|
About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Free newsletter |
|
|
High ivory prices in Vietnam drive killing of elephants in Laos, Cambodia mongabay.com February 19, 2009 In surveys of the illegal illegal ivory trade in Vietnam, TRAFFIC found some of the highest ivory prices ever recorded: with tusks selling for up to $1500/kg and small, cut pieces selling for up to $1863/kg. “This is a worrying trend that indicates even more pressure is being put on already fragile Asian Elephant populations,” said Azrina Abdullah, Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia. “Continued demand for illegal ivory is driving the prices so high." TRAFFIC says the raw ivory is coming from elephants in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Live elephants are being smuggled from Myanmar (Burma).
"This allows some shop owners to restock illegally with recently-made carved ivory," explained TRAFFIC in a statement. TRAFFIC found that ivory is increasing sold in Vietnam via the Internet. The main buyers of ivory were from China (both Hong Kong and Taiwan) as well as Thailand, local Vietnamese, Vietnamese living in America and Europeans, in that order. “This insidious illegal trade is further threatening the highly endangered elephants of Asia and must be stopped,” said Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of the Species Program for WWF-International. The report urges the Vietnamese government to "comply with its obligations under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), particularly regarding the reporting of ivory seizures." It says monitoring, enforcement, and prosecution needs to be tightened and that ivory for sale in retail outlets should be confiscated by the government and destroyed.
Tags: elephants wildlife trade ivory trade poaching hunting vietnam asia southeast asia cambodia laos myanmar burma environment green mammals wildlife animals Environmental news index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements:
|
|
|
DON'T LIKE ADS? Become a mongabay supporter WEEKLY NEWSLETTER RECENT FEATURES
POPULAR PAGES Photos
CALENDARS 
BOOKS BY MONGABAY AUTHORS
FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 
HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS 
|
| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright mongabay 2010 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant. |
