Celebrity handbag designer gets jail sentence for smuggling crocodile and python lea

[Catherine]

Handbag designer Nancy Gonzalez was sentenced to 18 months in jail for smuggling handbags made of protected animal skins.
She engaged travelers to transport the bags to New York. A couple of million dollars in goods were transported.
The skins were from farmed animals, but they lacked the proper paperwork for importation.
Some fairly famous people have purchased the bags.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10443658/nanc...le-python/

There are a number of issues here. Farms where pythons and caimans are raised treat them badly. How they are skinned is brutal Snakes are usually skinned alive and left to die. This needs a whole separate post.

The animals are protected and what she did is part of the illegal wildlife trade. No part of that can ever be overlooked.

Celebrities buy these bags. By doing this they are creating a market for illegal importation of wildlife and wildlife parts.
Clearly they did not check to see if the products were ethically sourced. If rich people stopped buying stuff like this the trade would end.

I am glad she got a jail sentence. It sends a message to traffickers.
It is sad that she did not keep her business ethical and legal. It was providing jobs for local people. The illegal bags brought in more money so greed was a factor.