Massive Thai ivory seizure signals danger for world’s elephants

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has commended Thailand’s customs officials in the seizure of 65 elephant tusks and one rhino horn at Bangkok International Airport late last week, amidst fears that more elephants will be targeted by illegal ivory traders. One suspect has since been arrested although the customs officials withheld the nationality of the suspect.

Referred to as the biggest haul of the year in Thailand and the fourth at the airport this year, the confiscated ivory is valued in excess of US$70,000 and weighs over 500 kilograms. The consignment was packed in three cases and arrived in Thailand last Monday on a flight from Africa. The cases were falsely declared to contain

uncut gemstones and were addressed to an importer of Mali citizenship.

The seizure of this illegal ivory has confirmed conservationists’ fears that the decisions made last November by parties to the U.N. Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) to allow for conditional one-off ivory stockpile sales by Namibia, Botswana and South Africa would result in an increase of illegal elephant poaching and ivory trade.

“This Bangkok ivory seizure confirms our prediction that CITES’ ivory trade decisions sent out the signals to poachers, dealers, traders and everyone involved in the illegal ivory trade that markets were about to reopen,” said Chris Tuite, Director of IFAW’s Wildlife and Habitat Program.

“This seizure should serve as another reminder to the CITES Secretariat and the Parties to CITES of the dangers of reopening the legal ivory trade,” said Jason Bell-Leask, IFAW Regional Director for Southern Africa. “Hardly two months have passed since wildlife officials in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province raised concerns about the escalation of elephant poaching. There is dire need to ensure that all measures are taken to prevent poaching and illegal trade in ivory – this begins with a complete ban on the ivory trade,” added Bell-Leask.

In July last year, six metric tonnes of African ivory was intercepted in Singapore by the Lusaka Agreement Task Force while en route to its destination in Japan while in February this year, the Kenya Wildlife Service seized 33 raw ivory tusks suspected to

have originated from northern Kenya. – SAPA.