25-01-2010 Animals Count welcomes the Government’s opposition to ivory trade

Yesterday, Animals Count called on the Government to oppose the proposed ivory trade and today we learned that the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, has indeed made the position of the UK Government to oppose the ivory trade clear.

26 January 2010

Animals Count calls upon the UK Government to strongly oppose the proposal by Tanzania and Zambia to allow a resumption in the ivory trade.  The UK Government needs to demonstrate leadership on this issue and affirm that any weakening of the moratorium on the ivory trade represents a failure to ensure the protection of the wild elephant population.

The evidence from the two previous “one off” ivory sales in 1997 and 2008 shows clearly that any resumption in this trade immediately and tragically leads to an increase in “black market” ivory sales, with greater numbers of elephants being killed by poachers, thereby having a severe impact on the remaining wild elephant population numbers (tragically elephants are now extinct in Sierra Leone because of poaching).

Animals Count demands that the UK Government uses its position as a standing member on the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) committee to oppose the sale in the strongest possible terms.  The scientific evidence tells us everything we need to know about the rich emotional, social lives of these extraordinary animals and the protection of the remaining wild populations in their natural habitat should be a foremost consideration for all Governments, and should certainly take precedence over any temporary financial considerations – the lives of these elephants are worth more than any fiscal trade in their body parts.

Political leadership urgently needs to be brought to bear on this issue if we are not to see the complete collapse of elephant populations until all that are left are a few “exhibits” in zoos and safari parks. It is time for the UK Government to take a stand and show the same courage as the Governments of Kenya and Mali, in leading the call from the majority of African States, in opposing yet another “one off” ivory sale. Animals Count urges the UK Government to prove that it does have the political will to take a stand on the world stage and call for upholding and indeed extending the moratorium on ivory sales, and put animal welfare where it belongs on the political agenda.