If you find ads for estate auctions difficult to resist, read on. Some 300,000 items made from wildlife are currently being sold through a special online eBay-style auction that began Feb. 22. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reducing costs for storing and maintaining forfeited and abandoned wildlife property at its National Wildlife Property Repository in Denver, Colo.

Though the auction of current lots on sale ends March 8, new lots will be posted every few weeks over a period of up to six months. The sale will clear space for newly obtained wildlife property and support conservation education.

Lonestar Auctioneers based in Fort Worth, Tex., will offer items both individually and in lots of varying size and content over a period of several months. Auction merchandise consists primarily of reptile-skin shoes, boots, belts, jewelry and other products made from seashells and coral.

The items to be auctioned, all legal to sell, have been carefully selected from the more than 1.5 million wildlife parts and products stored at the Repository. Most of the items were forfeited because businesses selling them failed to comply with import regulations.

They do not include any products made from threatened or endangered species, migratory birds, eagles or marine mammals. No hunting trophies or wildlife parts will be sold.

Proceeds from the sale, as authorized by federal law, will go into an account used to finance the Property Repository, wildlife education programs, rewards to individuals who help the service to solve wildlife crimes, and the care of live wildlife seized by FWS enforcement officers.

Many of the endangered or threatened wildlife items at the Repository are eventually donated or loaned to schools, museums and zoos for use in teaching the public about wildlife conservation and the effects of illegal wildlife trade.

Some items legally sold via this auction may not be legal to purchase and transport into every state. Buyers must read the rules of the auction site and are responsible for ensuring that items they buy may legally enter their state of residence.

To more information or to participate in the auction, visit www.lonestarauctioneers.com or call 817-740-9400.

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