Ivory in bagpipes creates border snag

CONCORD, N.H. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will review its rules about ivory imports after two New Hampshire teenagers’ bagpipes were seized at the Canadian border, a spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman, Neil Mendelsohn, said customs agents at the Highgate Springs, Vt., border crossing were following laws designed to prevent the import and export of illegally harvested ivory when they seized pipes belonging to Campbell Webster and Eryk Bean, a pair of 17-year-olds who compete on an international level. Ivory harvested since 1976 is banned in the U.S.

The discord started Sunday when Campbell and Eryk were driving back from Canada after a competition that was a tuneup for the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Campbell’s pipes date to 1936 and were played by his father, who was the 9th Sovereign Piper to Queen Elizabeth II of England.

They lacked extra permits and inspection fees totaling $576 to carry the pipes, and the pipes were confiscated for a day. The boys eventually got their pipes back and are in Glasgow, where their adventure has been the talk of the competition, Campbell’s mother, Lezlie, said Friday.

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