The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International (HSUS/HSI) applauded a commendable decision announced in October by eBay to ban the sale of ivory on its website marketplaces worldwide, beginning on Jan. 1.
Ivory objects offered on eBay are most commonly made from the tusks of African or Asian elephants. Based on investigations of the ivory trade, HSUS/HSI believes that many of these ivory objects are illegal in origin, most likely from the estimated 20,000 to 23,000 African elephants poached every year. China is the leading destination for raw ivory from poached elephants. Investigators believe that about one-third of the ivory offered for sale today, including ivory sold in the United States, was recently carved in China.
HSUS/HSI has long been concerned about the sale of elephant ivory on the Internet and on eBay in particular. In 2002, an HSUS investigation discovered thousands of ivory items offered each day on eBay. HSUS/HSI brought its concerns to eBay. The company has been examining the issue ever since.
"We too are concerned that the global demand for ivory has been a significant factor in the poaching of endangered and protected species, especially African and Asian elephants," said Jack Christin, senior regulatory counsel at eBay Inc. in an email to HSUS/HSI today. "In order to protect our buyers and sellers, as well as animals in danger of extinction, we have taken the proactive measure to institute a global ban on the sale of all types of ivory."
The international trade in ivory was banned in 1990 by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is also illegal under U.S. law to import to or export elephant ivory from the United States for commercial purposes. However, there are exceptions to these laws that are easily exploited. For instance, antique ivory that is more than 100 years old, or ivory from extinct elephant relatives such as mammoths, can be legally traded. HSUS investigators found traders willing to provide fraudulent documents to get around these laws in order to make ivory from recently poached elephants seem as though it were legal.
"The laws and regulations pertaining to ivory trade are confusing and riddled with loopholes that are exploited by those involved in the international and domestic ivory trade," said Teresa Telecky, Ph.D, policy director for HSI. "eBay's decision to wash its hands of the uncontrollable, bloody ivory trade is commendable and should set an example for others."
eBay's decision comes on the heels of an announcement last week that, in late October and early November, five southern African countries will sell more than 100 tons of stockpiled ivory to Japan and China in a controversial one-time trade deal agreed by CITES. The two importing countries are not legally allowed to export the ivory or objects made from it.
Facts about ivory trade:
- Ivory objects in trade are most commonly made from the tusks of African or Asian elephants, but the term can also be used to describe the teeth of other animals including walrus, hippos and whales.
- Asian elephants are an endangered species with fewer than 32,000 remaining in the wild. African elephants are a threatened species with fewer than 600,000 remaining in the wild.
- An estimated 20,000 to 23,000 African elephants are poached annually (http://www.bornfree.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/files/reports/FINAL_Ivory_Report.pdf).
- In March 2007, the results of an investigative report into the ivory trade in the United States, which was sponsored by HSUS/HSI, were released demonstrating that the United States is the world's second-largest ivory marketplace. The investigators found thousands of ivory retail markets in 16 American cities that they visited in 2006 and 2007. More than 24,000 ivory objects were found for sale, almost half of them in New York City alone; other top cities included Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu. Most ivory objects for sale were jewelry or small carved figures, an estimated one-third of which were carved and imported illegally from China in the past 18 years while the international trade in elephant ivory was banned by CITES. The objects were often mislabeled as "antiques" or "mammoth ivory." Sale of such ivory, if genuine, is allowed by U.S. law. This confirms the findings of a 2002 HSUS report, the first of its kind, which examined the U.S. ivory trade and demonstrated that ivory marketers use false labeling to take advantage of loopholes in U.S. laws and regulations. Ivory is sold in the United States at flea markets, on the Internet, at craft exhibits, and at stores.
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