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U.S. Tightens Ivory Ban In Bid To Stop Elephant Poaching, Obama Imposes ‘Near-Total Ban’

By Jacintha Webster
Published on: 12:39 PST, Jun 2, 2016

Today, Barack Obama imposed a “near-total ban” on the commercial trade of ivory as the U.S. tightens their stance on the slaughter of African elephants.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have changed restrictions on ivory sales in the United States in a bid to stop the importation of elephant tusks in a move that will hopefully stop the slaughter of elephants.

Daniel M. Ashe, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said this move is a long time coming and something that most Americans want.

“The people of the United States will be speaking loudly and saying we value living elephants in the wild more than we value the creation and the trade of trinkets made from ivory.”

The United States is the world’s second biggest importer and consumer of ivory, second only to China, and have devastated the African elephant population. Experts say that 96 elephants are killed every day for their ivory which is then sold across Asia and the Americas.

Us tightens ban on ivory trade
Confiscated ivory in Times Square, New York. Under new rules only antique items more than 100 years old or objects containing relatively small amounts of ivory will be legal for sale. [Photo by Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock]
Under the new tighter ivory ban, African elephants and their tusks are a little bit safer. Now only genuine antique ivory items more than 100-years-old or objects containing small amounts of ivory, such as musical instruments using less than 200 grams of ivory, will be legal for sale in the U.S., according to the New York Times.

Previously, ivory could be sold if it was brought into the United States before the species it was taken from was listed as endangered or if the elephant died of natural causes, proof was needed for both.

The move to ban the ivory trade in the U.S. received special attention from President Obama and Hillary Clinton, and they have done so since 2013. Obama first confronted wildlife trafficking three years ago by funding training for African park rangers and police so they could protect elephants and rhinos from armed trafficking gangs, and he has been fighting to protect elephants ever since.

Patrick Bergin, chief executive of the African Wildlife Foundation and an adviser to the Obama administration’s trafficking task force, praised the tougher ivory rules.

“Strong laws around wildlife crime and strong enforcement of those laws are absolutely critical in deterring traffickers and poachers, and each country has an obligation to review and strengthen its laws, close loopholes and otherwise simplify the role of law enforcement in combating the illegal wildlife trade.”

John F. Calvelli, the executive vice president for public affairs with the Wildlife Conservation Society, also praised the new near-ban and said the tightened rules are a culmination of a three-year effort.

“We believe that today elephants are a little bit safer in the world,” he said.

The three-year effort by Obama was backed with the support of the public and the mammoth move to ban ivory is the second-most-commented-on rule in the Endangered Species Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service agency’s history. The public wrote letters, kids drew pictures of elephants, and thousands of petition signatures rolled in, in support of more restrictive ivory laws.

Obama tightening the ban on the ivory trade is the strongest action to date to cut the trafficking of ivory in the U.S., and now officials will head to China, the number one consumer of ivory, to encourage similar action. U.S. officials plan to visit Beijing next week to reduce the global ivory trade, a move that may already be happening, according to The Guardian.

Peter Knights, the chief executive of WildAid, said ivory prices in Asia are already dropping, in response to the ban and he hopes Japan would also soon to cut off the illegal ivory trade.

This new ban could mean a significant reduction in the killing of African elephants and the violence that surrounds illegal poaching. Conservationists estimate that poachers have killed as many as 50,000 elephants annually in recent years and there are now less than 500,000 elephants roaming Sub-Saharan Africa today, according to Time.

Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society in the U.S. has pointed out that ivory does not just affect the animals.

“Poaching and wildlife trafficking don’t just terrorize animals; they fuel terrorism and instability around the world,” he said.

The new rules send a global message, according to John F. Calvelli, that America will not stand up for the slaughter of elephants or the violence that surrounds the ivory trade any longer.

“It’s sending a very powerful message globally, that the United States is taking a moral position.”

[Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images]

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