W W F Tells Thailand To Ban Ivory Trade To Save African Elephants

[Lite Beer]

WWF tells Thailand to ban ivory trade to save African elephants

BANGKOK: -- A leading wildlife conservation group on Tuesday urged the Thai government to ban its centuries-old ivory trade in a bid to save African elephants, whose numbers are dwindling fast.

In Thailand, where domesticated elephants are classified as beasts of burden under the law, it is legal to trade in handcarved ivory items so long as the tusks come from Asian pachyderms.

Experts said, however, that the legal ivory business has left a loophole for a booming trade in African elephant tusks imported into the country illicitly.

"Thailand’s legal allowance of trade in ivory tusks from domesticated Asian elephants is exploited to market African elephant ivory as worked products through hundreds of retail outlets," the 2012 report of the Elephant Trade Information System said.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to ban the domestic ivory trade to stop the illicit traffic in ivory that claims tens of thousands of African elephants each year.

"Existing laws are not effective at keeping illegal African ivory out of the Thai market," said Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, campaign leader for WWF-Thailand.

"The only way to prevent Thailand from contributing to elephant poaching is to ban all ivory sales," Janpai said.

The WWF called for a ban before Bangkok hosts the 16th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in March

-- The Nation 2013-01-15

[Misterwhisper]

A total ban is nothing but window-dressing as long as it is not actively enforced. And since we're living in Thailand, we all know how such a ban would work out. Not.

As long as there's money to be made, a lot of parties will be reluctant to slap a general ban on the trade.

I've honestly always found it rather perverse that Buddhist statuettes, amulets and other religious knick-knack are carved from elephant tusks. If nowadays synthetic materials are good enough for pool balls because they closely imitate the properties of natural tusks, one would assume that the same stuff would also be good enough for religious items.

[webfact]

WWF urges Thai ivory ban to spare African elephant

BANGKOK, Jan 15, 2013 (AFP) - Conservationists on Tuesday urged Thailand to end its legal trade in ivory to help curb the slaughter of African elephants by poachers cashing in on their highly-prized tusks.

While it is illegal to sell tusks from African elephants in Thailand, ivory from their Thai cousins can be traded -- a loophole allowing criminal networks to launder their wares through the kingdom, according to the WWF.

"The only way to prevent Thailand from contributing to elephant poaching is to ban all ivory sales," said Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, of WWF-Thailand.

"Today the biggest victims are African elephants, but Thailand's elephants could be next," Janpai added, urging Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to ban the ivory trade to protect the "iconic animals".

Demand for ivory is high in Thailand, where some wealthy people hang tusks on their walls as status symbols and the tradition of ivory carving is popular with tourists and collectors.

WWF says black marketeers routinely smuggle ivory from African elephants -- considered a "vulnerable" species -- into the kingdom and pass it off as coming from the Asian pachyderm, fuelling the poaching crisis.

"Many foreign tourists would be horrified to learn that ivory trinkets on display next to silks in Thai shops may come from elephants massacred in Africa," said Elisabeth McLellan, manager of WWF's Global Species Programme.

"It is illegal to bring ivory back home and it should no longer be on sale in Thailand."

The international trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after elephant populations in Africa dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to some 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

But poaching is at record levels in Africa, prompting Kenya's prime minister last week to appeal for international help to handle the escalating problem.

The appeal came after a family of 11 elephants were slaughtered in a national park in southeast Kenya -- which says it lost at least 360 elephants last year, an increase from the 289 killed in 2011.

A haul of more than a tonne of ivory worth about $1.4 million was found in Hong Kong two weeks ago in a shipment from Kenya.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-01-15

[bigbamboo]

I'm staggered that a country so intertwined with the noble elephant can be a party to this disgraceful practice.

Then again I suppose the WWF is not Thailand's father.

[noitom]

Thailand will follow through and ban the despicable trafficking in elephant ivory. Just as they have banned trafficking in child labor and women. All Thai bans are strictly enforced and prosecuted. The rest of the world know this. Thailand can be counted on.

[Payboy]

WWF tells Thailand to ban ivory trade to save African elephants

What're they gonna do? Send in Hulk Hogan or the Rock to sort out the smugglers?

Edited January 15, 2013 by Payboy

[Locationthailand]

What a ridiculous article. It is the idiots who purchase the ivory in the first place, obviously with small appendages and believe in Rhino horns to enhance their manhood. Same for Tiger claws and so on. Ignorance is such a wonderful thing. By all means ban it but be able to enforce it.