Don't Buy Ivory In Thailand, Foreign Visitors Warned

[webfact]

Don't buy ivory in Thailand, visitors warned
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Foreigners visiting Thailand have been advised not to buy elephant tusks or any ivory product, even a piece as small as an earring or bracelet.

Offenders might face arrest in Thailand or at home if they take any tusk or ivory product outside the Kingdom.

This strong measure has been implemented under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in order to stamp out the international ivory trade.

"You would be arrested at the airport in Thailand or in your original country if we find you are trying to carry ivory products outside the Kingdom," Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP)’s deputy director general Theerapat Prayurasiddhi vowed said.


-- The Nation 2013-03-13

[Skywalker69]

Don´t buy ivory in any Country.

Edited March 13, 2013 by Skywalker69

[culicine]

How is a tourist supposed to know the difference between real ivory (which I imagine is very expensive), and plastic moulded rubbish (that is sold as overpriced 'real' ivory)? I guess it's easier to arrest a tourist than catch the presumably well connected real perpetrators.

[retell]

Don´t buy ivory in any Country.

took the words out of my mouth,, don't buy ivory anywhere .

[Kilgore Trout]

How is a tourist supposed to know the difference between real ivory (which I imagine is very expensive), and plastic moulded rubbish (that is sold as overpriced 'real' ivory)? I guess it's easier to arrest a tourist than catch the presumably well connected real perpetrators.

Easier, I would say catching the real perpetrators is not in their interest at all and never, ever will be. Thailand will rape itself of its own ivory and act as a conduit for illegal ivory until it is all gone. This will never change.

[Katipo]

How about actually arresting the people selling the stuff? If it is easy enough for tourists to find, then surely the police won't have any trouble either.

[impulse]

Don't buy ivory in Thailand, foreign visitors warned. It drives up prices for the locals.

If there were any sincere reason for the warning, they could nip it in the bud in a few days by going after the sellers who are right out in the open.

Edited March 13, 2013 by impulse

[Kilgore Trout]

How about actually arresting the people selling the stuff? If it is easy enough for tourists to find, then surely the police won't have any trouble either.

Thats right, the police won't have any "trouble" protecting the ivory dealers who pay them.

[clockman]

They have had 10 years grace, now apply sanctions. Hit them in the pocket!

[Sophon]

How is a tourist supposed to know the difference between real ivory (which I imagine is very expensive), and plastic moulded rubbish (that is sold as overpriced 'real' ivory)? I guess it's easier to arrest a tourist than catch the presumably well connected real perpetrators.

Why would the tourist need to know the difference, just don't buy anything that's sold as ivory? You shouldn't buy it if it's real ivory, and you wouldn't wan't to buy it if it's "plastic moulded rubbish".

The only way a tourist would get into trouble is if he/she bought ivory believing that it was not real ivory, and that just isn't going to happen as real ivory (as you correctly imagine) is expensive. So the seller would not sell it at a price that could lead you to believe that it is only a copy product.

Sophon

[tangcoral]

I could name a hundred other things that should be higher on the "don't buy list"

[ratcatcher]

I could name a hundred other things that should be higher on the "don't buy list"

Maybe, but could you at least give us 10 "Not to Buy" things?

[ginjag]

I could name a hundred other things that should be higher on the "don't buy list"

Maybe, but could you at least give us 10 "Not to Buy" things?

Croc-tiger-rhino-sting ray-shark-House in a Thai name--a thai family-whitening cream-drugs-a coke in a go go bar.---a start is it ????

[Thai at Heart]

have been advised not to buy elephant tusks or any ivory product, even a piece as small as an earring or bracelet.

Offenders might face arrest in Thailand or at home if they take any tusk or ivory product outside the Kingdom.

Might, could, maybe......

[JetsetBkk]

But I thought Thailand had their own elephants registered so the ivory could be sold legally?

If so, is the DNP’s deputy director general Theerapat Prayurasiddhi just puffing out his chest?

[Bagwan]

Does this mean the end of the line for the Tooth Fairy?

[Bluespunk]

Most people outside Thailand assume that ivory trade is illegal. I know I did till recently. They have been educated and informed about the brutality and slaughter that lies behind this trade. It's not the foreigner who needs to be warned or taught about this vile trade, not at all.

[bigbamboo]

We wouldn't anyway.

Can't speak for the Thais though.

Edited March 13, 2013 by bigbamboo

[Locationthailand]

"... Offenders might face arrest in Thailand or at home if they take any tusk or ivory product outside the Kingdom"

They have DNA testing at the Immigration points and oh they know. Be afraid, be very afraid... Who writes this crap? Noticed the journo did not tag it.

[bluegum]

But I thought Thailand had their own elephants registered so the ivory could be sold legally?

If so, is the DNP’s deputy director general Theerapat Prayurasiddhi just puffing out his chest?

As far as i know there is a legal trade in ivory sourced from registered domestic (Asian) elephants and has been so since Thai folk learned how to craft ivory long ago. The big problem that has arisen over recent years is that African tusks are being smuggled in and mixed in with the local stuff on a grand scale - and once it gets crafted they can't really tell the difference between the two. With increasing demand for crafted ivory it has become very lucrative for criminal networks to have African elephants slaughtered for their tusks, which are smuggled through Thailand's porous and corrupt border controls and sold into the local market as raw ivory. Finished products make their way to the local suppliers, but surely most is headed to the big markets in China. Its the perfect laundering environment.

What Thailand needs to do start enforcing international law - stop African tusks getting into the local trinket factories (likely to upset some influential people) and stop anybody taking ivory (raw or worked) out of Thailand (that is where this directive for stopping tourists buying ivory comes from). Both these seem a big ask under the current mindset of authorities. Its failure to do so has led to the raising of international condemnation of Thailand in this issue and threats of CITES sanctions next year. A blanket ban on ivory trading, alluded to by the P.M., would see the end of Thailand's long tradition of ivory craftsmanship. Perhaps that is indeed the price to pay to protect elephants globally.

Of course, any 'ban' in Thailand is likely to be unenforceable... it seems this issue isn't to be resolved anytime soon.

Edited March 13, 2013 by bluegum

[Soi Sauce]

The song, Ebony and Ivory was <deleted>, Why would anyone want a sinilar <deleted> product?

Can't get it up, buy viagra. Don't kill an innocent defenceless animal to prove what a man u are not.

Bet yer cancer causers (ie cars) got a lotta liters, and yer dik ain't got no centimeters.

Edited March 13, 2013 by Soi Sauce

[Marlow999]

The song, Ebony and Ivory was <deleted>, Why would anyone want a sinilar <deleted> product?

Can't get it up, buy viagra. Don't kill an innocent defenceless animal to prove what a man u are not.

Bet yer cancer causers (ie cars) got a lotta liters, and yer dik ain't got no centimeters.

Thank goodness for posts like this. I think.

[reiltin]

Why only foreigners?Why not anybody caught with ivory will be Arrested?Thai dealers-Thai profits-Johnny foreigner in manacles.

[noitom]

How is a tourist supposed to know the difference between real ivory (which I imagine is very expensive), and plastic moulded rubbish (that is sold as overpriced 'real' ivory)? I guess it's easier to arrest a tourist than catch the presumably well connected real perpetrators.

Much easier. And more economical to arrest a few tourists as a token, rather than go after the Mr. Thai Bigs.

[Unkomoncents]

And up go the bribes...

[Bellweather]

How is a tourist supposed to know the difference between real ivory (which I imagine is very expensive), and plastic moulded rubbish (that is sold as overpriced 'real' ivory)? I guess it's easier to arrest a tourist than catch the presumably well connected real perpetrators.

Laws and instructions like this are so easy put in place by people heavily involved in criminality to deflect attention away from themselves. Tourist arrests will be made at the airport with no attempt to trace where the items were bought or their suppliers and the suppliers' suppliers. Nasty tourists not doing what they are told

[webfact]

CITES
Tourists told not to buy any ivory products
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation



People carrying illegal ivory can be arrested at the airport or back home

BANGKOK: -- Foreigners visiting Thailand have been advised not to buy elephant tusks or any ivory products, even if it is something as small as an earring or a bracelet.

Offenders might face arrest in Thailand or at home if they are caught taking tusks or any other ivory product outside the Kingdom.

This measure has been implemented under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in order to stamp out the international ivory trade.

"You will be arrested at the airport in Thailand or in your original country if we find you are trying to carry ivory products outside the Kingdom," Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy director general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), warned.

GLOBAL ACTION

This action is part of a plan, presented at the 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES held in Bangkok, to crack down on illegal ivory in the domestic and international wildlife market.

Thailand has been listed as one of eight countries most involved in the illegal killings of elephants and ivory trade.

The CITES meeting has asked Thailand and the other countries in the list to produce an action plan to reduce ivory trafficking.

If the plan is not effective in reducing illegal ivory trafficking, Thailand will face a ban on all trade related to wildlife products.

In order to implement this action, Theerapat said his agency would ask the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to approve its plan before sending it to the CITES' secretariat in the next two months.

The DNP will ask ivory traders to provide a report of all tusks harvested from domestic elephants. State agencies possessing ivory products must also produce details about them.

PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE

Freeland Foundation's director Steve Galster has called on the Thai government to ban all wildlife trade, including that of ivory products, to reduce demand and eliminate it.

Patrick Omondi, an elephant specialist from Kenya, said the government should ban the ivory trade to reduce the demand for ivory and elephant poaching in Kenya. Over 25,000 wild elephants had been killed there in the past few years.

"Humans can live without ivory, but killing elephants means killing our entire nation," he said.

He also asked the government to return seized ivory to Kenya so Kenyan authorities can trace its origins.


-- The Nation 2013-03-14

[SlyAnimal]

Good thing I saw this article lol, otherwise I might have gotten arrested at the airport next weekend, as I have a small piece of ivory which I wear around my neck for good luck

/sigh I mainly brought it as I knew it was from a domesticated elephant, which is/was legal in Thailand.

[Halion]

This nation is devoid of any tangible format with regard to a moral compas. They will sell anything which will yeild a quick and substantial profit,... including themselves. To slaughter such a noble and revered animals for it's Tusks is a most degenerate act.

I personally can not think of a suitable punishment for these bastards. Something most painfull and very slow.

[R10wota]

How is a tourist supposed to know the difference between real ivory (which I imagine is very expensive), and plastic moulded rubbish (that is sold as overpriced 'real' ivory)? I guess it's easier to arrest a tourist than catch the presumably well connected real perpetrators.

Why should the Tourist know if it is a fake or real if you just don't buy Ivory at all. If it is real and you know where it comes from then probably you wouldnt want to buy it but if it is fake - why would you want to buy it? So better not to bother. And intact, the Smuggling of Ivory can be helped due to so may fakes around the market. The fake ivory may be encouraging people to get the real one. So Fake or Real... people (who cares) should not bother about it at all.