London jewellery corporation sells tiger claws illegally

This 2013 video is called Stop Wildlife Crime: The Series – Tigers (Video 3) | WWF.

From Wildlife Extra:

Jewellery company caught selling tiger claw pendants

Westminster Trading Standards has fined Annina Vogel Ltd, a concession jewellery seller in Liberty department store in London’s Regent Street, more than £2,000 for illegally selling tiger claws.

A Westminster Borough wildlife crime officer seized 11 pieces of jewellery in March 2014 containing 14 big cat claws.

The claws were inspected by a DEFRA-appointed wildlife inspector who confirmed that they originated from big cats – leopards, jaguars, lynxes, caracals or servals.

All these species of cats are protected under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). However as they were being sold as ‘tiger claws’, the regulations on the sale of tiger claws applied.

On 18 June 2015, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Annina Vogel Limited was fined £2,000, having pleaded guilty to the illegal sale of tiger claw jewellery. The company was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a victim’s surcharge of £120.

Detective Constable Sarah Bailey, of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Wildlife Crime Unit, says: “New guidelines were implemented in the UK in 2013, in order to protect the world’s dwindling tiger population.

“I would like to take this opportunity to remind jewellers and antique dealers to ensure they comply with the legislation in relation to tiger claw specimens.

“The sale of any tiger claws is unlawful if they have not been significantly altered from their natural state, even if antique.

“This kind of trade continues to threaten many endangered species with extinction. Enforcement operations like this one, which see the police working with our partners in trading standards and DEFRA, are crucial to combating this activity and raising awareness of the scale of the problem.”

UK Campaigns Manager of World Animal Protecton, Alyx Elliott, says: “It is very positive to see these cases come to court and such penalties handed out. Wildlife crime can encompass a great deal of species, not only the exotic ones as in this particular case, but also our much treasured UK species.

“Members of the public must feel empowered to report wildlife crime when they see it, as cases like this one go to show how offenders can be held accountable.”

Tigers are protected under CITES and the UK adopted stricter measures in early 2013 and tiger claws in jewellery are no longer classed as a worked item and can no longer be sold legally.