Thai ivory boom 'fuelling Africa elephant crisis'

[webfact]

Thai ivory boom 'fuelling Africa elephant crisis'

BANGKOK, July 3, 2014 (AFP) - Thailand's "out of control" ivory market is driving Africa's elephant poaching crisis, conservationists warned Wednesday, accusing the kingdom of backsliding on its pledges.

The number of ivory products on sale in Bangkok nearly trebled from 5,865 in January last year to 14,512 in May 2014, according to the wildlife group TRAFFIC.

The Southeast Asian nation, a known hub for the illegal trade in tusks from Africa, has come under pressure to ban the sale of ivory from domestic elephants.

This legal trade is blamed for easing the smuggling of ivory into Thailand from other countries, most of which is made into ornaments or taken to China and Vietnam where tusks are used in traditional medicine.

In a report released Wednesday, TRAFFIC said the amount of ivory on sale in Bangkok could not have come from Thai elephants alone.

"Thailand's efforts to regulate local ivory markets have failed... their nation's ivory markets continue to be out of control and fuel the current African elephant poaching crisis," said TRAFFIC's Naomi Doak.

The number of shops selling ivory products in Bangkok also rose from 61 to 105 between January and December last year, the group said, with Doak estimating that up to 80 percent of the ivory in Bangkok was sourced from outside Thailand.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has warned of industrial-scale poaching to meet demand for ivory in Thailand and China, with more than 20,000 African elephants poached in 2013 alone for their tusks.

Thailand agreed to implement an action plan to tackle the problem during a CITES meeting in Bangkok last year, including better regulation of ivory sellers and adding African elephants to its list of protected species.

But Doak said the timeline for the plan was too long. She called on Thai authorities to suspend domestic sales of ivory until "enforcement agencies are given the power to effectively enforce the law".

Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy director general of Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said the kingdom was trying to control the trade, adding that conservationists should also focus on where the illegal trade originates.

"When we can have better control, the trade will be more strict and illegal trade will decrease," he said.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-07-03

[webfact]

ILLEGAL TRADE
'Horrific' rise in ivory trade
Thiranat Sucharikul
The Nation



Activist blames thai law for failing to control proliferation of ivory products

BANGKOK: -- DESPITE ITS professed reverence for elephants, Thailand has failed to rein in the illegal ivory trade.

Partly to blame for the current poaching crisis is Thai domestic legislation. It permits trade in ivory from domesticated Asian elephants but provides no effective mechanism or legal framework for the internal regulation of this market, according to the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

"Because visually, you cannot tell the difference between African and Asian ivory, once the African ivory reaches the market place in Thailand, it is sold as domesticated elephant ivory," Vietnam-based Greater Mekong Region coordinator for TRAFFIC Naomi Doak, said yesterday. She lamented that the presence of ivory in Thailand, as a result, had increased at a "horrific" pace.

According to latest surveys, the number of shops selling ivory products has burgeoned to double the number of the previous year - from 61 ivory sellers in January 2013 to 120 in May 2014. Ivory products have also increased almost three fold - from 5,715 items to 13,237. The products accounted for were only those visible in shop fronts and did not include those hidden behind as stock.

"Each one of these represents the death of an elephant," Doak said.

The situation in Thailand is particularly complicated because the Kingdom has domesticated elephants that produce ivory, meaning they can legally be sold on the domestic market. This ivory is illegal outside Thailand.

Doak suggested that the amount of ivory products available in Thailand appeared greater than what domesticated pachyderms would be able to provide.

In 2012, Thailand had 4,169 registered domesticated elephants. Just over 30 per cent were male. This means at most, there were 1,237 registered male elephants able to provide ivory for the domestic market. Some male pachyderms, after all, are tuskless.

Under Thai law, all shops selling ivory are required to register with the Ministry of Commerce, regardless of its size. However, many of these shops have not been registered.

Doak recommended that Thailand strictly adhere to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora resolutions.

Thailand has recorded seven of the largest ivory seizures worldwide since 2009, totalling 9.1 tonnes of ivory. Another consignment, weighing 532 kg, was destined for Thailand but was seized at the point of export in Kenya.

Statistics show that on average, five elephants are killed per hour globally.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Horrific-rise-in-ivory-trade-30237619.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-03

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Slave labor hub, hub of Ivory trade and Sharkfin soup hub of Asia is this all Thainess?

[Thai at Heart]

Thailand is just the hub of such wholesome business at the moment.

[Payboy]

The Southeast Asian nation, a known hub for the illegal trade in tusks from Africa

Hubba Hubba

[NongKhaiKid]

The Southeast Asian nation, a known hub for the illegal trade in tusks from Africa

Hubba Hubba

HUB you too much ... sorry

[jaltsc]

"Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy director general of Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said the kingdom was trying to control the trade..."

Either you control and end the trade or you don't. "Trying" is just a political BS term meaning that they are not doing anything and they want to be left alone to make profits off the murdering of the soon to be extinct elephant. Doesn't really show too much respect for the national symbol. One wonders what other national symbols these people disrespect while professing their loyalty and obedience.

Edited July 2, 2014 by jaltsc

[Soutpeel]

"Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, deputy director general of Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said the kingdom was trying to control the trade..."

Either you control the trade or you don't. "Trying" is just a political BS term meaning that they are not doing anything and they want to be left alone to make profits off the murdering of the soon to be extinct elephant. Doesn't really show too much respect for the national symbol. One wonders what other national symbols these people disrespect while professing their loyalty and obedience.

Bit like the war on drugs you mean ?.....they are "trying" to control the trade, none too successfully it appears on that front

The only way to have even a chance to stop this, is ban the sale outright, irrespective of source, impose penalties similar to those involved in the drug trade and execute a few a them, the message may start getting across

Edited July 2, 2014 by Soutpeel

[lostsoul49]

Thailand is fast becoming well known the world over for all the wrong reasons.

Human trafficking for sex industry etc...

Enslaving a migrant child while treating it less humane than a scabby soi dog,

Forced slavery in the fishing industry

Widespread child labour,

Massive corruption problems,

and now an international hub of one of the most globally frowned on trade practices known.

And they wonder why the west reprimand them while they stand there gob-smacked like they are the nicest people on the planet and everyone is picking on them and how the real problem is that the west just doesn't understand Thai culture.

I'm slowly getting to the point where I am going to feel ashamed to say I even live here.

Edited July 2, 2014 by lostsoul49

[daveAustin]

I'm slowly getting to the point where I am going to feel ashamed to say I even live here.

I stopped correcting people a long time ago when they thought I lived in Taiwan.

[Lupatria]

... or taken to China and Vietnam where tusks are used in traditional medicine.

It's time for the rest of the world to slaughter and marinate the coddled Pandas for a traditional western BBQ in the zoos around the globe. Maybe, just maybe, that's when the Chinese hillbillies become aware, that the distinction of entire species (Vietnamese and African rhinos, elephants and sharks etc.) for their scientifically baseless traditional medicine, superstition and arrogance, is nothing than stupid.

[tomyummer]

Time for a call to dear Uncle Prayuth to swoop in and confiscate all ivory in shops across Thailand. Funny, the country where the elephant is the sacred symbol of the land deals in the trade that leads to their slaughter in another.

[trainman34014]

Is this a surprise ? Nope....Next !

[monkeycountry]

Blablablabla. Thailand will play a major part in the eventual extinction of elephants, because Thailand insists on protecting the livelihood of around 100 Ivory shops (according to the article). Any sensible government would simply ban the sale completely and close those shops, which would end Thailand's participatioin in the problem.

[bigbamboo]

Thailand is fast becoming well known the world over for all the wrong reasons.

Human trafficking for sex industry etc...

Enslaving a migrant child while treating it less humane than a scabby soi dog,

Forced slavery in the fishing industry

Widespread child labour,

Massive corruption problems,

and now an international hub of one of the most globally frowned on trade practices known.

And they wonder why the west reprimand them while they stand there gob-smacked like they are the nicest people on the planet and everyone is picking on them and how the real problem is that the west just doesn't understand Thai culture.

I'm slowly getting to the point where I am going to feel ashamed to say I even live here.

Sadly the 'Buddhist paradise' I moved to some years ago now is losing it's lustre.

[monkeycountry]

Anyway, Thailand is famous for elephants, and soon Thailand will be famous for their extinction too - another item on the list of things Thais can be proud of.

[steve73]

It's not difficult to use DNA testing to differentiate between African (largely illegal) and Asian (possibly legal) elephant ivory. (As I recall reading in New Scientist a year or so ago.)

A couple of high-profile convictions would soon ensure that all ivory sold is fully traceable back to its original legal source.

Doesn't address the immoral demand for any ivory though.... although arguably that sourced from animals that have died naturally in the wild would still be (morally if not legally) acceptable.

Edited July 3, 2014 by steve73

[brianP]

If i could be the General for a day.

[fabphil]

Find the poachers, round them all up and blast them to kingdom come... SAVE the Elephants and rhino...

[kuiburi]

Sadly most of the confiscated Ivory, rhino horns , tigerskins , ect will be burned so the animals died for nothing .

Why not legalize the confiscated items and have them auctioned of by a world wide organization like WWF . and use the money to protect the

endangered species .

Give the park rangers a decent salary and employ more of them , improve natural habitats , offer rewards for the names of poachers and

traders so they can be arrested , ect .

[jpeg]

It's not difficult to use DNA testing to differentiate between African (largely illegal) and Asian (possibly legal) elephant ivory. (As I recall reading in New Scientist a year or so ago.)

A couple of high-profile convictions would soon ensure that all ivory sold is fully traceable back to its original legal source.

Doesn't address the immoral demand for any ivory though.... although arguably that sourced from animals that have died naturally in the wild would still be (morally if not legally) acceptable.

It matters not where the elephant came from. Slaughtering an animal to make a trinket or dubious 'medicine' is abhorrent and Thailand should join the civilized world and blanket BAN IT.

[jpeg]

Why not legalize the confiscated items and have them auctioned of by a world wide organization like WWF . and use the money to protect the elephant

Whilst I understand the sentiment, the reasoning is skewed by the fact that selling seized ivory only adds to the market/desire for ivory. Ban it.

[jackinthebox]

The number of shops selling ivory products in Bangkok also rose from 61 to 105 between January and December last year9*+/0

If you can count them, wHY the <deleted> can't you just close these shops down?

[puipuitom]

Sadly most of the confiscated Ivory, rhino horns , tigerskins , ect will be burned so the animals died for nothing .

Why not legalize the confiscated items and have them auctioned of by a world wide organization like WWF . and use the money to protect the endangered species .

Give the park rangers a decent salary and employ more of them , improve natural habitats , offer rewards for the namesof poachers and traders so they can be arrested , ect .

Yes, and reward the rangers with US$ 10,000 for every poacher / illigal trader / illigal user they can kill.

[Jim walker]

Who needs elephants its money money we need lovely Bahts that’s all us Thais need it’s our number 1 priority money money.

[worzel]

ILLEGAL TRADE

'Horrific' rise in ivory trade

Thiranat Sucharikul

The Nation

Activist blames thai law for failing to control proliferation of ivory products

BANGKOK: -- DESPITE ITS professed reverence for elephants, Thailand has failed to rein in the illegal ivory trade.

Partly to blame for the current poaching crisis is Thai domestic legislation. It permits trade in ivory from domesticated Asian elephants but provides no effective mechanism or legal framework for the internal regulation of this market, according to the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

"Because visually, you cannot tell the difference between African and Asian ivory, once the African ivory reaches the market place in Thailand, it is sold as domesticated elephant ivory," Vietnam-based Greater Mekong Region coordinator for TRAFFIC Naomi Doak, said yesterday. She lamented that the presence of ivory in Thailand, as a result, had increased at a "horrific" pace.

According to latest surveys, the number of shops selling ivory products has burgeoned to double the number of the previous year - from 61 ivory sellers in January 2013 to 120 in May 2014. Ivory products have also increased almost three fold - from 5,715 items to 13,237. The products accounted for were only those visible in shop fronts and did not include those hidden behind as stock.

"Each one of these represents the death of an elephant," Doak said.

The situation in Thailand is particularly complicated because the Kingdom has domesticated elephants that produce ivory, meaning they can legally be sold on the domestic market. This ivory is illegal outside Thailand.

Doak suggested that the amount of ivory products available in Thailand appeared greater than what domesticated pachyderms would be able to provide.

In 2012, Thailand had 4,169 registered domesticated elephants. Just over 30 per cent were male. This means at most, there were 1,237 registered male elephants able to provide ivory for the domestic market. Some male pachyderms, after all, are tuskless.

Under Thai law, all shops selling ivory are required to register with the Ministry of Commerce, regardless of its size. However, many of these shops have not been registered.

Doak recommended that Thailand strictly adhere to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora resolutions.

Thailand has recorded seven of the largest ivory seizures worldwide since 2009, totalling 9.1 tonnes of ivory. Another consignment, weighing 532 kg, was destined for Thailand but was seized at the point of export in Kenya.

Statistics show that on average, five elephants are killed per hour globally.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Horrific-rise-in-ivory-trade-30237619.html

-- The Nation 2014-07-03

come on thailand is the center of the universe they can do what the f4trk they want

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[bangon04]

Who needs elephants its money money we need lovely Bahts that’s all us Thais need it’s our number 1 priority money money.

and as long as the Chinese keep buying it, the Thais will keep supplying it....