Draft #1 of Memorandum

 MEMORANDUM 

To: Adrienne Adams, Speaker and Head of the New York City Council 
From: Yesenia Rangel Sosa, Undergraduate Student at the City College of New York 
Date: September, 10, 2024 
Subject: Stopping the Private Sale of Fossils in New York

I would like to bring to your attention the private sale of fossils in New York and how it is urgent that we put an end to the private sale of fossils in New York. It is a growing market that gets more dangerous as it grows.

In 2022, A commercial paleontologist named Jason Cooper discovered a Stegosaurus fossil named “Apex” in Colorado. A commercial Paleontologist digs up fossils and sells them to anyone interested. In 2024, the Auction house Sotheby's auctioned off “Apex” for $44.6 million. According to the New York Times, it was sold to Kenneth Griffin, A billionaire. The problem is that it was sold to a private collector, meaning we don’t know what he will do with “Apex”. He could do anything from donating the specimen to a museum to keeping it for his private collection. The auction house said Kenneth Griffin is going to “explore loaning the specimen to a U.S. institution.” However, There is a very high chance that the specimen will not get looked at by Paleontologists. Paleontologists such as Jim Kirkland refused to promote the selling of fossils for private use and when Kirkland saw photographs of the specimen, he said it could be scientifically valuable because of its completeness.

I would like to propose a bill to ban the sale of fossils to private collectors or at the very least let the specimens be studied before they are sold. Right now every time a fossil gets sold to a private collector, we will lose valuable scientific knowledge about life on Earth and the potential to display a specimen to people more specifically children who might be curious about prehistoric life on Earth. Please refer to the New York Times article attached to read more about other specimens other than “Apex” that have been sold off. It is critical for Specimens such as “Apex” to be available to the public to further our knowledge of prehistoric life and also keep children interested in science for the future of the field

Thank you so much for reading my proposal. If you have any further questions please contact me at: yeseniars2019@gmail.com. I look forward to furthering our understanding of life on Earth with you.

Attachments: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/arts/design/stegosaurus-auction-44-million.html

Weblink: New York Times article discussing “Apex” and other specimens being sold off.