- The US is the 2nd largest market for ivory after China. Increased global demand for ivory has accelerated decline in the number of African Elephants, with statistics pointing to 96 Elephants being killed in Africa alone for their tusks.
- Chinatown is the top spots to buy ivory in US, prompting the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to tighten regulations to ban the import of ivory or elephant tusks for commercial purposes.
- The new rules allow only ivory which is 100yrs old or obtained before 1976 to be sold commercially. However, there in often no way to accurately determine how old the ivory is or when the elephant was killed.
- Many shops in China town still display trinkets, sculptures and even large tusks in their windows and researchers believe at least 70% of the ivory items there are illegal.
- Carved ivory is a traditional source of status symbol in China, and the growing middle class has heightened the global demand.
- Elephant tusks are sold at over $1,500 a pound on the global black market and the trade is a primary source of funding for many international terrorist groups.
- Natural Resources Defence Council and the Wildlife Conservation Society together with environmentalists are launching the ‘96 Elephants campaign’, a name that emphasizes the death toll to create awareness.
- Stronger laws and penalties for the illegal transport of ivory together with more inspectors and sophisticated testing are necessary to curb elephant poaching, which has thus far caused a 76% decline in their numbers.
- Read at:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/biggest-ivory-market-in-us-after-china-experts/article6259194.ece