Status as ivory trading hub must end for elephants’ sake

Hong Kong has for too long held an unenviable reputation as a global ivory trading hub, a distasteful business that is outlawed in many other parts of the world. The Chinese mainland is giving a strong lead in this matter, banning all trade in elephant ivory by the end of this year. Our Legislative Council has finally taken note of the gravity of elephant poaching for their tusks and started discussing a proposal on banning ivory trading altogether. The debate now centers on how long a grace period should precede a total ban. Meanwhile, some licensed ivory traders protest that they should not be held liable for the elephants being endangered. They pointed out that most of their ivory stocks were acquired before the current crisis and that if they were not given a sufficiently long grace period, they might not be able to dispose of their stock legally before a total ban, which conservationists are calling for as soon as possible.

I remember being thrilled, while on a (camera) safari in Kenya, to see wild elephants in the bush. How sad it would be if these impressive giant mammals become extinct in the wild. With some estimating that 2,000 elephants are killed each year in Africa for their tusks, there is a strong possibility that this will happen within a generation or two if sterner measures are not soon taken to avoid that.

Let it be readily admitted that decorative and artistic items made of elephant ivory are highly attractive and that this rare natural material (the tusks of elephants) has been utilized for thousands of years by skilled craftsmen. Chinese artisans have a very long tradition of working this material into exquisite artifacts. The problem comes in the modern sourcing of ivory: There would be no problem if all the ivory used today came from elephants which died of old age in the bush. But the business of harvesting elephant ivory is not so patient and innocent in many cases. Too many wild elephants are still shot in Africa each year for their tusks; so many, in fact, that their long-term continuation as a species in the wild is put at risk. However, the aesthetic appeal of ivory carvings should not distract us from recognizing that the current sourcing of the material is unsustainable and unethical, any more than accepting that the ghastly provision of lampshades made of human skin may look smart.

Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department recently discovered a huge haul of 7 tons of illegally imported elephant tusks hidden below frozen fish in shipping containers. From 2000 to 2013, customs officers seized about 33 tons of illegal ivory. Hong Kong may well not be the only final destination of all this illegally harvested material. True enough, if you walk down Hong Kong’s Hollywood Road antique area, you may see many shop window displays of carved ivory products. Some such items are worked and sold openly here; while more go on to other places.

Many local licensed ivory traders claim to hold stocks of ivory obtained many years ago when it was still legal to import elephant tusks into Hong Kong. This debate about letting them continue to trade in old stock has also gone on for many years — during which they could more readily have offloaded their stock, knowing a total ban on such trade is likely to come sooner or later. A connected debate is whether these holders of old and legally imported ivory should be compensated once a total ban on the trade is introduced here. Our 370 ivory trade license holders sit on stockpiles of 70 tons of legally imported ivory. But even with such large stocks in hand, the recent customs bust confirms many more elephants are still being slaughtered for their tusks; tusks that then reach Hong Kong illegally. A related ethical point might be the question as to whether the owners of slaves were compensated once slavery was abolished?

Then again, some traders claim their ready source of ivory today is from prehistoric mammoths, occasionally discovered preserved in the permafrost of Siberia. That claim sounds to most people like a gross exaggeration as they wonder how many preserved mammoth carcasses can be found each year there? Surely not that many, meaning not enough to account for all the claimed mammoth-tusk ivory artifacts now on open sale in our Hollywood Road shops.

There is a move to slowly phase out the trade in ivory in Hong Kong, with a proposed timescale of up to 2021, before a total prohibition is imposed. That timescale is far too long: What is needed now, if elephants are to be protected from total extinction in the African bush within our lifetimes, is to follow Beijing’s lead and ban all trade in elephant ivory here by the end of this year. Let this modern city soon enact such enabling legislation, putting an end to all trading in ivory here: trading that directly contributes to the marked — and possibly terminal — decline in elephant herds in the wilds of Africa.