Illegal ivory can be easily bought in Britain: IFAW

NAIROBI – Illegal ivory can be easily bought across Britain raising concerns about whether rich and poor countries can effectively police the ivory trade if it were to be reopened, says an official of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Antique shops in Britain sell carvings made of new ivory that are stained to look old and in some shops raw ivory is openly sold without any papers in violation of British law, said Phyllis Campbell-McRae, the organisation’s United Kingdom director said at the end of last week. “We would like all CITES (the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) members to vote against the reopening of the ivory trade,” she said, because if a rich country like Britain cannot control the ivory trade within its borders, poor countries with significant elephant populations certainly won’t be able to.In May Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland proposed annual sales of ivory stockpiles to the top decision-making body of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species scheduled to meet in October in Bangkok, Thailand.In 1989 the convention imposed a ban on the ivory trade, but since then the convention has twice allowed conditional one-off sales of ivory stockpiles by selected southern African countries which have huge elephant herds that are in some cases destroying the environment.The latest such sale was to take place this year but Botswana, Namibia and South Africa were unable to meet the sale conditions.Countries like Kenya, where the elephant population is still recovering from rampant poaching in the 1980s, are worried that by allowing new ivory to enter the market the convention may unwittingly give cover to poachers who want to sell their illegally obtained ivory.Eleven elephants and two rhinos have been killed in central and eastern Kenya for their ivory and horns by poachers since May, when the proposals to allow annual sales of ivory were made, said Patrick Omondi of the Kenya Wildlife Service.Britain should lead the European Union, “in saying ‘No’ because we simply can not, at this stage, be sure that if stockpiles are released it won’t have an enormously negative impact on conservation efforts,” world renowned conservationist Richard Leakey said.In March, the Yarmouth Port, Mass.-based International Fund for Animal Welfare released a report called ‘Elephants on the High Street’, which found loopholes in Britain’s laws governing the ivory trade such as the fact that antique dealers can self-appraise their own pieces even though they have no knowledge of how to do that.The report, which was based on an investigation by the organisations staff and done between December 2003 and February 2004, also found that nearly all ivory sold in antique shops, fairs, auctions and art centres in Britain was illegal.Britain is the third largest source of illegal ivory entering the United States, which has been singled out by the convention as a “problem” country, the report said.- Nampa-AP”We would like all CITES (the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) members to vote against the reopening of the ivory trade,” she said, because if a rich country like Britain cannot control the ivory trade within its borders, poor countries with significant elephant populations certainly won’t be able to.In May Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland proposed annual sales of ivory stockpiles to the top decision-making body of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species scheduled to meet in October in Bangkok, Thailand.In 1989 the convention imposed a ban on the ivory trade, but since then the convention has twice allowed conditional one-off sales of ivory stockpiles by selected southern African countries which have huge elephant herds that are in some cases destroying the environment.The latest such sale was to take place this year but Botswana, Namibia and South Africa were unable to meet the sale conditions.Countries like Kenya, where the elephant population is still recovering from rampant poaching in the 1980s, are worried that by allowing new ivory to enter the market the convention may unwittingly give cover to poachers who want to sell their illegally obtained ivory.Eleven elephants and two rhinos have been killed in central and eastern Kenya for their ivory and horns by poachers since May, when the proposals to allow annual sales of ivory were made, said Patrick Omondi of the Kenya Wildlife Service.Britain should lead the European Union, “in saying ‘No’ because we simply can not, at this stage, be sure that if stockpiles are released it won’t have an enormously negative impact on conservation efforts,” world renowned conservationist Richard Leakey said.In March, the Yarmouth Port, Mass.-based International Fund for Animal Welfare released a report called ‘Elephants on the High Street’, which found loopholes in Britain’s laws governing the ivory trade such as the fact that antique dealers can self-appraise their own pieces even though they have no knowledge of how to do that.The report, which was based on an investigation by the organisations staff and done between December 2003 and February 2004, also found that nearly all ivory sold in antique shops, fairs, auctions and art centres in Britain was illegal.Britain is the third largest source of illegal ivory entering the United States, which has been singled out by the convention as a “problem” country, the report said.- Nampa-AP