Ivory Trade Down — But Trade in Live Baby Elephants Up

With an unprecedented announcement that it will end its insatiable ivory trade, China finally seemed to respond to the global outrage against elephant poaching that has gained unstoppable worldwide momentum. Yet celebration is curtailed as we learn that China will import almost 30 baby elephants who were brutally stolen from their mothers in the wilds of Zimbabwe in 2014. As African elephant herds have dwindled to terrifyingly low numbers to feed the market demand for ivory, this sweeping claim from the world’s largest ivory “producer” is received with mixed emotions … and mixed messages.

Trade in Ivory – Down

The Minister of the State Forestry Administration Zhao Shucong announced that China would “strictly control ivory processing and trade until the commercial processing and sale of ivory and its products are eventually halted.” The June 5 Washington Post article by Simon Denyer further clarified China’s plans to reduce the five tons of stockpiled legal ivory supplied to carving workshops each year until a zero annual quota is reached. While it is unclear as to how long this phasing out process will take, it is a bold move and China is encouraging the United States and other countries to pledge to ban the trade of ivory.

In 1989, Kenya responded to rampant elephant poaching by burning its ivory stockpile and became the first country to express a firm stance against illegal poaching in this way. Many other countries have recently followed suit. “Over the past 24 months, we have seen Belgium, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Kenya, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and the United States all destroy stockpiles of illegally traded elephant ivory that has been seized and confiscated,” said John Scalon, Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in the written remarks of the May 29th ceremony in China.

The United States is the second-largest market globally for illegal wildlife products after China, and it still allows trade in ivory acquired before a worldwide ban in 1989. Meng Xianlin, China’s top representative to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), pointed out that “Trophy hunters are also allowed to import ivory into the United States for non-commercial use; Europeans still trade in ivory acquired in colonial times, while some African countries encourage trophy hunting for income.”

IDA and others have been asking President Barack Obama to further tighten the rules on the USA ivory trade. Some states, such as New York and New Jersey have passed laws closing loopholes for trade in ivory and other states have been working on similar legislative measures. But to date, President Obama’s administration has failed to reach its ultimate goal of a solid, national ban. National Rifle Association’s (NRA) support for trophy hunting and for trade in guns with ivory-inlaid stocks remains a barrier to the federal ban on ivory.

Trade in Live Elephants – Up

As generous accolades are being offered to China from the international community for their ivory ban move, the 300-acre Chimelong Safari Park in the southern city of Guangzhou, China, is readying itself to receive 27 baby elephants brutally stolen from their elephant mothers in the Zimbabwe wilds. They are being imported over this long distance for their Wildlife Park enterprise, a facility that claims to house ‘the largest circus in the world’- which is nothing to be proud of, and should be considered a national disgrace. Last year, the Zimbabwe baby elephant capture sparked international outrage, and all eyes have been watching and waiting to see in which countries these traumatized babies would appear.

According to an article in the Telegraph UK , China’s Corporate Leisure Safari Park is one of the buyers from this horrific elephant sale. Zimbabwe President Mugabe, who initiated and brokered the deal, states “The creation of a Zimbabwean section in the [Chinese] wildlife reserve would see millions of Chinese people paying to see its wildlife. In comparison, very few would come to see our elephants in Zimbabwe, so it makes commercial sense to send our wildlife there.” According to the Telegraph, two years ago, tragically, three out of four unweaned Zimbabwe baby elephants died after they were exported to China.

Granted, China’s ivory news is still widely encouraging on many fronts.Last month in Beijing, it destroyed 662 kg of tusks and ivory carvings in a public ceremony.China has stated its commitment to end the processing and sale of ivory and to build an “ecological civilization” with a senior level of commitment. Meng Xianlin, also says that the end of ivory processing and sales could come “very quickly” in his opinion, in one, two, three, or even up to ten years. If this is true, a radical change in the brutal and bloody world of elephant poaching would ensue and there may be a much more realistic chance that elephants will not go extinct.

If China’s newborn commitment is truly to protect elephants, will it also end its support of the brutal capture and live trade of baby elephants from countries like Zimbabwe?

Let’s hope China’s claims of elephant protection are sincere and far- reaching, and that, as this change sweeps though China’s ivory carving factories, it reaches all the way to the wild herds roaming free, protected, and unbroken in Africa.

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