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| illegal ivory seized at JFK |
US Person thinks it is a great public relations
stunt to crush tons of seized ivory. It does not cost a lot to put on the media event and talk is cheap as we all know. The fact is the United States has a illegal ivory market second only to China and other Asian countries, and little has been done to change that fact. Ivory trading is largely unmonitored in the US. The ability and willingness of sellers and consumers to identify pre-1976 ivory is questionable at best. It is legal to sell Asian elephant ivory before that date when Asian elephants were listed as endangered under the ESA.
The cut-off date is 1989 for importing African ivory. Antique lovers will be pleased to know that antique ivory more than 100 years old is still legal to buy and sell.
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| courtesy: US Person |
Perhaps the
casual treatment of ivory will end
now that the administration has announced it will change regulations soon to ban interstate sales of all ivory except certified antiques; limit tusk trophies to two per hunter; cut off commercial imports of antique ivory; and increase certification requirements for the remaining trade. Americans can go into swank stores in major US cities and find ivory for sale. Between 2009 and 2012, 7,500 ivory carvings and 1,746 trophies were legally brought into the US. Thousands more ivory pieces and loose tusks were imported illegally during the same period according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Determining the difference between legal and illegal ivory is often difficult for law enforcement officials, and the motivation to evade is substantial when ivory is currently valued at $1500/lb. The law requires the government to prove a defendant knew ivory in his possession was illegal, often an impossible task. One of the proposed regulatory changes will put the burden on the possessor to show the ivory is legal. Placing limits on sport hunting of elephants is unpopular in Congress since it is populated with wealthy nimrods who enjoy boasting of their privilege to kill Earth's largest land mammal with a high powered rifle at a distance. Ending any market in the United States except for certified antiques would make enforcing the ban against commercial ivory much easier to enforce. A complete prohibition might convince other ivory market countries to follow our example, and it would even save a few elephants too at a time when every individual counts.