Some very good news for the new year: China announced Dec. 30 it will ban all commerce in ivory by the end of 2017.
That move will – hopefully – shut down the worlds’ largest ivory market (China) and strike a blow to the vile practice of the poaching of elephants in Africa.
Like so many of the creatures we share this planet with, the magnificent elephant is teetering toward extinction because of the vicious killers who shoot them and then hack their husks out of their faces to sell on foreign markets or illegally through criminal channels.
China’s commendable decision follows action by the United States last year to stop the domestic ivory trade. China and the United States have long been the biggest markets for ivory and ivory products.
An estimated 30,000 to 35,000 elephants are slaughtered each year, and at least 100,000 have been killed in Africa in the past decade, which was one third of their total population. On average, one elephant is killed every 15 minutes.
Some of these poachers, so aggressively vicious, not only kill the elephants but also murder the conservation officials who are paid and trained to protect them. That happens despite an international ban on ivory trade approved 15 years ago. With the new orders to shut down all marketing of ivory in whatever form, especially in China and the United States, killer-poachers will find it less lucrative to perpetrate their disgusting butchery.
There’s long been a debate about “raw” ivory fresh from the tusks of killed elephants and “older” ivory in the form of knick-knacks and art works, some of them carved hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Some “raw” ivory can be concealed to look like “old” ivory, and that blurred definition opens the floodgates for the criminal trade.
Up to 70 percent of smuggled ivory ends up in Chinese markets, mainly in its many ivory-carving shops. The Chinese State Council said it will shut down all ivory processing and sales outlets in stages through this year. The good news is at least partly the result of negotiations last year between the United States and China. Chinese President Xi Jinping, during a visit to Washington, D.C., met President Obama, and both agreed their nations should impose total bans on ivory imports and exports.
What’s really encouraging is so many animal conservationist groups such as Save the Elephants and the International Fund for Animal Welfare are convinced China is sincere and serious about shutting down the ivory trade once and for all.
In central Africa, poachers and rebel groups work together, killing thousands of elephants, so they can sell the ivory to buy weapons for their never-ending conflicts.
As usual, innocent animals, along with innocent civilians, are the victims caught between the barbaric butchery of rebel factions. Allowing the legal sales of ivory not only condones the massacre of elephants, it also complicity allows those vicious rebel groups to get their weapons. It’s time shame and good conscience put a stop to such violence.
Until recently, many nations’ ivory markets were regulated rather than shut down. Even though international trade in ivory was banned, there were exceptions that made possible the sale and purchase of carved antique ivory pieces. Well, imagine the glaring loopholes.
There are so many good people fighting to protect elephants. But, unfortunately, as we know all too well, a relatively small number of “bad guys” can cause widespread pain, misery and death to people and animals. One of the “good guys” is James Baker III, who was U.S. Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush from 1988 to 1992. Baker and Bush both actively fought for the 1989 ban on ivory trade, which helped result later in a unilateral ban on ivory imports. There are thousands of conservationists like Baker and scores of wildlife-protection agencies. That fact brings hope the hideous practice of slaughtering elephants can be reversed, and halted once and for all.
Make an effort to learn about elephants and their terrible plight. There are many good websites dedicated to elephants and other endangered species. Google “elephant protection,” and you will find a wealth of good information and ways to help.
These international pressures really work, especially if all of us stand up to support the work of the “good guys.”
