Illegal Ivory Trade Booming in Britain

LONDON, England, March 12, 2004 (ENS) - The illegal ivory trade is thriving in the United Kingdom, according to a new report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The group says its investigators found thousands of pieces of contraband ivory for sale in England, and offers its report as further evidence that the international community should reject the legal sales of African ivory stockpiles.

International trade in ivory was banned in 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The elephant is the world's largest land mammal and one of the world's most intelligent species. (Photo credit unknown)

Nine African nations, led by Kenya, announced their opposition to the sales last Friday ahead of a CITES meeting in Switzerland set for March 15 in Geneva. Ghana, Tunisia, Mali, Congo, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Cameroun and Uganda agreed to back a continued ban on the ivory trade until seven conditions on the sale from Southern African countries are fulfilled.

Botswana, Namibia and South Africa are keen to use profits from the sale to fund conservation efforts, but critics fear the legal ivory sale will fuel elephant poaching by masking the trade in illegal ivory.

"There will be an open season on elephants in many places if the stockpile sale is given the go ahead," said Phyllis Campbell-McRae, United Kingdom director of International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). "I urge the British government to think of the many elephants that will die from poacher's bullets, putting this endangered species at even more risk. There must be no new trade."

IFAW says the United Kingdom has been identified as one of 10 countries singled out by CITES as having uncontrolled domestic ivory trade likely to provoke elephant poaching, even though IFAW acknowledges the UK as having "some of the world's best enforcement systems to control wildlife trade."

Still, the United Kingdom is the third biggest source of illegal ivory entering the United States.

Andy Fisher, head of Scotland Yard's Wildlife Crime Unit, said that any re-opening of the ivory trade or relaxation in protection for elephants makes it more difficult for police to gather good enough evidence to pursue cases.

These carved ivory figures, about 10 inches tall, where offered for sale on the U.S. eBay auction site this week but drew no bids. (Photo credit unknown)

During the two month long investigation into the ivory trade in the United Kingdom, IFAW representatives discovered thousands of ivory items on sale illegally in antique shops and markets in London and several other cities and on Internet auction sites.

"Our investigators were offered a huge range of dubious ivory, including new, raw ivory, both over the Internet and in person," Campbell-McRae said.

Under British law, only ivory carvings dated before 1947 can be sold, and these must be sold with proof of age documents.

IFAW says not a single trader asked by its investigators had any papers to prove the age of the items for sale. They all relied on their own knowledge, despite the fact that ivory is very difficult to age.

Many sellers offered to write receipts giving a supposed date of manufacture of more than 100 years ago, IFAW investigators report.

A piece of ivory tusk on aution through eBay. (Photo credit unknown)

Dr. Richard Leakey of Kenya, prominent conservationist and former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service, said British officials should "think carefully about the full implications before supporting the stockpile sales."

"It would be a truly ironic tragedy if a decision made by British politicians led to elephants in Kenya or anywhere else being gunned down for ivory trinkets to be sold in the United Kingdom," Leakey said.

IFAW released the report on the heels of some rare good news for those trying to stem the ivory trade. Earlier this week, the Chinese government confiscated over 1,300 pounds of ivory from seven dealers in southern China.

"This effort is a showcase of strengthened law enforcement in China, however it also means that there is a long way to go before a complete ban can be installed," said IFAW's China Country Director Dr. Zhang Li. "No trade in ivory and its products should be allowed in any part of the world, or wild elephants will face extinction forever."

Zhang said that every day in some part of the world two elephants are poached for their tusks.

Current statistics indicate that some 400,000 African elephants and 35,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild.