Police in Togo have arrested three men after finding nearly two tons of ivory in a container destined for Vietnam. Two of the suspects are from Togo and the other is Vietnamese. Conservationists say the West African country is a transit point for illegal ivory between Central Africa and Asia. Despite a global ban on the […]
Where is this huge consignment of ivory that has been confiscated in Uganda coming from? Is it coming from neighbouring DR Congo or South Sudan or Central Africa Republic that have been torn by military conflicts in the recent decades? The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is leaving nothing to speculation by taking samples of the […]
Two Vietnamese men were sentenced on Wednesday to 16 months in jail for smuggling African elephant ivory through Singapore. Changi Airport officers detected two luggage bags containing about 45kg of ivory, estimated to be worth at least S$60,000, on January 14. The bags had arrived in a flight from Dubai and were in transit to […]
By Simon Parry South China Morning Post, 23 December 2013 Buyers are ‘investing’ amid fears legal trade is driving market for poached and smuggled tusks The price of elephant tusks in Hong Kong has shot up by more than fiftyfold in the past decade, raising concerns that the legal trade is fuelling demand for poached […]
The story published November 15th in Southern Weekly, about elephant poaching and blood ivory, has gone viral in China, has been shared widely across Chinese web sites and social media, raising awareness among millions of Chinese. The story mentioned also Elephant Action League and its groundbreaking investigation on ivory and terrorism. According to WCS, also mentioned on the article, the total views of the […]
A Vietnamese court sentenced two men to three years in prison for their role in smuggling ivory weighing 2,400 kilograms into the nation from Singapore. The tusks originated in Mozambique. The trial lasted one day. The two men were convicted of illegally transporting goods over the border, under Vietnam’s general smuggling provision. The charges stem from […]
We read all kind of figures about how many elephants are killed every year. 17,000, 22,000, 25,000, 30,000, 35,000, 50,000, etc.. It’s not just a problem of having different sources and opinions but also the fact that nobody really knows the extent of this tragedy. This is why the Elephant Action League recommends more caution in […]
A few months ago, when Tanzania started to be more active and vocal about poaching, the Elephant Action League warned that it was just a well organized strategy, to please CITES and the international community in order to get the authorization to sell the country’s huge ivory stockpile. We were right. After it failed early […]
You want to know why Chinese buy ivory and rhino horn? What drives the demand? Who are the Chinese who go to Africa? How Chinese people see Africa and Africans? A very interesting analysis/perspective by a Chinese journalist and investigator. “…But ivory is different. Although the per kg value of ivory is far less than […]
Only in 2013 and only in the port of Hong Kong, so far the custom seized over 3,350 ivory tusks. It’s more than 1,675 dead elephants who ended up in this Chinese port. Customs commonly assumes a 10% seizure success rate. You do the math… China is acting as a vacuum cleaner for elephants, and […]
