eBay ivory ban is good news for elephants
Turner
* 17:29 21 October 2008 by Andy Coghlan
* For similar stories, visit the Endangered Species Topic Guide
Global internet auction site eBay has announced that from January
2009, it will ban the sale of ivory from all its 39 sites worldwide.
The move was prompted by a report this week exposing the scale of
potentially illegal internet trade in wildlife products, especially
ivory.
Although eBay introduced a ban in June 2007 on sales of ivory between
countries, transactions involving ivory have continued, according to
Killing with Keystrokes (pdf), a report by the International Fund for
Animal Welfare, released on Tuesday.
"The complex nature of regulations that govern [ivory's] sale globally
means it is extremely difficult for us to distinguish between
legitimate and illegal trade," says Richard Ambrose, head of trust and
safety for eBay UK.
The ban was partly prompted by IFAW's three-month investigation into
online trade in products from endangered species and live animals,
acknowledges spokeswoman Vanessa Canzini.
"IFAW congratulates eBay on this very important step to protect
elephants," says IFAW campaigns manager Barbara Cartwright.
Tracking trade
According to IFAW estimates, the global value of wildlife trade is $20
billion annually.
IFAW tracked 7122 wildlife product listings on 183 websites in 11
countries. Of these, 63% were on eBay or affiliated sites. The US had
a 70% market share, 10 times that of the UK or China, the next largest
markets.
The transactions had an advertised value of $3.8 million, and sales of
about $460,000 on eBay provided the site with commission of at least
$20,000.
The investigation also revealed the widespread sale of rare species of
live birds, such as the yellow-headed Amazon parrot, on US pet sites.
These accounted for 20% of all transactions, although none were on
eBay.
Merchandise from other endangered animals included skins from
leopards, cheetahs, ocelots and crocodiles.
The bulk of the trade, however, was in ivory products, accounting for
73% of all the items tracked, although eBay disputes that all were
illegal.
Following an IFAW investigation last year, eBay banned all cross-
border trade in ivory. But the latest report shows that the ban is
being openly flouted, with international shipping offered on 11% of
eBay listings tracked.
'Setting an example'
Although selling ivory was outlawed in 1989, under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), antique ivory -
defined as pre-dating 1947 - can be traded.
However, Jeff Flocken, head of US policy at IFAW says that some
sellers "openly say the ivory is fresh, and recently harvested". In
one sale, he says that a man posed with two full-size elephant tusks
which eventually sold for $20,000.
Now, eBay has decided to simplify matters by banning all ivory sales
except of items pre-dating 1900 and containing only small amounts of
ivory, such as pianos with ivory keys.
"We knew the IFAW report was coming out, so it was a topical time for
us to announce this," says Vanessa Canzini, spokeswoman for eBay UK.
"We feel this is the best way to protect the endangered and protected
species from which a significant portion of ivory products are
derived."
"eBay has set the standard for protecting elephants, now governments
and other online dealers need to follow their example," says IFAW's
Barbara Cartwright.
Endangered species - Learn more about the conservation battle in our
comprehensive special report.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15007-ebay-ivory-ban-is-good-news-for-elephants.html