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Category: China, Ivory, Trade, elephants, wildlife trade | Date: Jul 30 2008 | By: Maina

In an earlier post, I reported that the US is second only to China in the size of the ivory blackmarket. Well, although most American buyers were said to be unaware of the legality of their ivory purchases, it turns out that there are glaring legal loopholes that traders are exploiting to fan the blackmarket.

Acclaimed wildlife trade investigators, Dr Esmond Bradley Martin and Daniel Stiles, spent several months in the US visiting 16 of America’s main towns and cities where ivory is sold between 2006 and 2007. Their report, Ivory Markets in the USA, has just been published. The report shows that even though the US is far ahead in its control of illegal ivory trade compared to Africa and Asia (US only comparable to Europe), its large population and vast buying power renders stringent control of ivory trade critical.

And there are controls. The US Endangered Species Act (ESA) and various other legislation conform with CITES stipulations but there is leeway that can be exploited. Antique worked ivory (at least 100 years old), for example, can legally be imported and sold (according to both CITES and US laws). This leaves the market wide open for fake antiques (fabricated using smoke, dyes and exposure to heat and acidity). Trophy tusks can also be imported legally from the southern African countries that allow hunting but the raw ivory cannot be used commercially. This opens shady alleys where ivory from anywhere can easily find its way into the market with fake documents of origin. The same law allows sale of trophy tusks imported before July 1975, when CITES came into force, which again makes it that much easier to sell all and any purported trophy.

Twenty-two states have integrated federal wildlife laws into state laws and there is generally good cooperation between state and federal agencies. When wildlife specimens originate outside the US, however, law enforcement agencies find it hard to deal with and ivory is no exception. “Once ivory enters the US, it can move free of inspection within the 50 states. Neither state nor federal agencies regularly inspect shops or antiques fairs for wildlife products.” say Martin and Stiles in an article published in Swara magazine.

In a country where 24,000 worked ivory items on sale in 657 outlets were recorded by this particular investigation, it is no wonder that the market should be second only to China’s statistics. Of the 16 cities investigated, New York had by far the most ivory for sale: a minimum of 11,376 ivory items in 124 outlets, which is almost 5 times higher than the second highest, San Fransisco Bay Area with 2,777 items in 49 outlets. Greater LA records a close 2,605 items although in more outlets (170) closing the top three. Ivory workers are however difficult to find since they mostly work from home and are widely scattered throughout the 50 state colossus.

Interestingly, most of the recent imports of ivory into the US came from China! Since the US has never conducted any census on ivory and maintains no stockpile, it is difficult to know how much ivory is out there.

Granted, the US authorities hold the record for the highest number of ivory seizures in the world. But they also seize large quantities of illegal drugs but that does not mean that they are winning the war on drugs. Illegal ivory, like these drugs, still gets in.

The problem is that although CITES resolutions have called for various actions to control ivory trade, the US has implemented none of them. Particularly, according to the article by Martin and Stiles in Swara magazine, the US should pay attention to these actions:
1) Prohibit the unregulated domestic sale of ivory. the owner of the ivory should prove lawful possession
2) Register or license all importers, wholesalers, and retailers dealing in ivory items
3) Establish nationwide procedure, especially in retail outlets, informing tourists and other non-nationals not to purchase ivory in cases where it is illegal for them to import it into their own home countries
4) Introduce recording and inspection procedures to enable government agencies to monitor the flow of ivory within the country

Tags: CITES, elephants, Ivory, US, wildlife trade

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Category: China, wildlife trade | Date: Jul 22 2008 | By: Maina

This may not be news to you but I find it rather disturbing that the US has stayed up there in the list of leading centers for illegal wildlife trade despite the growth in the number of conservation conscious individuals.

An AFP report I stumbled upon in the ABC site (dated 10 June) quotes the US Assistant Secretary of State for Environment, Claudia McMurray, saying that China is the largest market for illegal wildlife products, but, disturbingly, the US comes second in the $10-Billion a year trade. So, first, we can confirm what we’ve always known: China is bad for wildlife. Second, it is time for you to carefully consider what you, as an individual, can do to help your country get a good name, and most important, save wildlife.

Perhaps this should help. The US market is not driven by deliberate and insensitive demand for wildlife products but by lack of information about which products are illegal. Most ”culprits” of the trade in US buy their products while traveling, online, or in shops in the US. Most of the time, they think the products are perfectly legal, which is not the case.

So why is the US staying up there with the bad boys? Yes, you guessed right. Traditional CHINESE medicine is gaining popularity in the US and nowadays it is not just being practiced by people of Asian origin. All sorts of people are administering and consuming this service. Americans are also into live exotic pets, which disturbs the equation further. But again, they believe it is legal.

US Special Envoy for wildlife trafficking issues, actress Bo Derek, is quoted saying, “It was very embarrassing for me to find out that the US is number two in consuming endangered wildlife,”

So what is your role as a caring and conscious American? Don’t leave the entire awareness creation process to your government - for they have launched a campaign to educate people on these issues. Go ahead and tell your neighbor that having a pet Iguana might actually be illegal. Tell them about the scale of illegal wildlife trade worldwide and help them form the graphic image of wildlife slaughter in Africa, Asia and South America to supply the market. Tell them about the wars fueled by the competition for the exctraction of these resources, and the women and children that suffer the consequences. That should convince them.

But who will educate China? Am sure there are many Chinese people who have resolved to change their countrymen’s perception about wildlife, and they are really working at it. Let us encourage them. Help them in any way you can. We cannot give up on China. Giving up on China, is giving up on wildlife.

Now, go do your country - and wildlife - some good.

Tags: China, US, wildlife, wildlife trade

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