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The illegal trade in elephant tusks, fuelled by continuing demand for ivory, drives elephant poaching, where elephants in the wild are ruthlessly shot and their tusks hacked out.

According to the WWF, a new report issued under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) shows that illegal killing of elephants and illegal ivory trade continues to increase.

The report highlights China and Thailand as the two most important raw ivory consuming countries in the world, and indicates that poaching trends can be correlated to increasing affluence in China and tourist arrivals in Thailand.

To me it doesn't matter where the the demand's coming from -- I only wish those who are buying ivory trinkets, ivory jewellery, and other ornamentation carved from elephant tusks could be forced to spend a few hours close to dead elephants that've been shot by poachers and their faces butchered to remove the tusks.


Dead elephant, its tusks hacked out and its hide streaked with vulture droppings, lies in rigor mortis under the African sun after being shot by poachers in Zambia's Lower Zambezi National Park.

Another dead elephant, shot at the same time and its tusks also hacked off by the poachers, lies nearby.
And for what? An ivory trinket or ivory carving (below).


For those living in the West, it's easy to become smug and blame the illegal ivory trade on China, Thailand and other Asian countries.

However, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has found a thriving trade in ivory items after a survey of websites in the UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Germany.

"In just two weeks, our survey found more than 660 items with a total advertising value of almost ?650,000 across a variety of European websites. A shocking 98% of adverts failed to comply with website policies of providing evidence of legality," said Kelvin Alie, director of IFAW's prevention of Illegal Wildlife Trade Programme.

"Europeans must realise that what they see as a pretty trinket for sale online is just one facet of an ongoing war against cruelty and for the protection of biodiversity. In Kenya, and across most African range states, elephants are ruthlessly slaughtered by poachers to fuel the illegal ivory trade," Alie continued.

"Any trade in ivory provides a cover for and encourages elephant poaching and illegal trade in ivory. The war on illegal ivory trade and elephant poaching can only be won by removing elephant ivory not just from international trade, but entirely from the global marketplace, " he said.

In 2007 eBay, under pressure from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, banned all international sales of elephant-ivory products. But sadly that's not the case in my own country, where Bid-or-buy.com, a South African online auction site, still lists hundreds of ivory items for sale.

As those advocating a total ban on ivory sales point out, if ivory had no commercial value, there would be little incentive for anyone to kill elephants for their tusks and one of the major threats to their survival would disappear.

So please don't buy ivory of any kind, and tell your friends and family not to buy ivory, especially when travelling in Thailand or South East Asia.

(To supplement my previous blog, this blog shows graphic images of the carcasses of the slaughtered animals.)



(grateful acknowledgement to Scotch Macaskill)

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..................... You must earn the friendship of a dog my friend

that on the bottom of your page you see Cs members and the blogs they started..anyone seen these bloggers have not been on CS for years !!!!

Ape With AK-47

Jo-Jo Ducky

Dogs don't like fireworks, sure, we all know that but reactions range from flinching to outright hysterics. Why?

We know hunting dogs cope with the fairly hectic sound of rifles. We know, or know of, dogs that are so distressed by gunshots, fireworks, thunderstorms, that they can die of shock.

The whole of Granada province is starting fiestas to celebrate San Antonio and the vanquishing of El Moros by El Cristianos and my town is already rocked by occasional exuberant rifles, it will be pretty hectic over fiesta time. Although my dog used to get angry during Guy Fawkes and Hogmanay and rush out through the dog flap to bark furiously, here she is ignoring the occasional bang and if there is a fusillade she heads to her basket and is hopefully going to cope. She wasn't bothered by 2018 NY fireworks, now that I think back. She and the cat both watch me anxiously during thunderstorms but while I'm calm, they're calm.

Her change of home has brought a change of reaction, is what I'm saying, and it made me wonder why different dogs react so differently anyway.