Under sanctions threat, ministry cracks down on ivory trade
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Commerce Ministry's Business Development Department has set up a specialised centre to provide advice on the ivory trade.

It is located at the department's head office at Sanambinnam, Nonthaburi. Traders can call 0-2547-4446/7, or hotline 1570 for advice.

"We intend to prevent illegal ivory trading and create better understanding about trade regulations," the department's director-general Pongpun Gearaviriyapun said yesterday.

In Thailand, ivory from domesticated elephants can be sold, but ivory from wild pachyderms is considered illegal.

According to Pongpun, his ministry is now "stringently" regulating ivory traders and has encouraged them to register with the ministry, to prevent illegal trading and protect Thailand from international sanctions.

Pongpun said the ministry is now closely co-operating with the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to solve legal problems and protect Thailand from international sanctions, which could lead to billion baht losses.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has warned that Thailand could face an international wildlife-trade ban unless it reins in its ivory sector, which is a magnet for traffickers. CITES has set a deadline of next March for Thailand to fall into line or risk wide-ranging sanctions.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Under-sanctions-threat-ministry-cracks-down-on-ivo-30245405.html


-- The Nation 2014-10-14

Thailand is becoming a punchbag. Ivory trading, human trafficking, law enforcement (Koh Tao), massive corruption, education failure. It's high time the Kingdom starts turning the tide. If it wants to play with the big kids it has to adapt. If not it will be punched more. And that will cost money and loss of face. And those two are what is far most important to Thais.

They're fearful of sanctions these Thais are. They have no concern over the morality and humanity of wildlife preservation for their endeared elephants, but the are concerned to make a show to try to avoid trade sanctions that would hit their pockets.

What is the difference between a domesticated Elephant to one in the wild , both understandably want to live to a ripe old age, so what is your problem Thailand, you fail to grasp the basic fundamentals of democracy , you don't have options like in a trumped junta , you actually act and stamp out Ivory trade, people trafficking and all the other law abiding paraphernalia that you need to fix, In his TV blog, Ericberg hits all the right bases on the fix me problems , Thailand is on a denial roundabout and soon it will be the purple circle, you need to act and continue to act on this barbaric practice and all the other unwanted acts.

There cannot be a crackdown because there never was an illegal ivory trade. So we set up a hotline to explain this.

There cannot be a crackdown because there never was an illegal ivory trade. So we set up a hotline to explain this.

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What is the difference between a domesticated Elephant to one in the wild , both understandably want to live to a ripe old age, so what is your problem Thailand, you fail to grasp the basic fundamentals of democracy , you don't have options like in a trumped junta , you actually act and stamp out Ivory trade, people trafficking and all the other law abiding paraphernalia that you need to fix, In his TV blog, Ericberg hits all the right bases on the fix me problems , Thailand is on a denial roundabout and soon it will be the purple circle, you need to act and continue to act on this barbaric practice and all the other unwanted acts. alt=bah.gif>

Night and Day.......

"We intend to prevent illegal ivory trading and create better understanding about trade regulations," in fact they intend to fool the civilised countries, as usually.

Thailand have to ban ivory trade, period.

Thailand has fairly good laws that address many of the issues they now face. Enforcement of them is the problem. Corruption money is too tempting to the cops and government officials.

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What is the difference between a domesticated Elephant to one in the wild , both understandably want to live to a ripe old age, so what is your problem Thailand, you fail to grasp the basic fundamentals of democracy , you don't have options like in a trumped junta , you actually act and stamp out Ivory trade, people trafficking and all the other law abiding paraphernalia that you need to fix, In his TV blog, Ericberg hits all the right bases on the fix me problems , Thailand is on a denial roundabout and soon it will be the purple circle, you need to act and continue to act on this barbaric practice and all the other unwanted acts. alt=bah.gif>

Night and Day.......

Yin and Yang occupy the same side of the coin. Night and Day belong to the same planet. There should be a zero tolerance for any ivory trade.

Only a total ban on ivory trade will suffice.

As always Thais and Thailand is only concerned about themselves, they could not care less about the extinction of african elephants, only about the possible sanctions.

And as always, the Thai government is basically asking business owners to regulate themselves and do the right thing even though history has proven that this approach never ever works in Thailand.

So basically what Thailand is saying to the world is that it is more important to save a few hundred ivory shops than to save the african elephants.

At least I think the world in general is no longer surprised by the extreme selfishness and greed so often displayed by Thailand and Thais.

From various links on google it seems there is between 2,000-4,000 wild elephanys and around 3,000-4,000 domesticated elephants in Thailand.

Lets assume they live an average of 40 years (a guess), and that all the ivory is sold, from both wild and domesticated elephants, that would mean around 200 dead elephants a year (8000 / 40), which equals 400 tusks a year (2 x 200).

As I understand from previous news there is some 200 "legal" ivory shops in Thailand, which means on average each shop can legally sell 2 tusks a year, before they run out of legal ivory, and that is best case scenario.

I don't know the going rate for ivory, but I strongly doubt 2 tusks a year is enough to keep a profitable business.

I wonder how much the Thai government is being paid to overlook this simple calculation, and let the 200 "legal" ivory traders continue selling african ivory, which is obviously their main business?

I've a great Idea... Lets sell the fingers of poachers to the Chinese with the promise that it will increase their virility, the size of their penis and cure cancer! Double the price if it's an African poacher because size does matter. Never mind shark fins and tiger penis... They'd be eating the real kings of the beasts!

I swear I could market this!

Ohhh, be careful sanctions coming.....

Let's make a committee and seem to do something... Till next sanction threat..

"But don't any of you dare actually doing something please or they will ask for more next time"

This is Thainess at it's lowest. Elephants hold a significant place in Thailand, which celebrates March 13 each year as Thai Elephant Day. They also form an important part of Thai culture and national symbols, and they can not impose a total ban on this filty trade, just sad.

From various links on google it seems there is between 2,000-4,000 wild elephanys and around 3,000-4,000 domesticated elephants in Thailand.

Lets assume they live an average of 40 years (a guess), and that all the ivory is sold, from both wild and domesticated elephants, that would mean around 200 dead elephants a year (8000 / 40), which equals 400 tusks a year (2 x 200).

As I understand from previous news there is some 200 "legal" ivory shops in Thailand, which means on average each shop can legally sell 2 tusks a year, before they run out of legal ivory, and that is best case scenario.

I don't know the going rate for ivory, but I strongly doubt 2 tusks a year is enough to keep a profitable business.

I wonder how much the Thai government is being paid to overlook this simple calculation, and let the 200 "legal" ivory traders continue selling african ivory, which is obviously their main business?

A pair of old tusks, in good condition and set up on a stand, can bring up to 4-5 million nowadays......!!

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What is the difference between a domesticated Elephant to one in the wild , both understandably want to live to a ripe old age, so what is your problem Thailand, you fail to grasp the basic fundamentals of democracy , you don't have options like in a trumped junta , you actually act and stamp out Ivory trade, people trafficking and all the other law abiding paraphernalia that you need to fix, In his TV blog, Ericberg hits all the right bases on the fix me problems , Thailand is on a denial roundabout and soon it will be the purple circle, you need to act and continue to act on this barbaric practice and all the other unwanted acts. alt=bah.gif>

Night and Day.......

Yin and Yang occupy the same side of the coin. Night and Day belong to the same planet. There should be a zero tolerance for any ivory trade.

That's deep!

This is not a crackdown - it is a smokescreen to avoid sanctions.

The sanctions rare worth trillions of baht to Thailand lost in restrictions on imported and exported products derived from flora and fauna.

“At the CITES meeting in Bangkok last year, there was jubilation when the then Thai Prime Minister alluded that her country would ban its legal ivory trade. We expressed concern at the time that we needed to see action follow the words – but they haven’t. In fact, according to a new report, the number of places selling ivory in Bangkok has actually tripled in the last year - "

http://www.careforthewild.com/2014/07/thailands-false-promise-ivory-shows-cites-must-follow/#sthash.ZtJtQISz.dpuf

​now apparently the government feels this would interfere with an individual's right to do business - !?!?!?!