2 Men Admit Trafficking Whale Teeth - AP

Source: Associated Press

2 Men Admit Trafficking Whale Teeth
By PATRICK WALTERS
Associated Press Writer

April 26, 2007, 3:05 PM EDT

PHILADELPHIA -- The former director of a whaling museum and
an antiques dealer pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally importing
hundreds of sperm whale teeth from England and selling them to
U.S. merchants.

Lewis Eisenberg, 60, the former director of The Whalers Village
Museum in Lahaina, Hawaii, bought many of the teeth and resold
them to collectors of scrimshaw, an art form in which designs
are etched into whale bone. Eisenberg, of Oak Harbor, Wash.,
sold teeth he got from antiques trader Martin Schneider for
more than $45,000.

Schneider, 59, of Blue Bell, Pa., got the teeth of the endangered
whale in Britain and smuggled them into the country by hiding
them among other goods he was importing. Prosecutors said he
sold a total of $500,000 worth of teeth from 1995 to 2005.

Both pleaded guilty to violations of the Endangered Species Act,
the Mammal Protection Act and the Lacey Act, which forbids the
import or export of wildlife that is illegally transported or sold.

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