The latest investigation by TRAFFIC, the organization responsible for monitoring compliance with CITES (Convention on Trade in Endangered Species) shows a significant increase in the availability of ivory products and a steep rise in the number of outlets selling ivory in Bankok. The
investigation report concludes the vast majority of ivory being sold in Thailand is illegal under the Convention. Thailand is failing to live up to its international commitments says a senior director at TRAFFIC despite having two decades to reform its outdated ivory regulations. Official corruption plays a large role in Thailand's inability to police its domestic market. A seventy-five year old law permits the sale of ivory from domesticated Asian elephants--often the ivory left over from tusk trimming--but there is no system in place to distinguish this source of ivory from illegal ivory entering the country from Africa. Since 2008 more than 13 tons of African elephant ivory has been seized in Thailand.
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| courtesy: US Person |
To meet this increasing human demand for elephant ivory, African herds are being decimated by organized criminal gangs equipped with military weapons. There is a direct link between insurgent groups destabilizing fragile nations and poaching; profits from ivory sales are used to finance fighting. Some African parks have lost up to 90% of their elephants. Last year over 30,000 elephants died for their tusks. Less than half a million still survive on a continent that once was home to millions. It is a devastation equivalent to that inflicted upon the American bison in the 19th century. Elephants are highly intelligent and emotional creatures with strong familia bonds. When entire families are wiped out by poachers any survivors are severely traumatized. The recent ban proposed by the current administration has encountered incredibly insensitive opposition from interest who profit from the status quo. If they are successful in keeping US trade in ivory going, African elephants will face extinction. You can help defeat these merchants of death by telling your legislators that you want the ivory trade shut down beginning at home. Ivory gleams beautifully white, but the only place it belongs is in an elephant's mouth.