HK seizes $12m worth of ivory

More than seven tonnes of ivory worth over US$9 million (S$12.4 million) were seized in Hong Kong, officials said, the largest bust of its kind in the city in three decades.

The 7,200kg haul was hidden underneath frozen fish and raised suspicions due to the high transport fees listed on the bill of import.

Hong Kong Customs officials said on Thursday the cargo had come from Malaysia and was believed to have been the work of a major smuggling ring. One man and two women have been arrested in connection with the find, Customs official Wan Hing Chuen said, warning that there could be more arrests.

Hong Kong is a major hub for ivory import and processing, but it launched a landmark Bill last month to phase out the trade by 2021. Critics say the city's authorities are lagging behind mainland China, where officials have pledged to completely ban ivory trading by the end of this year.

The global trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to around 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

There are now believed to be some 415,000 left, with 30,000 illegally killed each year.

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Hong Kong seizes $9m worth of ivory in Malaysia shipment

Hong Kong customs officials said Thursday they have seized more than $9 million worth of ivory this week in the city’s biggest haul in 30 years.

Customs officers discovered 15,900 pounds of elephant tusks on Tuesday in a shipment that orginated in Malaysia that had been labeled as frozen fish, the Customs and Excise Department announced

Customs officers displayed samples of the tusks piled on the floor at their offices close to some of Hong Kong’s giant container ports.

The department said three people at a trading company in Hong Kong have been arrested in connection with the shipment.

Hong Kong, which is a major transshipment hub for illicit wildlife products, is preparing to ban local ivory sales by 2021.

But under Hong Kong’s customs regulations, anyone found importing or exporting endangered species without a license or trying to smuggle such items into or out of the territory faces possible fines and imprisonment.

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Hong Kong launches ivory ban bill

HONG KONG: Hong Kong launched a landmark bill to ban its ivory trade Wednesday, describing it as an effort to “eradicate” the illegal poaching of elephants.

The southern Chinese city is a major hub for ivory sales and announced last year that it would ban the import and export of the goods, but later clarified it would only completely abolish the trade by 2021.
Critics say authorities are dragging their feet and lagging behind China, where officials in December pledged to halt the enterprise by the end of 2017.

A new amendment to the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants ordinance was presented to lawmakers Wednesday, designed to toughen regulations and “phase out the local ivory trade,” but said it would be a five-year process.

Environment minister Wong Kam-sing said the city must respond to the demands of the international community as he formally introduced the bill at the legislative council Wednesday.
The trade would “fully come to a close” by 2021, he added.

A frontline park ranger from the Democratic Republic of Congo last week delivered emotional testimony to legislators, describing the violent nature of the trade.

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China denies involvement in ivory smuggling from Uganda

China on Thursday rejected allegations that two of its diplomats smuggled ivory from Uganda.

“The Chinese embassy officials are suspected of helping move ivory from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan, using Uganda as a transit point,” Ali Munira, a spokeswoman for Uganda’s top anti-corruption body, told AFP this week.

Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni directed the two diplomats to be probed into the alleged wildlife interference.

China has denied such allegations terming them totally unfounded but at the same time vowed to punish them if found guilty.

“We have rigorous regulations and laws on governmental officials, embassy members, and visiting groups to forbid them from buying or engaging in [smuggling] activities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

“We have rigorous regulations and laws on governmental officials, embassy members, and visiting groups to forbid them from buying or engaging in (smuggling) activities,” she added.

Poaching is a major factor contributing to the rapid decline in the numbers of African elephants, with about 20,000 slaughtered every year, according to the WildAid’s wildlife organization.

It says about 415,000 African elephants remain today, compared with the 3 to 5 million in the early 20th century. The animal is officially listed as a vulnerable species.

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China Poised to Close Ivory Factories

NAIROBI, KENYA —
China is preparing to shut down ivory factories Friday. It is the first phase of the government’s plan to end all domestic ivory trade this year. Kenyan conservation group Save the Elephants says that commitment has already had some impact.

Save the Elephants says the wholesale price of ivory in China dropped up to 60 percent in the last three years. The Nairobi-based conservation group says in 2014 a tusk sold wholesale for $2,100 per kilogram. In February of this year, an ivory tusk was sold at $700 per kilogram.

Save the Elephants researcher Esmond Martin did the study, which was released Wednesday in Nairobi.

“The government of China announced in December last year, 2016, it was going to close down the ivory factories, the legal ones and illegal shops,” Martin said. “So what we found was many of the shops are now, are diversifying, getting out of ivory, moving into other materials.”

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Mammoth tusk haul seized by Chinese customs

Chinese customs officers have seized more than a tonne of tusks from animals that have been extinct for thousands of years - mammoths.

State media are reporting that the massive haul came from Russia and was seized in north-east China in February.

The largest piece of mammoth ivory seized was more than 1.6m (5ft) long, a customs officer was quoted as saying.

There is no international ban on the trade but Chinese officials said the haul was not declared.
Millions of mammoths

The stockpile is part of a booming trade between Russia and China in ivory taken from the skeletons of mammoths found in the Siberian tundra. The effects of global warming in the Arctic has made it easier to collect tusks preserved in ice for thousands of years, researchers say.

More than 100 woolly mammoth tusks were seized at the port of Luobei in Heilongjiang province, in addition to 37 woolly rhino horn parts and more than a tonne of jade. They were hidden in concealed compartments in a truck, according to reports.

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China announces to ban all ivory sales by the end of 2017

African elephants currently face a crisis of numbers because the value of ivory has increased dramatically.

#Ivory can fetch almost $600 per pound on the black market. The demand has increased the rate of poaching with an elephant being killed every 15 minutes. Beyond the ecological effects of poaching is the economic effects on local communities, where it can destroy livelihoods of those who live within areas that elephants range.

Poachers spread crime and rob communities of an asset because elephants draw tourists from all over the world. This provides communities with a legal, sustainable source of income for locals.

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Nam wants China action on poachers

WINDHOEK-CHINESE nationals involved in criminal activities in Namibia are straining diplomatic relations between the two countries, The Southern Times has learnt.

Namibia and the East Asian giant established diplomatic relations in early 1990 and China has invested over R60 billion into Namibia over the past 26 years. China also assisted Namibia in building essential infrastructure including hospitals, schools and roads.

But the Chinese community in Namibia, believed to have a population of over 100,000, has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons – inciting growing xenophobic sentiment from the hosts.

Chinese nationals’ involvement in illegal wildlife trade is blamed for fuelling rhino and elephant poaching in Namibia. Increasingly, Namibians including senior public officials are voicing their anger over these activities.

In March 2014, Wang Hui, 41, Li Xiaoliang, 32, Li Zhibing, 55 and Pu Xuexin, 51, were intercepted at Hosea Kutako International Airport attempting to smuggle 14 rhino horns worth R2.3 million and a leopard skin worth R50,000, out of the country.

The four were each sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a Windhoek court. At the time, the case was the country’s record rhino horn smuggling incident.

Then, in November 2016, a 28-year-old Chinese man managed to sneak out of Namibia with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage at Hosea Kutako International Airport, before he was apprehended upon his arrival at the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Thirty-five Hwange elephants flew from Victoria Falls to China on a “Flight to Hell”

Under cover of darkness on the night before Christmas Eve, 35 young elephants, some believed to be as young as 3 years old, were transported from Hwange to Victoria Falls airport for a flight to China. But it wasn’t to be the secret mission shrouded in tight security that Zimbabwean officials had hoped for. This ‘Flight to Hell’ was soon all over social media, while Zimbabweans slept.

Our investigations revealed that the first to post public news of this was Sharon Pincott, who worked with the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe in Hwange for 13 years but left in 2014 frustrated by unethical practices. She was in a different time zone and therefore wide awake. By the time Zimbabweans awoke, her Facebook post had been shared hundreds of times. Other sites were quick to spread the news which has enraged the world.

“Do they seriously think that they can keep doing this sort of thing now without people speaking out? There are a long list of people, from all walks of life, from both the sending and receiving countries who are horrified that ripping young elephants from their families continues to happen. It doesn’t take much anymore to get news out once an operation like this is in full swing,” said Pincott when we spoke to her.

“Those poor elephants were in tiny crates for more hours than I can bear to even think about, while there was delay after delay getting them loaded at Victoria Falls airport. Such Zimbabwean inefficiency and lack of care, on top of everything else, is unforgivable and alarming,” she said.

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37 Baby Elephants Now Headed for Zoos in China

37 Baby Elephants Now Headed for Zoos in China

Earlier this year in Zimbabwe, thirty-seven baby elephants were captured, stolen from their families,and brought to a holding facility in Hwange National Park. They have been sold to zoos and safari parks in China, and are currently awaiting shipment. Two baby elephants have already died of starvation and neglect.

Despite worldwide efforts to stop previous live captures from African nations for Chinese and United States zoos, Zimbabwe's Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, makes no apologies for the sale and capture of baby elephants, and has plans to sell off more of Zimbabwe's wildlife to China "without hesitation."

There was public speculation in September that the baby elephants had been captured for export to China, but the government’s national park and wildlife management authority denied it, saying the elephants were being trans-located within the region under a “wildlife drought mitigation strategy.” This has proven to be entirely false, as China continues to purchase Zimbabwe’s wild animals.

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