Buying, Selling and Exporting Wildlife

Before you buy it

What you should know about buying wildlife parts and products in the Yukon.
 
What are wildlife parts and products?
Wildlife parts include antlers, hides, claws, teeth, meat and all other parts of the carcass. Wildlife products include carvings, tanned hides, taxidermy items and any other products made from wildlife parts. The buying and selling of these items is regulated by wildlife conservation laws.

Why you should avoid the black market
If you buy a wildlife part or product from an unlicensed business or a poacher, the item may be seized or you may be refused an export permit. Either way, you will have lost your purchase.

Why you should buy from a licensed business
Buying from a licensed craft shop, taxidermist or tanner is much safer than buying off the street. These people work hard at their businesses and are unlikely to take risks. If you need advice about a buying opportunity, phone an Environment Yukon office.

Private sales must be licensed
If you want to buy a wildlife part from a person, ask them to get a permit for the sale. The sale is not legal unless a permit has been issued prior to the transaction taking place.

If you purchase fur from a licensed trapper, be sure to obtain the trapper's name and address and their trapping license number. Trappers do not require a permit to sell fur they have legally trapped, however some species may require a metal seal be affixed to the pelt before being sold or transferred.

Before you take it out

What you should know about taking wildlife parts and products out of the Yukon

The movement of wildlife parts and products out of the Yukon is regulated by wildlife conservation laws.

Export permits are required to remove wildlife parts and products from the Yukon. These permits are available from any Environment Yukon office. All permits are issued free of charge.

If you buy it
If you buy antlers, horns, pelts, other wildlife parts, you must get an export permit before you take or send them out of the Yukon.

If you find it
If you find antlers in the backcountry, a bird or mammal carcass beside the road, or any other wildlife part, you must still get a permit to possess it. You will also need an export permit before you take it out of the Yukon.

If you hunt it
If you have a successful hunt and want to take antlers, meat or any other part of the animal out of the Yukon, you need an export permit also.

Endangered species
Canada supports the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). You must get a CITES permit to take out of Canada any part of a grizzly bear, black bear, polar bear, wolf, lynx or otter. CITES permits require 24 hour advance notice. Many countries have additional requirements to import these species.