Sunday, January 6, 2013

Illegal Ivory in Hong Kong

Officials in Hong Kong have conducted their third ivory raid in less than three months. Smugglers were bringing in 779 elephant tusks from Kenya. This is valued a 1.4 million dollars. This isn't the only country that has caught large amounts of ivory being smuggled recently. Demands for ivory in Asia have skyrocketed. Enforcement and penalties against poachers and smugglers has also been increasingly weak. In 2012 we saw higher amounts of illegal ivory than we have in years. Still officials are saying the three seizures in Hong Kong were "isolated events". Smugglers are adapting new ways all the time to import the tusks, and it's pushing elephants to the brink once more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/world/asia/seizures-of-illegal-ivory-are-rising-in-hong-kong.html?ref=earth&_r=0

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