An undercover investigation has found it is easy to access illegal ivory in Europe, despite supposed strict import bans on freshly harvested ivory products. The research, conducted by the global pressure group Avaaz, saw undercover agents buy 109 items of ivory from across 10 European countries and then have them tested via radiocarbon dating. Those […]
Tag: ivory trade
‘Paradise and hell’: the battle to save the forest elephant
Deep in the steamy rainforest of Gabon, a poaching gang’s night-time fire is smouldering and two long elephant tusks lie among the tangled roots. The axe that hacked them off lies nearby. Just after dawn, the insect buzz and bird chatter is suddenly pierced by a whistle blast and camouflaged park guards burst out from […]
POLL: Should Facebook block “Illegal Wildlife Trafficking” advertisements?
While Mark Zuckerberg was testifying before Congress about Facebook providing user information to Cambridge Analytica, additional disturbing news about his company was making headlines. Facebook has been making a profit by selling ads on pages that are operated by illegal wildlife traffickers. The pages sell the body parts of endangered animals, according to a complaint […]
Pressure grows for UK to bring in blanket ban on ivory trade
Environmental campaigners believe that public pressure is finally about to force the environment secretary, Michael Gove, to introduce a blanket ban on the commercial trade in ivory in the UK. A consultation on what form a proposed ban should take has just closed, and the government says it will give its response soon. The Department […]
China’s Ban on Domestic Ivory is Finally In Effect
It’s estimated that 96 elephants are killed each day by poachers for nothing more than their tusks. But conservationists are starting the new year with renewed hope for the future of elephants following the official closure of China’s legal trade in ivory. The number of elephants who are senselessly killed is astounding, but that doesn’tcover […]
POLL: Should there be an EU-wide domestic ivory ban?
The EU has traditionally been a global leader in tackling the problem of wildlife trafficking and in encouraging other countries to take action. Last year it published a far-reaching Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking, which set out a comprehensive list of actions to address the problem. So why is it dragging its heels when it […]
Trump’s indecision on trophy hunting reignites heated debate
On November 15, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lifted a ban on the U.S. import of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. The president put a hold on the order two days later, calling trophy hunting in a tweet a “horror show.” He has yet to make a final determination regarding the USFWS order. […]
POLL: Should Japan be sanctioned for allowing the ivory trade to continue?
Thousands of jewelry, seals, scrolls and other items made of elephant ivory continue to be sold online in Japan each week, concludes a new report by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. In just four weeks in May and June, 2017, nearly 10,000 ivory items were sold on Yahoo Auction, one of Japan’s largest e-commerce […]
POLL: Should the export of “legal ivory” be made illegal?
The United Kingdom ships more legal ivory beyond its borders than any other country, according to an analysis released today by the London-based NGO Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). The announcement comes two days before World Elephant Day on Saturday. Globally, elephant numbers are falling, down 30 percent between 2007 and 2014 — a decline driven […]
POLL: Does destroying ivory save elephants?
The owners of an antiques shop in Manhattan, New York, pleaded guilty on July 26 for trying to sell $4.5 million worth of illegal elephant ivory from a back room. On Thursday, some of that confiscated Manhattan ivory and more will be crushed in Central Park as part of a public event organized by the […]
