The WWF have given praise to police who prosecuted a man found trading in large amounts of illegal ivory. Mr. Michael Elliott, 57 of Gravesend, Kent was found guilty today at Southwark Crown Court and given a two year suspended sentence, plus ordered to pay £1480 in costs.
This was one of the largest seizures of ivory made to in the UK by the Wildlife Crime Unit. Their findings not only uncovered 24 whole ivory tusks, but also dozens of hand carved items made from elephant, hippo and sperm whale ivory.
Hippo, sperm whale and African Elephant are all listed as vulnerable, and Asian elephants are listed currently listed as endangered. It is now believed that just 470,000 to 690,000 African elephants survive today in the wild, whilst only 25,600 to 33,000 Asian elephants remain.
All of these species are protected from uncontrolled international trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The C.I.T.E.S. is an international agreement signed by 173 countries to ban the commercial trade in endangered species. Operation Charm was launched by the Met Police in 1995 and is the only current police initiative against the illegal ivory trade in the UK.
Elephant tusks can be carved into ornaments and jewellery, as can whale bones and hippo’s teeth. Whilst a small proportion of ivory is taken from animals that have naturally died, the demand for ivory often leads to elephants being poached. With an international ban in place on the trade of ivory since 1990, corruption and a lack of enforcement on the ivory markets in Africa and Asia fuel the illegal trade.
The WWF’s UK trade officer Heather Sohl said –
“We praise the successful prosecution of a man trying to break a law put in place to protect endangered species across the globe. On the face of it the sentence does appear lenient. Strict penalties are available and should be used to discourage future criminality of this nature. This case demonstrates the need for UK police forces to have officers dedicated to combating wildlife crime. By working in partnership with them we will bring an end to this illegal trade before it brings an end to some of the world’s most important species.”
Over 30,000 ivory items have been seized by the Wildlife Crime Unit in the last decade, with the group also serving as a model enforcement agency for officials in China, India and other countries who have problems with wildlife trafficking.
