Elephants in danger due to continued ivory sales, despite world ban. UK-based satellite television broadcaster Sky News recently conducted a special investigation into the ivory trade, which still goes on in some countries despite a 1989 global ban. To obtain the ivory, the investigation found that elephants are illegally poached from African nature reserves or the wild, then cruelly killed or injured and left to die after their ivory tusks are sawn off.

Making contact with an ivory trader in Beijing, China, the Sky News journalist posing as a buyer listened as the man described his family’s profitable ivory trafficking operation, showing the journalist three pairs of elephant tusks priced at £40,000 and saying that he could get more. Sky News also filmed a retail setting in Beijing where the ivory is sold, including a government- accredited workshop, where the ivory is said to originate from a 2008 batch that became available as a last material for sale. However, workers admitted to carving tusks that have been recently and illegally obtained, even displaying segments of smuggled ivory for the camera. Speaking of the need to ban the retail sale of ivory, in addition to its purchase, Lisa Hua from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said, “As long as there's legal trade, the illegal ivory will find its way into the market.” Several animal welfare organizations, including IFAW, are thus calling on China and other countries to ban all trading of ivory to prevent the inhumane loss of more elephants, whose populations are quickly dwindling.

Our grateful thanks, courageous journalists and Sky News for this revealing report, despite our deep sadness at the elephants cruelly sacrificed for ivory objects. May governments across the globe soon ban all such products, as people instead turn to the myriad forms of natural beauty that can be enjoyed while still preserving precious lives.

http://www.zambianwatchdog.com/2011/02/09/china-ivory-demand-spurs-elephant-slaughter-in-africa/
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/China-Ivory-Demand-Elephants-In-Africa-Under-Threat-As-Asias-Demand-For-Illegal-Substance/Article/201102215926071?f=rss
http://www.news.com.au/world/chinas-ivory-demand-skyrockets/story-fn6sb9br-1226003336272 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_trade