662 kg of confiscated illegal ivory destroyed in China

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-05-31

An illegal ivory carving is destroyed by an official in Beijing, May 29. (Photo/CNS)

The Chinese government on Friday destroyed 662 kg of confiscated ivory, the second such demonstration of its stance against wildlife crime.

The illegal ivory, which was seized over the past year, was dumped into crushers in Beijing and ground down by the State Forestry Administration (SFA) and the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In January last year, 6.1 tonnes of confiscated ivory were destroyed in the southern city of Dongguan.

The second public ivory destruction in China demonstrates the country's determination to end the illegal trade, protect wildlife and raise public awareness, said Zhao Shucong, head of the SFA.

"We will strictly control ivory processing and trade until the commercial processing and sale of ivory and its products are eventually halted," Zhao said.

The Chinese government will ban transport of illegal wildlife products by any means and pay special attention to the illegal ivory trade on the internet, he said.

Yu Guangzhou, chief of the GAC, said that while the smuggling of endangered species, including ivory, into China has been declining, customs will continue to fight illegal trade of wildlife products.

In February, the country announced a one-year ban on the import of ivory carvings to protect wild elephants. The SFA has said the temporary ban would allow authorities to evaluate its effect before taking further steps.

Ivory smuggling remains rampant globally. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) program monitoring the illegal killing of elephants has said that poaching rates still exceed natural elephant population growth rates, meaning a continued decline in elephant numbers and the reality that the animal faces extinction should such activities continue.

Ivory is legal in China if it comes from two sources; stock imported before the country joined CITES in 1981 and the 62 tonnes of raw ivory which China bought from four African countries in 2008, as permitted by CITES.

Ivory must be processed at designated places, sold in approved shops and tracked on an individual item basis. Each legal ivory product can be tracked through a unique photo ID and is recorded in a database.

Anyone involved in the illegal ivory trade is liable to punishment ranging from six months imprisonment to a life sentence.