Senator to Etsy: Let Alaska Native artists sell ivory work

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A policy intended to protect against the illegal trade of ivory has prompted an online sales website to cancel accounts held by Alaska Native artists, who can legally use ivory in their artwork.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan asked the chief executive officer of Etsy to reconsider its policy to allow Alaska Natives to continue to sell products made from walrus tusks or from petrified wooly mammoth remains found in the nation’s most remote state.

Sullivan spokesman Matt Shuckerow says Etsy has not responded to a letter sent Friday to the Brooklyn, New York-based company. Etsy representatives did not immediately respond to requests from The Associated Press on Monday for comment.

Shuckerow says Sullivan heard about the issue from Alaska Native leaders and a handful of artists whose accounts were terminated.

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