China customs seize a tonne of tusks from extinct mammoths
China will ban elephant ivory sales by the end of 2017, but the huge demand for it has found a source of supply frozen for thousands of years – from mammoths, the extinct ancestors of elephants.
On Wednesday, customs officials from a northeastern province in China announced the rare seizure of mammoth tusks – a tonne of it – smuggled in from Russia, state media reported.
The value of the seized tusks, meticulously hidden in secret compartments of a truck, wasn’t revealed but the seizure did give an idea about the insatiable demand for ivory in China.
The seizure was made at a port city called Luobei in China’s Heilongjiang province, which shares a border with Russia.
“Luobei customs found 107 mammoth tusks, along with 37 woolly rhino horn parts and 1.11 tonnes of jade in secret compartments in a truck attempting to enter China through Luobei port in midFebruary,” official Xinhua news agency reported.
The driver had claimed that the truck was carrying soybeans.State media quoted an official as saying that the longest piece of mammoth ivory seized was 1.6 metres in length. Trade in mammoth ivory is legal but barely regulated. Chinese officials, however, said neither the truck driver nor the owner had declared what the vehicle was carrying. “The owner ad bought the truck and built secret compartments for smuggling.,” the report said.