There are many requirements for an exotic skin tannery.

First of all, it is a business, which means it will require a business plan with financial goals, investment requirements, a marketing plan, intelligent staff to run the tannery and engineer the equipment, and operating costs. A tannery without a plan is not operational for very long. A professional exotic leather tannery will have:

1) Accessibility for trucks and plenty of space to move and for expansion.
2) Plenty of fresh water near the plant is needed for leather production, cleaning, and safety in general.
3) A safety plan that adheres to OSHA regulations as well as local regulations. Systems should be designed to ventilate toxic gases safely and prevent emissions.
4) Good ventilation is also needed to comply with VOC and EPA standards.
5) Safety is of utmost importance not only for regulations, but also for the staff of the tannery. Every professional tannery has a safety plan, equipment, and an exit plan in case of emergencies.

One key note is that plenty of space is needed for the tannery. Space is always necessary so that the facility remains safe for staff, but also room for expansion as well. Most tanneries will have some exotic skins already produced and waiting for purchase so storage space should always be present in the tannery. If they are stored adequately there is no loss in the quality of the leather since it has been well preserved!

tags: EPA, exotic leather tannery, exotic skin tannery, OSHA, VOC
Categories: Exotic Leather Tannery
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Recently Ruzial, Ltd. pled guilty of attempting to import 29 illegal hides and Wildlife species that violated the Endangered Species Act, the Lacey Act, and many other U.S. laws and regulations after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and US Customs investigated.

Ruzial paid a fine out over $150,000 for the offense for importing the illegal specimens of python, anaconda, elephants, tiger, leopard, jaguar, Hartman’s Zebra, and lion.

While many of these species are legal in certain regions and with the correct legal importing procedure, many of them are outright illegal. This again stresses the importance of knowing the laws when acquiring exotic hides and leather. All items must have the proper CITES permits and the species must be legal in the receiving country. Many times international suppliers have lied or have misrepresented the legality of a species in the destination country without any repercussion, resulting in the loss of your money to that supplier as well as the loss of your material in your destination country.

A quote from the article:

“When a person brings protected wildlife – like ivory, leopard skins, tiger skins and reticulated python snake skins – into our country without following the rules, there are consequences,” said Gale. “We are proud of the coordinated investigative work of our agents with their colleagues from ICE and CBP. Using a significant portion of this fine to raise awareness about those rules is the right thing to do as we work to promote the conservation of wildlife here and abroad.”

It is of utmost importance to know your source as well as the Customs regulations for the species that you are importing. If you are inexperienced with the importing of exotic leathers and working with an exotic leather tannery, it is best to find a local exotic leather broker who can assist you. Please use our contact form so we can connect you with our global supplier of Exotic leather, ensuring full legal compliance with all of your materials as well as the best quality and pricing.

tags: CITES, elephant, exotic leather tannery, fish and wildlife, import hides, import illegal hides, python, zebra
Categories: Exotic Leather Tannery
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