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Abolish Trophy Markets to Eliminate Poaching

12/29/2013

Source: Ippmedia.com

Editorial

For decades now Tanzania has been fighting against poachers to protect its endangered animal species such as rhinos and elephants. Several such operations have been conducted before in attempt to flush out poachers from national parks and game reserves.

The operations, to some extent, recorded considerable success though the situation worsened the moment such campaigns ended.

It may be recalled that in the late 1980s, the government carried out a special campaign codenamed ‘Operesheni Uhai’ in which members of the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) under the late Major General John Walden were involved.

Operesheni Uhai was deliberately carried out after it was realized that the number of jumbos had tremendously decreased from 350,000 during independence to 55,000 in the 1980s.

The number of elephants in the country increased to 110,000 in 2009, thanks to the ban imposed on ivory trade in the world by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

However, government statistics released recently showed that between 2010 and September this year a total of 3,899 pieces of tusks, weighing 11,212 kilogrammes and another 22 pieces of processed elephant tusks, weighing 3,978 kilogrammes were impounded.

The same statistics showed a total of 4,692 pieces of trophies, weighing 17,797 kilogrammes that were seized abroad emanated from Tanzania. Still worse, data from researchers show Tanzania has been losing 30 elephants to poachers on daily basis.

Findings are yet to be made public on what could be the impact of the recent ‘Operesheni Tokomeza Ujangili’ (Eliminate Poaching) that ended up costing political lives of four ministers. Despite the determination to combat the problem more individuals are still being arrested in possession of the trophies.

While the war against poaching is being fought on all fronts, Tanzania in collaboration with other countries, must work hand in hand with world bodies such as CITES to convince Asian nations where ivory fetches good market to discourage the business.

In the Asian nations, according to reports, the reliable market for trophies is in China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong. More....

Board Says Abolish Illegal Ivory Markets

12/28/2013

Source: Ippmedia.com

By Aisia Rweyemamu

Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) has appealed to the international community to abolish the illegal ivory markets worldwide to ease the war against the extreme scaling up poaching crime.

TTB advised the stakeholders, saying: “To end the problem and save the decreased number of elephants in the world, there is a need for joint efforts” to abolish ivory markets that are generating high demand of the product.

TTB Managing Director Dr Aloyce Nzunki said: “There would be no illegal ivory trade only if the markets were closed worldwide.”

During a public lecture organized at the Institute of Diplomacy in Dar es Salaam recently, Dr Nzunki told participants that Tanzania loses 30 elephants every day as a result of poaching, and a shocking statistics of 10,000 every year.

A study conducted by Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) revealed that the number of elephants in two wildlife sanctuaries in Tanzania indicated a sharp fall by more than 40 per cent in just three years, as poachers increasingly killed the animals for their tusks.

The study conducted in the Selous Game Reserve and Mikumi National Park revealed that elephant numbers had plunged to 38,975 in 2009 from 70,406 in 2006 (TAWIRI 2010),given the estimated total elephant population in Tanzania as between 110,000 and 140,000.

It is feared that such a large drop in numbers over such a short period could lead to wiping out the country’s elephant population within seven years.

According to Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants(MIKE) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the latest analysis of poaching data estimates that in 2012 some 15,000 elephants were illegally killed at 42 sites across 27 African countries.

“With an estimated 22,000 African elephants illegally killed in 2012, we continue to face a critical situation. Current elephant poaching in Africa remains far too high, and could soon lead to local extinctions if the present killing rates continue.

The situation is particularly acute in Central Africa, where the estimated poaching rate is twice the continental average,” said John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General.

“From 2000 through 2013, the number of large-scale ivory movements has steadily grown in terms of the number of such shipments and the quantity of ivory illegally traded. More....

Mozambique: Guinean Arrested in Possession of Ivory

12/27/2013

Source: AllAfrica.com

The Mozambican police have arrested a Guinean citizen, named as Mussa Jane, in the northern province of Niassa, in possession of two elephant tusks, weighing 28.5 kilos, according to a report on the independent television station, STV.

The wholesale price of ivory rose from 100 US dollars a kilo in the 1990s to 850 dollars a kilo in 2007. Since then the prices have continued to rocket. This year, prices for mounted elephant tusks in Hong Kong reached the equivalent of 26,432 dollars a kilo. These tusks were supposedly “legal” - that is acquired from elephants shot before the international ban on the ivory trade.

If the tusks in the Guinean's possession were sold for a similar price, they would fetch over 753,000 dollars.

Jane was also found to be carrying precious stones, including tourmalines and amazonites, weighing a total of one and a half kilos. He was also in possession of 135,000 meticais (4,500 US dollars) in banknotes.

The police arrested Jane at a checkpoint in Chimbonila district. He had come from Majune district, and was on his way to the provincial capital, Lichinga. The tusks, stones and money were found inside a suitcase.

Jane claimed that the goods did not belong to him, and he was just carrying them for a friend.

“A friend asked me to take the suitcase to Lichinga. So I put it on the bus and I didn't know what was inside”, he said.

Jane said he was “very surprised” when the police opened the suitcase and he saw what it contained.

“I was never involved in the ivory business”, he said, “I just sell precious stones”.

Hong Kong ‘Legal’ Ivory Market Covers For Bloody Outlaw Trade

12/22/2013

Source: Inquisitr.com

In Hong Kong, they call it “white gold.” In much of the rest of the world, they just call it “illegal.” But conservationists and animal advocates now fear that the Chinese city’s booming trade in “legal” ivory is causing the blood-soaked illegal trade to surge as well, once again threatening the world’s population of elephants.

Prices of ivory sold in Hong Kong shops have skyrocketed in the past decade, zooming up by a factor of 50, according to a report in the English-language South China Morning Post newspaper.

A pair of mounted elephant tusks recently sold for 15 million Hong Kong dollars at a store there. That’s the equivalent of more than $1.9 million in American cash. The tusks weighed in at 65 kilograms, or 143 pounds, giving them a per-kilogram price of HK$230,000, approximately — or about $30,000 in U.S. money.

But the price that brings just one kilogram of ivory today purchased a 78 kilogram pair of tusks in 2002, in one reported sale.

So what makes an item of ivory “legal,” despite a worldwide ban on harvesting the tusks of elephants? Simple. The ivory must have been taken before 1989, when the ban went into effect.

Oddly, ivory objects created from the tusks of extinct mammoths are also considered legal. But there isn’t nearly enough legal ivory to meet the current demand, and verifying exactly when a piece of ivory was collected is difficult if not impossible.

The rising price of “legal” ivory has made it a status symbol in the increasingly prosperous city of Hong Kong.

“Millions of people who are getting into the middle class want to have a piece of ivory,” Grace Gabriel, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare told London’s Independent newspaper. “The world does not have enough elephants to supply that ivory.” More....

Ivory Prices in Hong Kong Stores Rise 50-Fold in a Decade

12/22/2013

Source: Scmp.com

By Simon Parry

The price of elephant tusks in Hong Kong has shot up by more than fiftyfold in the past decade, raising concerns that the legal trade is fuelling demand for poached ivory and driving some African elephant populations towards extinction.

A 65kg pair of mounted tusks is on sale for HK$15 million at Chinese Arts and Crafts in Wan Chai. A smaller pair weighing about 40kg is offered for HK$8.2 million. That is equivalent to a per-kilogram price of between HK$205,000 and HK$230,770. In 2002, a major report on the ivory trade found that a 78kg pair of elephant tusks could be bought in Hong Kong for just HK$250,000 - less than one fiftieth of the price of the smaller pair of tusks on sale at the mainland-owned Wan Chai store.

The sky-high ivory price compares with an average HK$1,220 per kilogram fetched when 102 tonnes of stockpiled ivory was controversially sold to China and Japan by four African countries in 2008. That sale - approved by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) - was the last legal sale of an ivory stockpile globally after a worldwide ban was imposed in 1989.

Hong Kong shops need government-issued licences to sell certain types of ivory, including products carved before the 1989 ban, ivory from the tusks of extinct mammoths, and ivory bought from government stockpile sales in southern Africa.

Staff at branches of Chinese Arts and Crafts said buyers were snapping up ivory not only for display but as an investment, as its value was rising at a rate of 20 per cent a year. "There is no more ivory, so the price is going up and up," said a saleswoman at the Pacific Place branch of the chain, where a 116cm antique tusk is on sale for HK$1.9 million.

Grace Ge Gabriel, Asia regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the legal ivory trade in Hong Kong was exacerbating the illegal trade in poached and smuggled ivory.

"The legal ivory trade not only provides cover for smuggled ivory to be laundered. It also gives consumers the impression that buying ivory is OK and stimulates more people's desire to buy," she said. "Moreover, compared with the astronomical price of ivory in China … the price one pays to buy ivory in Africa is so much cheaper. If one smuggles ivory into China and sells it under the cover of the legal market, the profit margin could be very high." More....

U.S. Operation Crash: Zhifei Li Pleads Guilty to Rhino Horn, Ivory Trafficking

12/20/2013

Source: Annamiticus.com

By Rhishja Cota-Larson

Chinese national Zhifei Li has pleaded guilty to orchestrating an illegal operation which smuggled 30 rhinoceros horns and numerous objects made from rhino horn and elephant ivory worth more than $4.5 million from the United States to China.

Li, who owns an antiques business called “Overseas Treasure Finding” in Shandong, China, was arrested in January 2013. He pleaded guilty to:

One count of conspiracy to smuggle and violate the Lacey Act;
Seven counts of smuggling;
One count of illegal wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act;
Two counts of making false wildlife documents.

“Li sold whole rhino horns to factories where they would be carved into fake antiques. The leftover pieces from the carving process were sold for alleged ‘medicinal’ purposes even though rhino horn is made of compressed keratin, the same material in human hair and nails and has no proven medical efficacy.”

Li purchased rhino horns in Florida, where he was attending the Original Miami Beach Antique Show. Not only did Li purchase two black rhino horns from an undercover USFWS agent, he asked the officer to procure additional rhino horns and mail them to Hong Kong. In 2011 and 2012, Li arranged the shipment of rhino horns to addresses in Hong Kong in order to facilitate the smuggling of horns to mainland China. The rhino horns were concealed with duct tape and hidden inside porcelain vases. Li also arranged the smuggling of ivory carvings to China, falsely labeled as “wood carvings” as well as two elephant tusks weighing more than 100 pounds, which were labeled as “automobile parts”.

According to court documents, Li worked with at least three co-conspirators. He wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to one of them, while the other two co-conspirators purchased rhino horns from various sources, including an auction house in Missouri.

“Li admitted that he was the ‘boss’ of three antique dealers in the United States whom he paid to help obtain wildlife items and smuggle them to him via Hong Kong.”

In December 2010, Li advised a co-conspirator to respond to an internet advertisement offering rhino horn for sale. The co-conspirator was subsequently provided with photos of rhino horns, as well as the rhino from which the horns were procured, from an individual in Cameroon.

Then in March 2011, Li’s co-conspirator wired approximately $16,000 to Cameroon for the purpose of obtaining two rhino horns. The seller “promised” to bring additional horns into the United States.

Between February 2011 and February 2012, Li and his co-conspirators conducted various rhino horn transactions in Miami and Ormond Beach, Florida, and Wanaque, Ridgefield, and Little Ferry, New Jersey. From April 2012 through January 2013, Li facilitated illegal rhino horn deals in Texas. More....

2013: A Year of Positive Developments in the Wildlife Trafficking War

12/18/2013

Source: Annamiticus.com

By Rhishja Cota-Larson

In 2013, horrifying headlines about the voiceless victims of wildlife trafficking captured public attention around the world. Has a turning point in the war on wildlife crime finally arrived?

Make no mistake: This is not a fight that will one day be “won” so we can all go home. Rather, it is an ongoing state of vigilance for law enforcement, activists, NGOs, environmental journalists and concerned citizens. Nevertheless, we need to recognize — and celebrate — our progress.

I’ve been writing about wildlife trafficking for nearly five years and I think there is something different about 2013. World leaders have publicly committed to tackling the illegal wildlife trade and there seems to be a consensus that this scourge is nothing less than transnational organized crime which — and it should be dealt with accordingly. Wildlife trafficking breeds corruption in governments and encourages greed in the private sector. It threatens regional security and funds global terrorism.

So, what happened in 2013?

Experts agree that demand for wildlife products must be reduced. It can be said that from almost every corner of the world, demand reduction was a unifying battle cry for 2013.

John E. Scanlon, Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), writes that CoP16 was a “watershed moment” for combating wildlife crime.

“In addition to addressing enforcement, there was a clear recognition by CITES Parties that we need to reduce demand for illegal and untraceable products and to enhance overall public awareness of the severe damage caused by unregulated and illegal trade.”

The Clinton Global Initiative launched “Partnership to Save Africa’s Elephants”, a coalition of non-governmental organizations brought together to “directly target the chief drivers” of ivory trafficking.

This commitment takes a triple pronged approach by dedicating funding to: “stop the killing,” “stop the trafficking,” and “stop the demand.”

A post on the ARREST (Asia’s Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking) blog notes that as part of NGO Education for Nature-Vietnam’s demand reduction campaign, banners discouraging consumption of wildlife were hung at nearly 30 markets in major Vietnamese cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang. More....

Ivory Shipped as Chocolate

12/18/2013

Source: Timeslive.co.za

By Schalk Mouton

This is one of the latest ways of smuggling wildlife products from South Africa to countries such as China and Taiwan.

Tom Milliken, leader of the global elephant and rhino programme for Traffic, an international organisation that monitors illegal trading in wildlife, said yesterday South Africa was a key transit point on the ivory smuggling route.

On Friday a 58-year-old Chinese woman was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport carrying 40kg of ivory wrapped in tin foil, brown paper and clothes.

She was in transit from Mozambique to Hong Kong.

Seven people were arrested in a "planned operation" at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday. About 160kg of tusks and worked ivory was found in the check-in baggage of 14 passengers.

According to Hong Kong authorities, the smugglers were on flights from Johannesburg and Dubai. The four men and three women appeared in court on Friday and yesterday.

One of them was sentenced to four months in prison. The rest were fined between $30000 and $80000 (R310000 to R828000) each.

The Chinese woman arrested in Johannesburg is expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court today.

Milliken said there was evidence that most of the ivory poached in the Caprivi Strip in Namibia and elsewhere in Southern Africa was being shipped through South Africa. More....

Apprehending Ivory Traffickers: A Conservation Fairy Tale?

12/18/2013

Source: Newswatch.nationalgeographic.com

By Karl Ammann, Erick Kaglan

In December 2012, Malaysia announced the discovery and confiscation of the largest illegal ivory shipment ever—six tons of raw tusks hidden among teak planks in a shipping container from Togo (alternative news reports talked of 24 tons). In July of this year, another two ton shipment of tusks of baby and teenage elephants was intercepted in Hong Kong, also coming from Togo. In addition to this, there were recently a range of confiscations from Vietnamese air passengers who were transporting ivory pieces disguised as wooden ornaments while traveling from Lome, the capital of Togo, to Nairobi. We documented the same type of camouflaged pieces of ivory being sold by a dealer outside of Hanoi, and I’m pretty convinced that these items were from the same production facility as the items confiscated in Nairobi.

Bryan Christy, the author of the National Geographic magazine print feature on the ivory trade, in a subsequent blog entry on the subject pointed out that in the last 24 years not a single kingpin type of trafficker of ivory had ever been arrested and prosecuted—either at the production or consumer end of the supply chain. At about the same time as Bryan Christy’s reporting of this fact, a producer for ABC’s Nightline was putting out his feelers to do a story about the wildlife trade in Africa, approaching various NGOs and stakeholders with some background experience in these issues, including ourselves. It was clear that the main interest for ABC was ivory and maybe as a fallback position, the rhino horn trade. It would appear that Ofir Drori of LAGA, a Cameroon-based conservation NGO, then suggested the Togo ivory trail as a topic where relevant shooting sequences could be guaranteed and that the team, while en route, take in the arrest of a chimpanzee dealer that had some chimpanzee orphans on offer, which supposedly LAGA and its local counterpart in Guinea had lined up. This operation was delayed for several months after we reported—as part of another investigative documentary—the same dealer and the presence of two chimps to LAGA. By the time the operation was mounted to coincide with the arrival of the ABC team, the dealer and the two chimps had disappeared.

At the Togo end, a local dealer had been pinpointed as a kingpin ivory trafficker. A South African investigator visited him at his shop to ask about the availability of ivory and got him to mention that he had sent ivory to Pakistan, Hong Kong, and China. This was, he now claims, part of a typical sales pitch which was then used as an admission of guilt and evidence that he was a big shot international exporter. However, the shop door still today has a posted letter from the French army commander of the local military contingent based in Togo and going back to the 1990 CITES ban on cross border trade, stating that exports of large amounts of ivory was now illegal and that any souvenir item exported should not exceed the value of 1,000 French francs! So he says he knew and accepted these restrictions, but they did not apply to domestic trade.

Mr. N’Bouke was arrested in early August 2013 with a great deal of media fanfare. More....

Crush Course

12/15/2013

Source: Scmp.com

By Alex Hofford

Taking their cue from the US and the Philippines, Hong Kong schoolchildren are leading the drive to destroy the city’s enormous stockpile of seized ivory and send a message to poachers, dealers and consumers....

Thick clouds of fine, choking white dust fill the winter afternoon air as a giant rockcrushing machine rumbles on. Coughing and spluttering, I struggle to hold my gaze as the spectacle is lost behind swirling clouds.

A cascade of crushed ivory is spewed out by a giant blue machine used more often to crush stones to mix with bitumen than grind up parts of an endangered species from another continent.

Surrounded by conservationists and journalists looking on in deafened awe, wildlife officials in hard hats and highvisibility vests load an excavator with large pieces from a giant pile of elephant tusks and with carved ivory statuettes, trinkets and jewellery. The excavator shuttles back and forth, from tusk pile to rock crusher, feeding the metallic beast as it feasts upon what remains of countless herds of elephants.

This was the scene Hong Kong schoolgirls Lucy Skrine, 11, and Christina Seigrist, eight, hoped to witness in their hometown when they started a petition (bit.ly/BanHKIvoryTrade) through online activist network Avaaz in September to have the city’s stockpile of more than 33 tonnes of confiscated ivory destroyed. It was the scenario they wanted to achieve with the 10,000 signatures they asked for.

But this is not Hong Kong. The rock crusher is at work in Denver, Colorado, where it is crushing the United States government’s six-tonne stockpile of ivory seized from tourists and smugglers at the country’s land borders and airports since the 1980s.

Wildlife officials say it is hard to estimate exactly, but they believe the total being crushed here amounts to the tusks of between 1,000 and 2,000 elephants – a fraction of the number of dead animals represented by Hong Kong’s stockpile.

In June, the Philippine government crushed and burnt its five-tonne stockpile of confiscated ivory; and since 1992, three elephant range states in Africa – Zambia, Kenya and Gabon – have destroyed by incineration their seized ivory stockpiles. The five nations that have now destroyed their confiscated ivory stockpiles have (along with the Indian state of Maharashtra and France, which has just announced it is to follow suit) sent an unequivocal message to poachers in Africa, ivory dealers everywhere and consumers in China that the trade will not be tolerated by their governments.

“If Manila can do it, and Denver can do it, why can’t Hong Kong follow their lead?” asks Lucy. More....

Georgia Aquarium Appeals NOAA Ruling Against Proposed First Beluga Whale Imports Since 1992

12/14/2013

Source: Animalpeoplenews.org

By Seann Lenihann

The Georgia Aquarium on September 30, 2013 appealed an August 6, 2013 ruling by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration that it had not satisfied the requirements to import 18 beluga whales from Russia.

The appeal put the future of beluga whale exhibition before the U.S. District Court in Atlanta at the same time that the future of orca exhibition is before the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., as result of a SeaWorld appeal of an OSHA order.

But the cases differ in that the issue for SeaWorld is how orcas are exhibited, while the issue for the Georgia Aquarium is whether beluga whales may be imported for exhibition at all.

“The Georgia Aquarium clearly worked hard to follow the required process and submit a thorough application, and we appreciate their patience and cooperation as we carefully considered this case,” acting assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries Sam Rauch said when the import permit was denied. “However, under the strict criteria of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, we were unable to determine if the import of these belugas, combined with the active capture operation in Russia and other human activities, would have an adverse impact on this stock of wild beluga whales.”

Captured in the Sea of Okhotsk in 2006, 2010 and 2011, the belugas have been held pending sale at the Utrish Marine Mammal Research Station in Russia, along with eight orcas captured in 2012 and 2013.

The Georgia Aquarium applied to import the belugas in June 2012, after investing about $2 million over five years to study the Sea of Okhotsk beluga population. Much of the research was produced by a consortium also including Sea World, the Mystic Aquarium, Kamogawa Sea World in Japan, and Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Four of the five partners already exhibited belugas. Ocean Park announced in 2010 that it would exhibit dolphins from the Sea of Okhotsk, but cancelled the plan under public pressure in August 2011. No belugas have been captured in the wild and brought to the U.S. for exhibition since 1992, when the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago imported four from the vicinity of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

Five beluga subpopulations inhabit Alaskan waters. The best known group, at Cook Inlet, are protected from capture by the Endangered Species Act as well as the Marine Mammal Protection Act. As of May 2013, 284 belugas remained at Cook Inlet, down from an estimated peak population of about 1,300.

Hong Kong’s ‘Legal’ Ivory Trade Thrives on Folk Beliefs and China’s Rising Wealth

12/13/2013

Source: Independent.co.uk

By Emily Matchar

Hong Kong, this skyscraper-crowned metropolis of seven million, prides itself on its modernity. But on the third floor of Yue Hwa Chinese Products, a busy department store in Kowloon, the products for sale seem anything but modern. The glass display cases are full of Buddha figurines, lucky toad charms and dragon-shaped buttons, all carved from ivory, the tusks of dead elephants.

Ivory products are taboo in much of the world due to awareness of how poaching decimates elephant populations. But in a newly affluent China, owning ivory is seen by many as a sign of status. It’s described as “white gold”, both an object of desire and – increasingly – an investment vehicle.

“Millions of people who are getting into the middle class want to have a piece of ivory,” says Grace Ge Gabriel, the Asia regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw). “The world does not have enough elephants to supply that ivory.”

As the commercial gateway to China, Hong Kong is the throbbing heart of the global ivory trade. The city’s ceaselessly busy ports are a major point of entry for ivory smuggled from Africa to Asia. Customs officials have had to step up their detection game, uncovering larger and larger amounts of contraband ivory in recent years. In 2011, authorities seized 3,396kg of ivory. In 2012 they seized 5,596kg. This year, between January and October alone, they seized 7,230kg. Much more doubtless goes undiscovered, hidden inside shipping containers.

Murkier and more contentious is the issue of legal ivory. In Hong Kong, shops such as Yue Hwa have government-issued licences to sell certain types of ivory. These include ivory products carved before a 1989 ban on international ivory trade, ivory from the tusks of extinct mammoths, and ivory bought from government stockpile sales in Southern Africa. Licensed ivory stores are rife in Kowloon and along the Hollywood Road arts and antiques district on Hong Kong island. A 2011 survey counted 33,526 ivory items on display in 62 outlets.

But regulating the legal ivory market is complex and difficult. Despite certificates of origin, it is difficult to know whether supposedly legal ivory is genuinely pre-1989 or not, leaving the industry open to abuses. “These legal markets provide cover for illegal ivory to be laundered,” Ms Gabriel says.

And although ivory bought in Hong Kong cannot legally exit the city without a permit, this is not routinely enforced when it comes to tourists from the rest of China, who have enlarged the market for Hong Kong ivory to its breaking point. “It’s commonly expected that ivory will be bought by people from the mainland and taken to the mainland,” says Steven Gallagher, an associate professor of law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “No one really seems to be concerned.” More....

Hong Kong Adds Muscle in Fight against Ivory Traffickers

12/12/2013

Source: Scmp.com

The adult African elephant has no natural predators, but trophy hunters and ivory traffickers are a threat to the survival of the species. Two recent developments should be good news for the largest living terrestrial animal, and hopefully bad news for its human predators. Hong Kong, one of the Asian transit points for the illegal trade in ivory tusks and rhino horns, has just shipped a record seizure of 33 rhino horns and hundreds of carved ivory items back to South Africa, where they can be used as forensic evidence in court against illegal hunters. And 30 African and Asian nations have agreed on measures to tackle the illegal ivory trade. They include countries of origin in Africa, Asian transit ports such as Hong Kong and consumer destinations, principally China and Thailand.

The African Elephant Summit in Botswana vowed a zero-tolerance approach, including tough sentences for wildlife crimes and boosting law enforcement against poaching syndicates. It also classified ivory trafficking as a serious crime to pave the way for more international co-operation, including seizure of assets and extradition to face justice.

Hong Kong's High Court granted an order for return of the ivory and rhino horn to South African under a mutual legal assistance agreement that came into effect two years ago.

The traditional demand for ivory in Asia, boosted by the nouveau riche in the mainland, is fuelling wholesale elephant slaughter in defiance of a ban on most trade in new ivory.

Hong Kong accounts for a significant proportion of the total amount of ivory seized globally each year. Because there has been no sustained increase in seizures in recent years, local officials are not convinced the city is becoming a regional hub for the illegal trade. But how much actually passes through Hong Kong can only be guessed at, since we only know of interceptions of shipments by increasingly resourceful syndicates. There may be a case for controlled culling of some elephant populations to maintain a balance of wildlife habitat, but that is best left to conservation authorities.

Antiques Dealer Sentenced for Smuggling Rhino Horn and Ivory

12/9/2013

Source: Columbiajournalist.org

By Rahima Gambo

A Chinese antiques dealer who prosecutors say was a minor player in an international rhino horn smuggling ring was sentenced Thursday to 37 months in prison for his role in the illegal trade scheme.

Dressed in a black suede blazer, Qiang Wang, listened to Mandarin translations as U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest sentenced him for his role in trafficking artifacts crafted from the horns of endangered rhinos.

Though Forrest followed the minimum set out in sentencing guidelines, Wang’s lawyer had asked for five years of probation and no prison time. Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 12 months plus one day.

Forrest said that while Wang was not a significant player in the international marketplace for objects made from protected wildlife, she was “troubled” by his behavior, which she described as “repetitive and deliberate.”

The 34-year-old Wang, who once worked in a Buddhist temple in China but currently lives in Flushing, New York, had pleaded guilty in August to illegally trading libation cups carved from rhino horn and ivory to smuggle to Hong Kong.

Wang purchased Asian antiques from U.S. auction houses on behalf of foreign clients in China, according to the government’s 16-page sentencing memorandum. The sales of the artifacts were valued at over $1 million, but Wang only reported making an income of $8,000 to $8,500 a year on his tax returns, according to the memo.

The memo also outlines how Wang worked with at least two different smugglers in China, helping to “locate, purchase, transport and receive valuable objects made from and containing rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory for foreign bosses. “

The document states that Wang sought out new “bosses” and continued trading the illegal artifacts even after one of his bosses had been arrested and imprisoned in China for smuggling in 2011.

“That should have been a wake up call,” said Forrest pointing to Wang’s awareness that he was violating the law.

According to ancient Chinese custom, sipping from intricately carved libation cups made from rhino horn is believed to bring good health to the drinker. More....

Proof of Poaching, Including in Maliau!

12/7/2013

Source: Dailyexpress.com.MY

Illegal hunting is alleged to have taken place in several forest reserves and national parks in Sabah, including the Maliau Basin Conservation Area which is also known as The Lost World.

Also in Crocker Range National Park, Tawau Hills National Park, Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Malua Biobank and Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.

This was exposed during the Fifth East and Southeast Asian Wild Animal Rescue Network (WARN) Conference held at Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort here on Nov 26-27.

The conference, which was the first to be held in Sabah, was co-organised by Sabah Wildlife Department and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and sponsored by Malaysian Palm Oil Council, EcoOils, Sabah Tourism Board and Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort.

"We also have evidence of illegal hunting in several forest reserves and national parks in Sabah, including iconic protected areas such as Crocker Range National Park, Tawau Hills National Park, Maliau Basin Conservation Area and Tabin Wildlife Reserve, but also Malua BioBank and Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary," said Dr Benoit Goossens, Director of DGFC, who was the co-organiser of the conference, during a discussion on wildlife trade and poaching in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Sabah. The discussion was also co-chaired by Dr Marc Ancrenaz from HUTAN.

"This (illegal hunting) is extremely serious and we-government, NGOs, research institutions-need to tackle this issue as quickly as possible if we don't want to see our wildlife ending in bowls and/or in medicine products," said Goossens.

"It is paramount that the millions recently invested in our protected forests are used for wildlife protection and wildlife trade and poaching enforcement. Shall we wait for another iconic species (such as the Sumatran rhino) to disappear in Sabah before reacting?" he asked.

Goossens said they also took the opportunity during the discussion to present some recent data from surveys carried out by TRAFFIC in Sabah (and other Malaysian states) on pangolin trade and sun bear bile trade.

"The results were astonishing, out of 21 shops visited in December 2010 in Kota Kinabalu, eight were selling bear bile products. Moreover, in a survey carried out in our State in 2012, 10 out of 24 shops surveyed were selling sun bear products. More astonishingly, a TRAFFIC report published in 2010 on pangolin trade in Sabah, including analysis of trade syndicate's logbooks seized by the Wildlife Department in 2009, showed that 22,200 pangolins were traded by the syndicate in 13 months," said Goossens. More....

Pressure Mounts on Hong Kong Government to Destroy Ivory Stockpile

12/7/2013

Source: Annamiticus.com

By Astrid Andersson

Following the recent ivory stockpile crush in the United States, pressure is mounting on Hong Kong to do the same to its 30 tonnes.

At a February meeting of Hong Kong’s Endangered Species Advisory Committee (ESAC), discussions will be held to decide whether to crush, crush and incinerate, or leave the stockpile. Hong Kong’s harbour trade port is a veritable highway for illegal ivory shipments, many en route to China – where ivory items are prized, and in ever higher demand – as the wealth of the general population increases with economic development.

In the past five years, ivory shipment seizures have skyrocketed from a total of 837kg in 2009 to 7,230kg in 2013, according to Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, amounting to a total of over 30 tonnes.

Most is kept in a warehouse, and is currently being weighed for undisclosed reasons. A small amount is displayed in schools and at the airport for educational purposes, but NGO Hong Kong for Elephants has launched a campaign – Blood Ivory Out of HK Schools – involving local students, and is also petitioning the Hong Kong government to crush and incinerate its ivory stockpile. This would “send a strong message to the world that some of us prefer live elephants to dead art,” says Sharon Kwok, spokesperson for Hong Kong for Elephants.

Moreover, it would eliminate the potential for any leakage of these items onto the black market – where it can be sold for up to $2,000 per kg – a problem that has been reported in China by the Environmental Investigation Agency ( EIA). This is also the reason why burning the ivory once it has been crushed is equally vital, says HK for Elephants spokesman Alex Hofford.

"In Guangzhou recently, and also in Hong Kong, I found many trinkets, jewellery and amulets the same size of small ivory gravel chunks that were produced by the US rock crushing machine.”

The risk of ivory from the seized stockpile going “missing” is even greater in Hong Kong, since there exists a legal loophole that allows possession and sale of ivory that was obtained and carved pre-1989 – the year a global ban was introduced. Monitoring the age of the ivory in circulation, however, is not possible. Particularly when the resources allocated to Hong Kong Customs and Excise department are considered: “Currently, only about 1% of the containers that come through Hong Kong – one of the largest trading ports on the planet – are able to be fully searched,” says Kwok. More....

Poaching: Many Sabah Shops found Selling Bear Items

12/7/2013

Source: TheBorneopost.com

Numerous shops in Sabah were found selling bear products, which show wildlife poaching is rampant in the state, the 5th East and Southeast Asian Wild Animal Rescue Network (WARN) Conference was told.

The event, the first in Sabah, was organised by Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) at Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort, Tuaran on Nov 26-27 and sponsored by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, EcoOils, Sabah Tourism Board and Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort..

Dr Benoit Goossens, Director of DGFC and co-organiser of the conference, said a discussion on wildlife trade and poaching in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Sabah, was co-chaired by him and Dr Marc Ancrenaz from HUTAN.

“We took the opportunity to present some recent data from surveys carried out by TRAFFIC in Sabah (and other Malaysian states) on pangolin trade and sun bear bile trade,” said Goossens.

“The results were astonishing, out of 21 shops visited in December 2010 in Kota Kinabalu, eight were selling bear bile products. Moreover, in a survey carried out in our State in 2012, 10 out of 24 shops surveyed were selling sun bear products. More astonishingly, a TRAFFIC report published in 2010 on pangolin trade in Sabah, including analysis of trade syndicate’s logbooks seized by SWD in 2009, showed that 22,200 pangolins were traded by the syndicate in 13 months,” added Goossens.

“We also have evidence of illegal hunting in several forest reserves and national parks in Sabah not only at iconic protected areas such as Crocker Range National Park, Tawau Hills National Park, Maliau Basin Conservation Area and Tabin Wildlife Reserve, but also Malua BioBank and Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. This is extremely serious and we – government, NGOs, research institutions – need to tackle this issue as quickly as possible if we don’t want to see our wildlife ending in bowls and/or in medicine products,” said Goossens.

“It is paramount that the millions recently invested in our protected forests are used for wildlife protection and wildlife trade and poaching enforcement. Shall we wait for another iconic species (such as the Sumatran rhino) to disappear in Sabah before reacting?” concluded Goossens.

“WARN is a network of wild animal rescue centers, wildlife law enforcement groups and officials and animal protection groups in East and Southeast Asia,” said Professor Kurtis Pei, Interim Board Chair of WARN and professor at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

“I’m very proud to say that WARN was established as a registered international NGO since August 2013 and that we have members in the following countries: Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, and many representatives from wildlife rescue centers in those countries attended WARN 2013 in Sabah,” added Professor Pei. More....

Queens Man Sentenced To 3 Years For Smuggling Artificacts Made From Rhino Horns

12/5/2013

Source: NewYork.cbslocal.com

A New York City antiques dealer learned Thursday that if you mess with the rhino, you get the horns.

The dealer who pleaded guilty to conspiracy for smuggling artifacts made from rhinoceros horns from the U.S. to China was sentenced to three years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest also sentenced Qiang Wang, known as Jeffrey Wang, to three years of supervised release in Manhattan federal court Thursday.

Wang pleaded guilty in August to smuggling Asian artifacts made from rhino horns and ivory from New York to Hong Kong and China in violation of wildlife trafficking laws. Rhinos are an endangered species.

Authorities said the 34-year-old Queens man faked U.S. Customs documents on packages containing the artifacts. They said they also seized ivory carvings from his apartment.

An attorney for Wang didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

South Africa: Kruger Loses Nearly 1 500 Rhinos in Five Years

12/3/2013

Source: AllAfrica.com

By Sydney Masinga

Nearly 1 500 rhinos have been killed for their horns in the Kruger National Park in the past five years, according to recent stats.

Addressing delegates during a two-day anti-poaching workshop, which started in the Skukuza on Monday, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said more than half the total number of rhino poached in South Africa since 2008 were in the Kruger.

"The [Kruger\ continues to bear the brunt of rhino poaching, having lost more than 550 of these iconic animals to unscrupulous poachers during the past 11 months. In the past five years, more than 1 457 rhino have been killed for their horns in South Africa's most well-known state-owned conservation region and wildlife tourist attraction," said Molewa.

The minister said the number of rhino poached in South Africa this year was 891, the highest figure in the history of the country.

She said the total of number of rhino poached in 2012 was 668, while 448 were killed in 2011.

"I am deeply concerned and affected by the magnitude of rhino poaching in South Africa and elsewhere in the world, especially since this iconic species, known as one of the Big Five, has become the focus of international poaching syndicates.

"Despite limited funds, the government has made R75 million available to SANParks to combat rhino poaching until 2016 for the employment and training of additional rangers," the minister said.

Molewa said over the coming days, government will announce more initiatives undertaken by the government to deal decisively with the rhino poaching problem.

"It is, however, important to remind you that the government declared the illegal killing and trade of rhinos and rhino horn a national security threat in 2011," Molewa said.

She added that rhino poaching has since been elevated to the national joint security committee to help advance a national strategy that was implemented in 2010 for an integrated effort to combat rhino poaching. More....

22,000 Elephants Slaughtered for Their Ivory in 2012

12/2/2013

Source: News.mongabay.com

By Jeremy Hance

As the African Elephant Summit open in Botswana today, conservationists released a new estimate of the number of African elephants lost to the guns of poachers last year: 22,000. Some 15,000 elephants killed in 42 sites across 27 countries on the continent, according to newly released data from the CITES program, Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE). But conservationists estimate another 7,000 went unreported. The number killed is a slight decrease over 2011 numbers of 25,000.

"We continue to face a critical situation. Current elephant poaching in Africa remains far too high, and could soon lead to local extinctions if the present killing rates continue," said John E. Scanlon, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) Secretary-General. "The situation is particularly acute in Central Africa—where the estimated poaching rate is twice the continental average,"

In fact conservation groups said that if such rates continued, Africa could lose a fifth of its elephants in the next ten years.

"The estimated poaching rate of 7.4 percent in 2012 remains at an unsustainably high level, as it exceeds natural population growth rates (usually no more than 5 percent)," reads a report on the data compiled by CITES, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and anti-wildlife trading group, TRAFFIC. Currently, Africa is home to around half a million elephants.

While the numbers represent a massive bloodbath, the new estimate is actually around a third less than a previous one made by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) of 35,000 elephants killed.

Data on this year's death toll hasn't come out yet. But preliminary figures on ivory trafficking from the the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) database suggest 2013 may be ahead of both 2011 and 2012 for elephant poaching.

"From 2000 through 2013, the number of large-scale ivory movements has steadily grown in terms of the number of such shipments and the quantity of ivory illegally traded. 2013 already represents a 20% increase over the previous peak year in 2011; we're hugely concerned," said Tom Milliken, ivory trade expert with TRAFFIC, which manages the ETIS database.

Experts aren't yet sure if the rise in ivory confiscations means an uptick in poaching or, preferably, improved law enforcement. More....

New Figures Reveal Poaching For The Illegal Ivory Trade

12/2/2013

Source: Scoop.co.nz

New Figures Reveal Poaching For The Illegal Ivory Trade Could Wipe Out A Fifth Of Africa’s Elephants Over Next Decade.

As delegates gather to discuss the plight of the African Elephant at a summit convened by the Government of Botswana and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) new analyses released today find that if poaching rates are sustained at current levels, Africa is likely to lose a fifth of its elephants in the next ten years.The latest analysis of poaching data estimates that in 2012 some 15,000 elephants were illegally killed at 42 sites across 27 African countries participating in Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), a programme of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), with funding from the European Union.

According to MIKE analysis, this amounts to an estimated 22,000 elephants illegally killed continent-wide in 2012, a slight reduction on the estimated 25,000 elephants poached in 2011.

“With an estimated 22,000 African Elephants illegally killed in 2012, we continue to face a critical situation. Current elephant poaching in Africa remains far too high, and could soon lead to local extinctions if the present killing rates continue. The situation is particularly acute in Central Africa—where the estimated poaching rate is twice the continental average,” said John E. Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General.

The IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group estimates the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) population is around 500,000. Elephants in Central Africa are bearing the brunt of the poaching, although high-poaching levels in all sub-regions mean that even the large elephant populations in Southern and Eastern Africa are at risk unless the trend is reversed. Poverty and weak governance in elephant range States, together with rising demand for illegal ivory in consuming nations, are believed to be the key factors behind the increase in elephant poaching in recent years.

The high poaching levels are mirrored by the ivory trafficking figures compiled through the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) database, which TRAFFIC manages on behalf of the CITES Conference of the Parties. According to bias adjusted ETIS data, illicit trade in ivory rose in 2011 to the highest levels in at least 16 years and persists at unacceptably elevated levels through 2012.

Preliminary indicators suggest that even higher levels of illicit trade may be reached in 2013. Although incomplete, the raw data for large-scale ivory seizures in 2013 (involving at least 500 kg of ivory in a single transaction) already represent the greatest quantity of ivory confiscated over the last 25 years for this type of seizure. Large-scale ivory seizures typically indicate the participation of organized crime and so far 18 such seizures have yielded over 41.6 tonnes of ivory this year, but whether this reflects better law enforcement or a further escalation in trade will only be known when a full analysis of the 2013 data is possible sometime next year.

“From 2000 through 2013, the number of large-scale ivory movements has steadily grown in terms of the number of such shipments and the quantity of ivory illegally traded. 2013 already represents a 20% increase over the previous peak year in 2011; we’re hugely concerned,” said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC’s Ivory Trade expert, who manages the ETIS database. More....

Can Charles and Wills Win War on Ivory Gangs Who Fund Terror? How Chinese Lust for Elephant Tusks Selling at £650,000 For a Pair is Fuelling a Deadly Trade... and the Wrath of Princes

11/30/2013

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

By Martin Fletcher

Few sights are as repulsive as that of a poached elephant or rhinoceros carcass rotting in the African bush. Their heads have been hacked with axes to remove the tusks or horns. Their eye sockets are empty. Their bodies, or what remains of them after the vultures, jackals and hyenas have eaten their fill, seethe with maggots and flies.

The beasts’ bodily fluids have turned the ground to mud, and the stench is appalling. The contrast with the majesty of those animals, and with the natural beauty all around, can easily overwhelm you.

That is what happened to Prince William who, while preparing for a television interview in September, was shown a video of a rhino bleeding to death. His eyes brimmed with tears.

‘He was very, very emotional. He just about held it together,’ said an aide. On screen, the Prince explained: ‘Wildlife is incredibly vulnerable and I feel a real protective instinct, more so now that I’m a father, which is why I get emotional about it.’

Now he has thrown himself into the fight for their protection from an illicit trade that not only leaves a trail of heartbreaking destruction but which increasingly is being used to fund a deadly assortment of terror groups.

In a statement to The Mail on Sunday, William said: ‘In the face of the threat to these species it is natural to feel powerless, but I have seen the extraordinary impact of advances in protection on the ground and the power of some media in reducing demand for these products.

‘Each one of us can help by raising our voices to support them. We have to be the generation that stopped the illegal wildlife trade.’

Last week William joined Prince Charles – who initiated their concern – at Clarence House to unveil their most ambitious venture yet: a government-sponsored London summit in February.

Together with David Cameron, William Hague and Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, they will urge heads of government or foreign ministers of 50 countries to fight back against those destroying Africa’s natural heritage to feed the avarice of Asia, where tusks and horns end up. More....

Hear Them Roar: Couple Hope Film Stirs Action on Lions

11/30/2013

Source: USAtoday.com

By Elizabeth Weise

After years making documentary films to educate the West about the need to preserve African wildlife, Beverly and Dereck Joubert are turning their sights on a new target.

The South African couple's 22 previous films have raised awareness throughout much of the world about the dwindling numbers of lions and other "big cats" in their natural habitats.

Now they believe they need to broaden their audience to include China.

Leaning over the dashboard of their custom-modified Land Cruiser, Dereck 57, keeps a watchful eye on the six lions in the grass a few feet in front of him.

"We've made a mess of Africa's wildlife population. Colonialism brought trophy hunting and today we're losing five lions a day to poaching and hunting," he says.

Their work has focused on the steady decline of big cats across the globe. The most recent documentary premiers Dec. 1 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on the cable channel NatGeo Wild.Game of Lions tells the story of a group of young males and the dangers they face as they seek to become the one battle-scarred warrior who will lead the pride. It's part of NatGeo's popular Big Cat Week.

The Jouberts have been National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence since 1999. They worry that a rising hunger in China for lion bone wine and exotic animal pelts is adding to the dangers faced by lions.

Africa's lion population is already down to 20,000 to 30,000, from as many as a million originally, says Luke Hunter, president of Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organization based in New York.

The main current threat is simply more mouths to feed, Hunter said. Africa has the fastest-growing population on the planet, fueling the need to clear more land for farming, destroying the habitat lions need to survive. More....

China Increases Prosecutions in Response to Illegal Trade in Elephant Ivory

11/29/2013

Source: CITES.org

Press Release

Eight Chinese citizens have recently been convicted and sentenced to 3 to 15 years imprisonment in east China's Anhui Province for smuggling a total of 3.2 tonnes of ivory between 2010 and 2012, according to a media release of the CITES Management Authority of China. All the ivory was bought on an auction website and sent to China via courier, falsely declared as calligraphy brush canisters or sewage pipes. The items were then offered for sale online to potential buyers in China. In addition to 15 years behind bars, the principal perpetrator was also ordered to surrender his 3 million Yuan (approximately USD 500,000) in cash.

In a very similar case in the neighbouring Zhejiang Province, involving the same means and smuggling route, 10 individuals were sentenced to serve jail sentences of 6.5 to 15 years. Earlier this year, three Chinese citizens in Fujian Province were sentenced to periods of 7 to 15 years imprisonment for smuggling 7.7 tonnes of ivory from Africa. More recently, on 8 November, 2013, the Supreme Court of southern China’s Guangdong Province upheld the judgment of the “court of first instance” in an ivory smuggling case, as a result of which two ivory smugglers will be jailed for 12 and 14 years for smuggling 1.04 tonnes of ivory.

Those prosecuted and convicted for ivory-related offences were not necessarily involved directly in smuggling, but in some cases for their involvement in illegal ivory trade within China.

Earlier this month, a Chinese citizen was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Beijing for ordering two whole ivory tusks and 168 small ivory carvings in Guangdong Province, although he claimed that they were for his own collection.

Reports from the Supreme Court of China reveal that many other examples of individuals buying, selling or transporting ivory without proper documentation issued by wildlife authorities are being sentenced to imprisonment, although the quantities of ivory involved can often be relatively small. These prosecutions send a message that the risk of facing severe penalties does not stop at the border.

These are a few examples of the increasing number of ivory-related prosecutions in China. According to China’s Supreme Court, nearly 700 individuals were prosecuted during the past 10 years, with subsequent sentences for their involvement in wildlife crime ranging from 3 years to life imprisonment. They stated that ivory-related offences represented more than half of these cases in recent years. More....

Does the Solution to Elephant Poaching Lie in Small-Town Connecticut?

11/29/2013

Source: Takepart.com

By Richard Conniff

Wildlife products are big business in China. And to outsiders concerned about dwindling numbers of species, the rabid desire for these products can be shocking. Running down the list of species they are eating, or otherwise consuming, to the brink of extinction, it’s easy to get the impression that China’s newly rich are utterly depraved. Shameless. Inhuman, even.

In fact, though, their appetite for wildlife products—from shark fin soup and pangolin stew to ivory trinkets—in some ways echoes our own 19th-century rise to wealth. We are the ones, for instance, who brought off the great slaughter of American bison, from 60 million animals down to about 700 in 1902. We alone are to blame for the mindless killing of billions of passenger pigeons, down to the death of Martha, the sole surviving female, in 1914. But those sad stories are already well known. I’m going to tell a hometown story instead, one that resonates with what China is doing to elephants in Africa today.

For many years, I lived in a Connecticut River Valley community that rose up entirely on the strength of the ivory trade. The rival companies at the heart of Deep River and neighboring Ivoryton, Conn., were makers of piano keyboards covered with ivory, and they dominated the ivory market in the Western Hemisphere. The river landing just below my house was an unloading point for ivory tusks. And at the beginning of the 20th century, the factory at the other end of my street was cutting the ivory of a thousand elephants a year.

When I lived there in the 1980s and '90s, people could still remember fertilizing their tomatoes with ivory sawdust. The local pond below the mill used to turn yellow with it, a local elder told me, and when he and a friend came home from swimming there as boys, “we looked like the Gold Dust Twins. How my mother would holler.”

For American buyers then, as for Chinese consumers now, ivory was all about status. In the prosperous decades after the Civil War, the piano was the essential “badge of gentility,” as one social observer put it, “being the only thing that distinguishes ‘Decent People’ from the lower and less distinguished…‘middling kind of folks.’ ”

At the height of the public craze for the piano, from about 1860 to 1930, demand from Pratt, Read & Company in Deep River and Comstock, Cheney & Company in Ivoryton helped determine demand for ivory in Zanzibar, the major trading center, and even the price paid for tusks in the East African bush, where the elephants were being killed. Then, about 50,000 elephants died each year to supply the ivory trade. At the risk of overstating the moral complications of what seemed like an innocent pastime, they died so girls in the rising middle class could display their musical talent and families could gather around the piano to sing. More....