I'm no expert on this, but I can point you in the right direction. The
magic word is "CITES" (pronounced sigh-tees). The Convention on Inter-
national Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),
is the basic agreement under which these matters fall.

If you look at the URL http://www.cnie.org/nle/biodv-7.html you will find
a report prepared by the Congressional Research Service giving an overview
of the agreement, permits, participants (Canada joined on July 9, 1975),
et cetera.

At the URL http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/cimcim/pubs/iwt3d.html is an
interesting article by Laurence Libin of New York's Metropolitan Museum of
Art.  This article deals specifically with materials from endangered
animals and musical instruments.  He touches on some of the export
considerations for the U.S.

Bob Fitterman¶
bobf@ilx.com