WWF lauds Thai efforts against ivory trafficking

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WWF lauds Thai efforts against ivory trafficking
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has lauded Thailand's decision to crush two tonnes of confiscated ivory today as a strong message of the country's "zero tolerance for illegal ivory trafficking".

On August 21, Thai officials' rigorous audit process, assisted by conservation organisations including WWF-Thailand, was completed.

A total of 1,206 kilograms of ivory tusks and trinkets in the possession of the Customs Department were measured and cross-checked with existing records.

The same method was used to audit 950 kilograms of ivory held by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Freeland.

"The ivory destruction will send a strong, clear message that Thailand will have zero tolerance for consumers of illegal ivory and the traffickers who have long used Thailand as a gateway and marketplace," said WWF's Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, who participated in the audit.

"And it echoes the will of 1.3 million Thais who spoke up against illegal ivory trade as part of WWF's "Chor Chang Can Save Elephants" campaign earlier this year. Thailand's support of the independent audit process before crushing the ivory is a vital step in demonstrating its commitment to tackling the issue of illegal ivory in the country and stopping wildlife crime."

Earlier this year, the Thai government passed the Elephant Ivory Act requiring owners and traders to register their ivory, hence 220 tons of ivory was registered by over 44,000 private citizens.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/WWF-lauds-Thai-efforts-against-ivory-trafficking-30267440.html


-- The Nation 2015-08-26

[Dibbler]

Why should Thai Government be congratulated? Only 2 tonnes of the total amount is being destroyed. Vast amounts of ivory confiscated by Customs is being kept stockpiled in undisclosed locations. Why? Ivory has resurfaced (again) at the Bangkok Weekend Market. The only way to demonstrate commitment to stopping illegal trade in ivory is to destroy all of it and change the law to make domestic trade of any ivory for any purpose illegal. Other countries are showing the lead on this but not Thailand which remains one of two focal points of illegal ivory trade in Asia (Thailand is both a consumer and a transit country), the other being China which is a consumer country. Thailand remains on the top of the global list of countries with unregulated domestic ivory trade.

[bangkokfrog]

Well said Dibbler. Also, how can we be sure that this is "real" ivory? If the Customs Office was able to "misplace" dozens of luxury cars from a bonded warehouse, it would seem a fairly easy thing to swap ivory for something that looks and sounds the same when crushed.

[Dibbler]

Well said Dibbler. Also, how can we be sure that this is "real" ivory? If the Customs Office was able to "misplace" dozens of luxury cars from a bonded warehouse, it would seem a fairly easy thing to swap ivory for something that looks and sounds the same when crushed.

This is part of the problem. It is legal to trade ivory from captive Thai elephants but illegal to trade ivory from wild African or Asian elephants. There are ways to distinguish African from Asian ivory but very difficult to tell apart wild from captive Asian. In any case there has been training done with the DNP and Customs officials but most of the time they will get it wrong, and sometimes they might be told by their supervisors not to look closely at certain shipments. Yet another lucrative illegal business that has made Thailand internationally famous (along with people smuggling, and as you point out luxury car smuggling).