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Illusion of Control: Hong Kong’s ‘Legal’ Ivory Trade.
A Plan to Save Elephants
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Suzy: Before and After
Sweet Suzy has come a long way since you helped us rescue her from
the circus last February. Prior to her rescue, 60 year old Suzy had been
continuously chained, subjected to mental torture, and forced to perform despite
her many infirmities.
After just 9 months of being under the care and supervision of our
vets at the Elephant Conservation and Care Center, Suzy has shown tremendous
improvement in terms of her health. She loves mashed fruits and can be spotted
following Asha, her best friend, who navigates her all around and even shares
meals with her.
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Hong Kong’s “legal” ivory market is willfully obstructing newly announced efforts by China and the United States to end ivory sales, at a time when thousands of African elephants are dying at the hands of poachers, according to a new report released by WildAid and African Wildlife Foundation with accompanying undercover footage provided to the organizations.
While China and the US have recently pledged landmark commitments to halt the ivory trade, the Hong Kong government has resisted such a move. Officials from Hong Kong's Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) continue to insist “the Hong Kong government has strict control mechanism in place over sale of ivory” and is comparable to other nations. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Over several months, investigators uncovered overwhelming evidence of ivory traders flouting licensing regulations with impunity, coaching tourists on how to smuggle purchased ivory, and routinely replenishing legally held ivory stocks with illegal ivory laundered into Hong Kong from recently poached African elephants.
WildAid and African Wildlife Foundation call on the Hong Kong government to ban ivory sales, and to conduct an independent inquiry to address longstanding regulatory loopholes and illegal smuggling
“The corruption and obfuscation as detailed in this report is a clear indictment of Hong Kong’s failure to stop international criminal syndicates who see this region as a safe haven for smuggling,” said WildAid CEO Peter Knights. “History has shown that legal ivory sales only serve to provide a cover for illegal trade, which fuels the rampant poaching we see across Africa. If elephants are to stand any chance at surviving, Hong Kong must join China and the US in shuttering its market.”
Time and again, the illegal ivory trade and ivory laundry in Hong Kong have been exposed by international NGOs through undercover operations,” said Elizabeth Quat, an active wildlife conservationist and Hong Kong legislative councilor. “I have related these problems to the Hong Kong Government many times and have been pushing for the loopholes to be closed. Their response has been slow, with no effective measures implemented to crack down on illicit sales and exports. Hong Kong’s illegal trade continues, and elephants are dying as a result."
Patrick Bergin, CEO of African Wildlife Foundation, said the new report “exposes the impossibility of ‘controlling’ the trade in ivory.”
“The profits are too high and the system is too easy to game to think we have any hope of controlling this trade through a bit of paperwork and lax regulation,” Bergin said. “By stopping all ivory trade, Hong Kong’s ivory trafficking industry will lose its disguise and ivory traffickers in Hong Kong will no longer be able to operate with impunity. They, and not our elephants, will become the targets.”
As recent seizures of wildlife product shipments have shown, Hong Kong remains a hub not only for ivory, but also for other illegal wildlife products, with enforcement agencies ill-equipped to inspect the sheer volume of cargo entering the region.
For example, in early October Indonesian authorities seized 3,000 whitetip shark fins destined for Hong Kong, which does not inspect shark fin shipments. Swim bladders from the totoaba, a critically endangered fish found only in Mexico’s Gulf of California, have long been smuggled and openly sold in Hong Kong, a fact only recently acknowledged by the AFCD."
Undercover video provided to WildAid, African Wildlife Foundation and WWF-Hong Kong from independent investigators show definitive proof of traders engaging in illegal activity. One vendor, for instance, admits to the investigator that he acquires smuggled ivory to replenish his “legal” inventory.
Trader: “When [the international commercial ivory trade] was outlawed in 1989, we registered our stocks with the Hong Kong government ... all materials were registered, but the record was not in detail,” the retailer said to an investigator posing as an ivory buyer. “They only record the weight of my raw materials and finished products. So I can simply exchange with anything. After I sell an [ivory] item, I can use illegal ivory to make another item to top up my stock again. The government officials have no idea on how to govern.”
From October 2014 to August 2015, investigators visited 94 confirmed ivory retail outlets in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China. Of these, only one retailer displayed an unadulterated possession license visible to customers. If they were visible at all, possession licenses at other locations were partially obscured, damaged, expired or tampered with by redacting key information on the maximum quantity of a trader’s licensed ivory stocks.
Traders also boasted of the ease in which they can acquire new ivory from Africa and gave undercover investigators posing as customers ample advice on how best to illegally export ivory out of Hong Kong.
“In light of the glaring corruption among Hong Kong’s ivory traders, we recommend that Hong Kong immediately ban the sale of ivory, establish a dedicated wildlife crime unit and provide adequate funding to enforce a ban and better detect illegal shipments coming into the region,” Knights said.
At China-Africa Summit, A Call for Wildlife on Agenda.
As African heads of state prepare to join Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Africa for the 6th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation, a group of respected Chinese and African business and policy leaders is appealing for wildlife and environmental issues to be included on the diplomatic agenda of the upcoming summit.
“"Both African governments and the Chinese government want better lives for their people and believe strong trade, not aid, is the way to achieve this,” said Philip Idro, former Ugandan Ambassador to China. “At the same time, we must remember that economic growth relies on healthy, resilient ecosystems and wildlife. For many African countries, wildlife and wildlands conservation can help to alleviate poverty and provide economic benefits. The Chinese have made great strides in panda conservation and in protecting their forests. I am sure we can come together to find acceptable ways of solving this dilemma in Africa."
The group is participating in a China–Africa Dialogue Series facilitated by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and the Aspen Institute. The effort aims to move leaders in government, civil society and private industry toward actively promoting investments and operations in Africa that are sustainable and include protection of Africa’s wildlife and wild lands.
Chinese film star Wang Baoqiang and Tanzanian singer-songwriter Alikiba will also join the meeting.
The Dialogue Series first brought together African thought leaders in Nairobi and Kigali in 2014 to address Africa’s natural resource crisis in the wake of rapid economic development. A parallel group of Chinese private and public sector leaders was convened in Beijing and Tianjin in 2014, followed by an official dialogue in Beijing in 2015, to help establish a set of recommendations for African–Chinese cooperation around challenges of wildlife and wild lands protection.
Key outcomes of the Dialogue Series have included:
- A formal recommendation—supported by former Presidents Festus Mogae of Botswana and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania—promoting the protection of Africa’s wildlife and wild lands as a priority in the continent’s development agenda was integrated into the African Union’s final Vision 2063 document.
- A formal proposal to include topics of wildlife and wild lands protection within the 6th Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was submitted to the African Ambassadors Group in Beijing, along with supporting technical information to serve as a resource for submitting these issues into the formal FOCAC process.
- A proposal to include wildlife on the diplomatic agenda of FOCAC was also submitted directly to South Africa’s Departments of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. In response, the Department of Environmental Affairs requested the China-Africa Dialogue Series submit formal commitments for inclusion in the agenda.
“The Dialogue participants have worked hard to ensure Africa’s wildlife and wild lands are not left behind as the continent acts on its development agenda,” said African Wildlife Foundation CEO, Dr. Patrick Bergin. “Because the role that China plays in that agenda is significant and by all accounts game-changing, it has a responsibility as well as an opportunity to help ensure Africa’s elephants, rhinos and other wildlife have a future in the modern Africa rising up before us.”
The format of the Dialogue Series followed the Aspen method of moderating dialogue in a small group setting where participants from various backgrounds and perspectives learn from each other through an interactive discussion of specific readings.
As a closing stage of the China-Africa Dialogue Series, the Aspen Institute and AWF will host a final roundtable dialogue and safari from November 30 to December 3 at Kruger National Park, which has become a hotspot for rhino and elephant poaching. In addition to public and private sector leaders from China and Africa, participants will include African wildlife experts and VIP cultural envoys. A press conference will be organized on December 3 in Johannesburg to share the group’s experience and findings.
This Orphaned Baby Elephant Lost His Family – But Now He Has a New One in His Sanctuary Home.
The team of staff and volunteers at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) are, without a doubt, conservation superheroes. They work tirelessly to rescue and rehabilitate ill, injured, and orphaned animals throughout East Africa, in addition to tackling the ever-persistent threat of illegal wildlife poaching.
And now, their newest arrival, a baby elephant named Tusuja, has been welcomed by other herd members with open arms.
Tusuja was rescued after being found wandering alone through the Olare Orok Conservancy in the Maasai Mara ecosystem of Kenya. There were no herd members in sight for the vulnerable baby so the wildlife researchers who found him decided that he had to be rescued urgently, as they feared he would not survive through the night on his own.
Tusuja’s carers said, “his resolve when rescued and once safely back at the Nairobi Nursery, his understanding of the situation, cooperation and gentle calm nature have led us to choose a Maasai name for him, ‘Tusuja’, which means ‘to follow’ in Maa.” On their Facebook page, they further added: ”It’s been a long journey for Tusuja since his rescue but, thanks to expert care and treatment, he has finally overcome the parasites (picked up from livestock) which caused him to lose so much weight. A friendly and playful elephant, he is extremely gentle and always takes good care of his best friend, Rapa.”
Elephants are highly intelligent, social beings. They typically live in matriarchal herds, headed by the eldest female member, her daughters, and their calves. When the matriarch dies, she is replaced by one of her daughters, usually the eldest. Adult males live in separate bachelor groups. Elephants of all kinds are renowned for going through an elaborate mourning process when a herd member dies, and the bonds they form with family and friends can last a lifetime.
The ease with which baby Tusuja has been welcomed into his new herd by the other orphans shows that when it comes to love, friendship, and trust, elephants have a lot more in common with us than we realize. These animals lead complex emotional lives – and we humans have only a limited understanding of what this entails. It is a tragedy, then, that so many elephants around the world are forced to live in captivity and solitary confinement, or forced to perform back-breaking work for years on end. These majestic creatures are also exploited by the tourism industry, with elephant trekking camps and elephant painting demonstrations known to be particularly cruel.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the African elephant population is being systematically decimated by the ivory trade. An estimated 35,000 to 50,000 African elephants are killed for their ivory every year. International pressure to end this horrific trade is growing by the day, but unless concrete action is taken, the African elephant could be faced with extinction in the near future. You can find out how to help here.
It is such a relief to know that the DSWT team were on hand to save Tusuja from his precarious fate and that he now has a new loving rescued elephant family. You can help donate toward the cost of his care here. To find out more about the incredible work of the DSWT, visit their website or Facebook page. Image source: David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust/Facebook
SkyVet attend to a wild baby with a snare.
This Epic Rescue of Baby Elephant Stuck in a Hunting Trap Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity. The African elephant population has been dealt a huge blow by illegal poaching. It is estimated that one elephant is killed every 15 minutes for their ivory. Luckily, animal conservation organizations like the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) are working diligently to put an end to this senseless killing.
In addition to providing a home for the orphan victims of the ivory trade, DSWT works with Kenya’s Wildlife Services to provide mobile vet care for animals who have been injured by poaching attempts. Poachers commonly wound their targets with poison arrows and leave them to wander until they ultimately collapse and die. The mobile vet team can keep the latter from happening by responding to the scene before too much harm is done.
This video shows the rescue of a young elephant who walked into a snare trap. These sort of traps can be very harmful to animals as they will become embedded in the flesh over time causing blood infections, permanent wounding, and eventually death.
It’s so heartbreaking to watch the calf’s mother try in vain to prop him up after he falling in the trap, but luckily the mobile vets rush in to solve the problem in a hurry! The baby and his mother both needed to be tranquilized to carry out the successful rescue, after which, they were released back into the wild safe and sound.
DWST is a great organization that has earned our respect and admiration through their activism. To learn more about them, visit their website or Facebook page!
The 4 Gemini Circus elephants have been safely taken to the Doddaharve Elephant Rescue Center today, a 50 hectare forest next to the river Kaveri.
The format of the Dialogue Series followed the Aspen method of moderating dialogue in a small group setting where participants from various backgrounds and perspectives learn from each other through an interactive discussion of specific readings.
As a closing stage of the China-Africa Dialogue Series, the Aspen Institute and AWF will host a final roundtable dialogue and safari from November 30 to December 3 at Kruger National Park, which has become a hotspot for rhino and elephant poaching. In addition to public and private sector leaders from China and Africa, participants will include African wildlife experts and VIP cultural envoys. A press conference will be organized on December 3 in Johannesburg to share the group’s experience and findings.
This Orphaned Baby Elephant Lost His Family – But Now He Has a New One in His Sanctuary Home.
The team of staff and volunteers at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) are, without a doubt, conservation superheroes. They work tirelessly to rescue and rehabilitate ill, injured, and orphaned animals throughout East Africa, in addition to tackling the ever-persistent threat of illegal wildlife poaching.
And now, their newest arrival, a baby elephant named Tusuja, has been welcomed by other herd members with open arms.
Tusuja’s carers said, “his resolve when rescued and once safely back at the Nairobi Nursery, his understanding of the situation, cooperation and gentle calm nature have led us to choose a Maasai name for him, ‘Tusuja’, which means ‘to follow’ in Maa.” On their Facebook page, they further added: ”It’s been a long journey for Tusuja since his rescue but, thanks to expert care and treatment, he has finally overcome the parasites (picked up from livestock) which caused him to lose so much weight. A friendly and playful elephant, he is extremely gentle and always takes good care of his best friend, Rapa.”
Elephants are highly intelligent, social beings. They typically live in matriarchal herds, headed by the eldest female member, her daughters, and their calves. When the matriarch dies, she is replaced by one of her daughters, usually the eldest. Adult males live in separate bachelor groups. Elephants of all kinds are renowned for going through an elaborate mourning process when a herd member dies, and the bonds they form with family and friends can last a lifetime.
The ease with which baby Tusuja has been welcomed into his new herd by the other orphans shows that when it comes to love, friendship, and trust, elephants have a lot more in common with us than we realize. These animals lead complex emotional lives – and we humans have only a limited understanding of what this entails. It is a tragedy, then, that so many elephants around the world are forced to live in captivity and solitary confinement, or forced to perform back-breaking work for years on end. These majestic creatures are also exploited by the tourism industry, with elephant trekking camps and elephant painting demonstrations known to be particularly cruel.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the African elephant population is being systematically decimated by the ivory trade. An estimated 35,000 to 50,000 African elephants are killed for their ivory every year. International pressure to end this horrific trade is growing by the day, but unless concrete action is taken, the African elephant could be faced with extinction in the near future. You can find out how to help here.
It is such a relief to know that the DSWT team were on hand to save Tusuja from his precarious fate and that he now has a new loving rescued elephant family. You can help donate toward the cost of his care here. To find out more about the incredible work of the DSWT, visit their website or Facebook page. Image source: David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust/Facebook
SkyVet attend to a wild baby with a snare.
In addition to providing a home for the orphan victims of the ivory trade, DSWT works with Kenya’s Wildlife Services to provide mobile vet care for animals who have been injured by poaching attempts. Poachers commonly wound their targets with poison arrows and leave them to wander until they ultimately collapse and die. The mobile vet team can keep the latter from happening by responding to the scene before too much harm is done.
This video shows the rescue of a young elephant who walked into a snare trap. These sort of traps can be very harmful to animals as they will become embedded in the flesh over time causing blood infections, permanent wounding, and eventually death.
It’s so heartbreaking to watch the calf’s mother try in vain to prop him up after he falling in the trap, but luckily the mobile vets rush in to solve the problem in a hurry! The baby and his mother both needed to be tranquilized to carry out the successful rescue, after which, they were released back into the wild safe and sound.
DWST is a great organization that has earned our respect and admiration through their activism. To learn more about them, visit their website or Facebook page!
The 4 Gemini Circus elephants have been safely taken to the Doddaharve Elephant Rescue Center today, a 50 hectare forest next to the river Kaveri.
Weeks of struggle led by team HSI along with CUPA, PETA, WSOS and of course PFA has finally made this happen. Concerted action by at least half a dozen other organisations was critical.
Also, this is a good result by Vasudev Murthy, who we tained to become HAWO. Very heartening to have enthusiastic new activists taking up matters so systematically. Cases filed by AWBI and HSI are still pending before the High Court and the Magistrate's court to take the matter to its logical conclusion which is to ensure good living conditions at the rescue center and punishment to guilty officers and elephant 'owners'. Jayasimha Geethaprabhu Nuggehalli Shreya Paropkari are the twin stars of this remarkable rescue
Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS
In
the forests and savannahs of central Africa, elephants are being slaughtered by
poachers. Some are slayed with bullets, others poisoned. At this rate, African
forest elephants face near extinction within 10 years.
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we can ensure a future for these elephants. Our plan addresses the crisis at
every level. Together we can stop the killing, stop the trafficking, and stop
the demand.
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African elephant is the largest land mammal on Earth, weighing up to eight tons.
Sadly, tens of thousands of elephants are killed every year for their ivory
tusks, making wildlife crime the most urgent threat to their survival. WWF works
to secure a future for elephants by fighting the illegal ivory trade and
maintaining areas for them to roam. You can help WWF make a difference for species and their habitats this holiday season. Donate and choose from these elephant-themed thank-you gifts and more.
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Information* Thank-you gifts for eligible donations are shipped for free via USPS First-Class / Priority Mail and may take 6 - 10 business days to be delivered in the US, 3 - 6 weeks internationally (see FAQ Page for complete list of countries). Delivery date and time cannot be guaranteed. Making a donation for Hanukkah? Give by 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday, November 24, 2015, for delivery by Sunday, December 6, 2015. Making a donation for Christmas? Give by 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday, December 15, 2015, for delivery by Thursday, December 24, 2015. |
