On November 14, 2016, Ontario corporation 3062424,operating as 888
Auctions, and its director, Mr. Dong Heon Kim, pleaded guilty to
unlawfully exporting a leather product made from python skin and two
pieces of elephant ivory, in contravention of the Wild Animal and
Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Inter-provincial
Trade Act (WAPPRIITA). A combined fine totaling $12,500 was levied,
and both the company and its owner were each sentenced to two years of
probation.
Acting on intelligence, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s
(ECCC’s) Enforcement Branch and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
(USFWS’s) Office of Law Enforcement began an investigation into the
activities of 888 Auctions, in December 2013.
The joint investigation revealed that, on one occasion, 888 Auctions
placed a small elephant-ivory tusk, later determined through
scientific testing to be from an elephant killed in 2001, along with
an ivory carving into a parcel falsely labeled as a “gift ornament”.
The package was mailed to a buyer in the United States, with no return
address. These efforts to avoid detection were unsuccessful as the
package was intercepted by USFWS special agents. Both pieces of ivory
were determined to be from the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta
cyclotis).
On a separate occasion, 888 Auctions unlawfully exported to the United
States a leather case made from python skin, in February 2015.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES) is implemented in Canada through WAPPRIITA.
Both the ivory export and the python-case export were made without the
necessary Canadian CITES export permits.
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