See link for photos
In an effort to spur the government into action, he has been working with Save the Elephant on a study that claims Hong Kong is the leading city in the world for the ivory trade.
The study found 30,856 ivory pieces displayed for sale in 72 retail outlets across the city. Despite the evidence presented, the Hong Kong government is hesitant to act until it sees direct proof of an illegal ivory trade.
“It was frustrating that we knew that African elephants were killed by poachers for ivory that is smuggled into Hong Kong, yet there is no serious action,” Mr. Edward says.
Many studies have also shown that Hong Kong is not just a market for ivory, but a transit point for ivory buyers based in China. The Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) reveals that the Hong Kong Customs Department has seized 33 tonnes of illegal ivory since 2000, the fifth-most by any government in the world.
According to the WWF and Save the Elephant, Hong Kong’s ivory trade is twice as big as that of Bangkok, which has the world’s second largest trade, with 14,512 ivory pieces recorded as being on sale at 195 retail outlets. It is nearly three times the size of the third-largest market, New York, with 11,376 pieces for sale on display at 124 retail outlets.
Not long ago, the WWF team was approached by a group of people who handed over a compact disc containing undercover videos of the ivory trade in the city. Three videos of three ivory traders captured footage and conversations giving an in-depth account of ivory procurement from African elephants through Vietnam and Macau.
Officers of WWF were stunned after watching the videos. In the first video, a trader admits to procuring ivory from Africa. The trader in the second video shows off a huge pile of fresh raw ivory pieces. And in the third video, a trader is ready to sell raw African ivory if a buyer ‘dares’ to purchase it.
“Visuals and audio are solid proof of the ivory trade. We were moved by the courage of these people who risked their lives to save elephants,” Cheryl Lo, senior wildlife crime officer at the WWF says.
Following up on the undercover videos, the WWF says it has been able to determine they are genuine. It is protecting the identities of those involved out of concern for their safety.
The international trade of African elephant ivory continues despite a ban in place since the 1990 Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was agreed.
The ban specifies that any piece of ivory procured after 1990 is illegal and should be seized by governments. The ban was a massive blow to the ivory trade around the world, including in Hong Kong. According to Esmond Martin and Lucy Vigne, two leading ivory researchers, the ban led to increased demand for mammoth ivory from Russia.
Despite mammoths being long extinct, ivory can still be extracted from their fossils buried in the Siberian tundra. Russian traders are able to dig for mammoth ivory in May or June when the tundra melts and CITES does not ban this trade.
Mr. Martin and Ms. Vigne point out that traders in Hong Kong never imported mammoth ivory before the CITES ban of 1990. “But from 1990, mammoth ivory made its presence felt in the city’s ivory workshops. From 2011 to 2014, around 47,801 kilograms of mammoth ivory was imported in the city,” they say.
For an average buyer, it is difficult to differentiate between elephant and mammoth ivory. Even expert inspectors find it difficult to differentiate between them. The only effective way to tell them apart is by probing Schreger lines on the ivory. The cross section lines in mammoth ivory are at an angle of less than 90 degrees, but in elephant ivory, these lines are at more than 90 degrees.
The growing market of connoisseurs only wants elephant ivory, especially intricately designed pieces. Mr. Martin and Ms. Vigne point out that intricate designs cannot be carved on mammoth ivory because it expands and contracts, leading to breakage. Chopsticks cannot be made from mammoth tusk because it is too curved.
There have been allegations that traders maintain their supply and sale of ivory by passing mammoth ivory off as elephant ivory to average customers. Amidst a flourishing trade, there were only eight inspectors of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department [AFCD] to keep a check on the trade.
But mammoth ivory was not the only loophole that kept the ivory trade flourishing. CITES presents a massive licensing challenge for the AFCD of identifying between post-1990 and pre-1990 ivory.
AFCD rules require pre-1990 ivory to be registered with the department. The department then provides a number to each ivory piece. But the ivory trader in video one explains that it is child’s play to circumvent this legal requirement.
“When we import raw ivory, each item and its origin is recorded by the government with a serial number. The best practice is to notify the government after you have carved the ivory into smaller products and then ask the government to issue a certificate,” the trader says. This makes the illegal ivory legal in Hong Kong.
Mr. Edward says it is extremely difficult to identify which ivory piece, finished or raw, is pre-1990 or post-1990. “Radiocarbon dating is the only method that confirms the age of ivory. But laboratories for testing the age of the tusk are available in only two countries, Australia and the USA.”
That means, to determine whether ivory is pre or post-1990, the AFCD has to fly each piece to these two countries before it can penalise those found infringing the law.
While NGOs and campaigners are pressuring the AFCD for a complete ban, rules and regulations are proving a stumbling block. Josephine Yu of the AFCD says it has implemented stricter rules to control ivory trade in the city. “Under Cap 586, any person keeping ivory for commercial purposes must obtain a ‘license to possess’ for each premises. Such control is a domestic measure stricter than the requirements of CITES.”
After the undercover video evidence made public by the WWF, the AFCD has also announced it will be deploying sniffer dogs at transit points, and also use radiocarbon dating to differentiate between pre-1990 or post-1990 ivory.
Another major measure in the AFCD pipeline is stock checking of all the ivory traders in the city. “We will stick 3D hologram stickers to all legal ivory items. These holograms get destroyed if anyone tries to pull them off,” Ms. Yu says.
Hong Kong laws entail stiff punishment for illegal ivory traders, including financial penalties of up to HK$2 million [$258,000] and two years’ imprisonment.
The AFCD is confident its officers are adequately trained in differentiating between mammoth and elephant ivory, and it is working on stricter regulation of the ivory trade within the city and at each transit point.
But NGOs and campaigners are not convinced by AFCD assurances. They are demanding more effective measures to control and abolish the ivory trade. The efforts of the AFCD, and those of campaigners, is nonetheless expected to save many elephants from a brutal death.
http://theworldweekly.com/