Two tons of Ivory siezed in Taiwan
14/03/2007 00:00:00Recent ivory seizures.
- July 2006, 250 tusks seized in Taiwan.
- May 2006, 4 tonnes of elephant ivory seized in Hong Kong.
- January 2005, 80lbs of ivory found in Kenya.
- August 2005, 500 lbs of ivory found in Brazzaville, Congo.
- November 2004, 140 elephant items seized in the UK.
- 2002, 6.5 tonnes of ivory seized in Singapore in – the largest seizure since the 1989 ban was put in place.
- The international trade in elephant ivory was banned by the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1989, but a few CITES nations, led by Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and China, want the ban to be lifted.
- Although Taiwan is not a CITES member, it does work to comply with measures adopted by other countries.
The ivory represents at least 175 dead elephants, and was worth over $3 million. It was discovered enroute to Manila from Tanzania. This is probably the largest illegal shipment of ivory found in Taiwan, since 332 tusks were found in 2000.
This distressing news follows on from the news that Hong Kong officials discovered 600 ivory tusks.
Courtesy of IFAW.
