Briefs · Frontier Science
Walrus tusks carved in Bali are being illegally sold as Native American art, investigation finds
That ‘Alaska Native’ walrus carving was probably made in Bali. Sorry, tourists.
Wildlife trade researcher Vincent Nijman first noticed something odd in a Bali workshop in 2013: ivory artworks depicting polar bears, salmon and cowboys — not elephant ivory, but walrus, and destined for the United States. After a 13-year investigation (reported in Biodiversity Conservation), he found widespread fraud: Indonesian carvings passed off as Alaska Native art. The numbers do not add up: between 2011 and 2024 the U.S. reported exporting 443 kilograms of walrus ivory to Indonesia, while Indonesia reported exporting more than 44,000 carvings back — Nijman estimates the true raw ivory entering Indonesia was four to 40 times greater than recorded.
The 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act reserves walrus hunting and crafting to Alaska Natives; the fraud outsources their livelihoods to Bali and leaves buyers holding fakes.
Conclusion: the ivory is not Native. It is a souvenir with a stolen signature.
Read the original at Science (AAAS)
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