Word: contraband
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...first-year dorms, halogen lamps are also on the contraband list...
Some evidence also exists of a traveling Puritan show similar to the early 80s television series "The Dukes of Hazzard," where two wily Puritan brothers running contraband hat buckles evade the county sheriff on an extremely fast and maneuverable mule. The end of the show featured a simulated mule chase, ending when the sheriff's mule flips over and lands upside down in the bushes, causing him to say simulated curses like "dag-nab-bit" and "razza-frackin." The main difference from the modern-day version is that, instead of escaping at the end of the show, the Dukes were...
...Environmentalists objected, on the grounds that any legal sales would encourage poachers to go back in business. But last week the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species voted to let the three nations sell a total of almost 60 tons to Japan--under strict monitoring to make sure contraband ivory stays off the market. Profits from the sale will be used for elephant-conservation programs...
...that has made all the difference, say conservationists and government officials. There isn't much point in poaching because contraband ivory is so difficult--and dangerous--to sell. If the market were opened up, though, the situation could change overnight. Says Dave Currey, director of the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency: "Even a partial relaxation would send a message to poachers that ivory trade is back." Indeed, the message may already be out. David Barritt, African director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, reports that elephant poachers recently arrested in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, said they had been...
Limiting sales to Japan, as the three African nations propose, doesn't make the plan any more appealing to critics. Japan's internal controls for distinguishing legal ivory from contraband are seriously flawed, says the Fish and Wildlife Service's Jones. "Their registration system is being flagrantly not followed." That wouldn't matter as much if international inspectors could somehow determine the origin of a piece of ivory. But while scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service have been experimenting with ways to do that, they've proved unsuccessful...