Alarming ivory trade in Europe

Although the EU trumpets a lot about elephant conservation, recent figures show that the ivory trade is thriving. In 2012, ivory stood second among smuggled wildlife goods in the EU. This was 14 per cent of all wildlife seizures. Lot of clandestine trade is occurring in the name of   “pre-Convention ivory” fuelled by EU documents certifying it as ivory acquired before trade rules of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) came in to force. More than 20,000 carvings and 564 tusks were exported with official EU documents during the period 2003 and 2012.

Mary Rice, of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) recently said: “We are calling on EU countries to halt all ivory trade within, to and from the EU and strengthen enforcement. This includes measures to destroy their stockpiled ivory – both carvings and raw tusks – irrespective of its source and alleged age. We will only be able to end the elephant poaching crisis when the trade fuelling it is banned and demand curbed.”