Hope for elephants: China vows to shut down ivory trade by end of 2017

China promised Friday to close down its domestic ivory trade completely by the end of 2017, a decision greeted by environmentalists as offering real hope to curb a poaching crisis that is wiping out tens of thousands of elephants across Africa.

"China's announcement is a game changer for elephant conservation," said Carter Roberts, president and chief executive of the World Wildlife Fund in a statement. "The large-scale trade of ivory now faces its twilight years, and the future is brighter for wild elephants."

The National Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy group, said the news "may be the biggest sign of hope for elephants since the current poaching crisis began."

In a statement released by its governing State Council, China announced it would "cease part of ivory processing and sales" by the end of March, and cease both completely by Dec. 31, 2017.

It was a massive step for a country that had previously argued that ivory carving was part of its national cultural heritage, and where intricately carved ivory items had become both a status symbol and a popular gift to grease the wheels of government and business.

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