Dept of Thai National Parks proposes burning of confiscated ivory

[webfact]

Department proposes burning of confiscated ivory



BANGKOK: -- The Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation is asking for permission from the prime minster to destroy five tons of illegal, stockpiled ivory to prevent them from commercial exploitation.

The ivory intended for destruction is part of the 12 tons of illegal ivory stockpiles worth a combined value of 600 million baht kept by the department and the Customs Department.

Director-general of the department Mr Niphon Chotibal said the five-ton weight of ivory that he was seeking approval from the prime minister for burning is under the care of jointly by the department,while the Customs Department is taking care of seven tons.

He said the ivory under his department’s care is valued at 200 million baht.

If the burning gets approval from the prime minister, a merit making ceremony will also be held simultaneously for the hunted elephants killed by poachers.

He said ultra heat furnace is needed for the burning so to prevent commercial exploitation from the ivory remains after the burning.

A ton of ivory is sold at 30,000-50,000 baht at black market.

He said in the request for permission, the department will seek an appointment of a committee to check the ivory stockpiles in the care of both the national parks and customs departments.

The committee will decide which ivory should be destroyed, he said.

He will also ask the cabinet to revoke a cabinet resolution on 16 September 2014 which bans the burning of confiscated ivory

He said the minister of natural resources and environment Gen Dapong Ratanasuwan had a policy to burn illegal ivory to prevent them from commercial exploitation as had been practised by many countries such as China, Kenya, and Hong Kong and was described by conservationists as a significant symbolic step to save African elephants from poaching.

He also said that so far 30 tons of ivory has been registered with authorities by 3,000 owners.

He earned all individuals and temples which have in possession ivory to register within the April 21 deadline or else they will face three years in prison and six million baht as fine.

Mr Niphon said the confiscated ivory that he proposed for burning are those which are broken or have defects.

But no matter they are broken or in small pieces, or have defects they are valuable, he said.

He said there had been three options to manage confiscated ivory – keep them, burn them, or return them back to country of origin.

But the third is hardly possible because authorities do not know exactly where the ivory came from which country and costly expenses is required.

So there are only two choices left, burn or keep them, he said.

But for his department, confiscated ivory will be partly kept and partly burnt, he said.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/department-proposes-burning-of-confiscated-ivory


-- Thai PBS 2015-03-17

[trogers]

Partly burnt and partly kept?

Make up your mind.

[Costas2008]

Burn them, as somebody will eventually find the way to put them in the market.

This is Thailand..........you can't trust anybody, especially when money is involved.

[NextStationBangkok]

>>But for his department, confiscated ivory will be partly kept and partly burnt, he said.

This is the trick in this fraud, partly kept and partly burn, so that no accountability will be there. UN conservative organization, and environmental protection organizations should rope in Thailand and take over responsibility how to dispose the ivory.

Good idea to burn them to ashes with WWF as witness, otherwise Thai police will sell it to chathuchak shops in whole sale. I hope the new law will help save these giant species from disappearing. Thailand has lot of home work to do for the wildlife.

Another sad thing is Tiger temple is back to business, i am 100% sure they are the suppliers of Chinese Tiger meat in China, will they dare to install security camera inside and share their activities to police ?

Only money plays here in Thailand, no Government official works with full heart to save this country or environment. Because everyone wanted a share from tea money.

Edited March 17, 2015 by NextStationBangkok

[junk1e]

Burn it all or no doubt it will disappear.

Disgraceful that Tiger temple open again.

[tomacht8]

That would be stupid.

The elephants killed will not be alive again.

Better to legalize and sell the ivory.

Thus, the offer would be greater, and the idiotic demand are damped.

The price would actually decrease and the illegal poach be less profitable.

The sale profit should then be used to protect existing stocks.

Last:
......A ton of ivory is sold at 30,000-50,000 baht at black market.
This price tag is wrong.

Edited March 17, 2015 by tomacht8

[hansgruber]

I can imagine a wood turner making some dummy tusks for the burning ceremony. Too much money at stake for it to really happen.

[BudRight]

Burning the ivory would seem to compound the elephant's death rather than mitigate it. I can't imagine that by keeping it off the market they are keeping prices low either, but rather increasing the rarity of what they didn't seize.

If that isn't persuasive, then what if there was one elephant left on Earth and someone killed it for it's ivory. Would you burn it then? I'll never understand.

[fgmr]

Why not use some of this stock as bait to apprehend those involved in the illegal trade?

As this stock can now be registered why not use it through legal marketing channels, the price on the black market is like any other? Supply vs Demand. With more legally available stock surely the price on the black markets would fall thus deterring the poachers

[Daniel Ingalls]

Damn......this is stupid. If the Thai Government is short on money, use the ivory to sell legally. Do they burn the wood confiscated? 600million baht is just a drop in the bucket, but every little bit helps. Use your brain!

[Oziex1]

Dear Thailand , please find another method of waste disposal not everything has to be burnt does it.

[Briggsy]

There seems to be an arithmetical problem here. It is a common feature of Thai newspaper articles. Can they not add up or write sentences involving statistical information without making a hash of it?

And with regards to the burning, the real meaning of this government proposal is that all the negotations to smuggle this ivory to China have now come to fruition and the various depts. have to come up with a plausible story to explain its disappearance. I like the "super high temperature incinerator" bit to explain the lack of burnt residue. They should have gone the whole hog and said they had a vaporiser. The merit making puts the cap on the whole thing giving it a holy air.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Briggsy

[northernphil]

Send it all to C/Mai , they would love a burning there.

[Traveling Sailor]

"So there are only two choices left, burn or keep them, he said". So, the only way to get rid of anything in Thailand is to burn??

Take it all to Chang Mai and burn it. Probably won't increase the haze by much.

[phil2407]

Have 12 tonnes destroy 5 tonnes - and 7 tonnes goes where? Instead of UK that use illegally imported cigs to fuel power stations - which in my opinion they just confiscate them and resell - why not do the same with the Ivory? You can't bring the animals back if they were killed for their tusks - I don't like it but facts are facts - and I love elephants - in Africa they are tranquilising Rhinos and cutting off their horns to try stop the poaching but not nature - rutting etc - let the Ivory go to aution - no preview all sealed - luck of the draw what you get - pointless burning it - I'm sure I will get lambasted for this - MOI

[Doc46]

Why would they want to burn the ivory,,,,,,Is it that they want to hide the ivory themselves? The ivory should be registered by the Government so it still can be sold with registration to shops an still can be used,,,It is a crying shame to destroy the ivory that has been ill gotten,Make use of the ivory now,,,,,,You will never see it again ,,,,,,,,

[cumgranosalum]

Burning Ivory is essential to stopping the ivory trade. however, one has to be very wary about how much and when Thai officials actually burn.

for an article on the pros and cons read this.....

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/06/does-destroying-ivory-save-elephants

for a more positive opinion try here.....

http://burntheivory.org/news/

the problem is that governments see this as a dramatic way to make it look as if they are doing something.

thailand at present is under great pressure from CITES to show that they are doing something about the ivory trade in Thailand, which they refuse to close down.

it underlines a basic lack of commitment by all political factions to Thailand to environmental issues - they simply don't get it! most of these actions seen in the last couple of months are simply panic measures to try and make Thailand look good in the eyes of CITES and prevent the imposition of sanctions that could cost the country trillions.

Edited March 18, 2015 by cumgranosalum

[cumgranosalum]

Why would they want to burn the ivory,,,,,,Is it that they want to hide the ivory themselves? The ivory should be registered by the Government so it still can be sold with registration to shops an still can be used,,,It is a crying shame to destroy the ivory that has been ill gotten,Make use of the ivory now,,,,,,You will never see it again ,,,,,,,,

sorry - you need to read up on this - it doesn't work like that.