Elephants are dying because of Hong Kong’s failure to tackle illegal ivory trade, report says
Conservationists say retail market is flourishing and goods can easily be taken to mainland, hurting international campaign to end illegal trade
Hong Kong’s law enforcement of illegal ivory smuggling is failing and hurting international efforts to end the killing of elephants in Africa, a new report by top conservation experts has concluded.
The Save the Elephants report said government agencies faced a “growing challenge” to tackle both large illegal ivory shipments from Africa bound via the city for mainland China, and ivory items bought in retail outlets by mainland tourists to smuggle home.
It has been illegal to import or export ivory from Hong Kong without a licence for almost 25 years – yet research conducted by leading scholars Esmond Martin and Lucy Vigne has warned “serious smuggling” is continuing by these means – with almost all ivory items sold by retailers in the city smuggled to mainland China.
Parallel trading in ivory products fuels illegal activity, the researchers said. Retail prices for half of the 30,856 pieces of ivory on sale – including trinkets, rings, pendants and bangles – are 50 per cent lower in Hong Kong than in Beijing.
