From the CBC (via Lawrence Friedman):
A woman from Corner Brook is learning about the high cost of fashion after she was fined US $250 on Monday for trying to cross the border with a sealskin purse.
In early March, Nora Fitzgerald and her friend decided to drive across the border at Bridgewater, Maine, to do some shopping. She was carrying a purse made out of sealskin -- a gift from her mother.
While at the border, Fitzgerald says a U.S. customs agent noticed her purse and asked her if it was made of real fur. When she told him it was sealskin, she and her friend were asked to park at the side of the building and bring her purse inside.
"I really didn't know what to think,” Fitzgerald tells As It Happenshost Carol Off. "I thought at first that it was a little bit of a joke, then I realized he was quite serious. I was shocked."
After showing her passport and filling out some forms, Fitzgerald was told her purse would be confiscated under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. Under the legislation, passed in 1972, sealskin products are prohibited from being taken into the United States.
