in some parts of Africa to hunt these animals. Those who import, possess, sell or transport the remains of these animals in Connecticut could face a felony charge, punishable by a fine of as much as $10,000, as many as two years in prison, or both.
A similar bill cleared the New Jersey legislature, but Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the bill in January by not acting on it.
Proponents of such bills contend legal trophy hunting fuels illegal poaching because it provides a market for selling the animals. But the National Rifle Association argues the proposals do nothing to protect the species and would impose a burden on law-abiding U.S hunters.
“If this anti-hunting ban is enacted, such an attack on sportsmen would have a deleterious impact on these African game species and the African people by restricting hunters who are willing to invest in the opportunity to legally hut and conserve wildlife in the future,” said Christopher Kopacki, the Connecticut state liaison for the NRA, in written testimony.
He said regulated hunting in Africa provides financial incentives for landowners and communities to protect wildlife from poachers.
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