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Ivory trade in Hong Kong and China

Ivory trade in Hong Kong and China
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Ivory trade in Hong Kong and China. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
From the left, Sam Inglis, ADM Capital Foundation’s wildlife programme manager, Christie Wong, wildlife programme officer at ADM Capital Foundation, and Dr Bosco Chan, conservation director at WWF-Hong Kong, call for tougher laws on the trade in exotic pets and wildlife smuggling, at the WWF office in Central, on September 6. Photo: May Tse
Hong Kong environmental issues

Opinion | Why Hong Kong should lead the crackdown on wildlife smuggling

Hong Kong can make a true difference by reforming its reputation as a major trafficking hub and tackling an issue of global importance.

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Talking Post with Yonden Lhatoo

China’s place in the climate crisis fight with Jane Goodall

Vietnam

China crackdown on ivory trade deters smugglers, Hague report finds

Hong Kong environmental issues

Hong Kong officials impound 284 pieces of ivory in raid on shop

Hong Kong officials seize biggest haul of ivory since trade was banned late last year.

A haul of elephant tusks seized several years ago as part of a crackdown on the cross-border trade in endangered species parts. Photo: Winson Wong.
China trade

While there’s demand, China will be a wildlife smuggling centre: report

Case involving Chinese family shows criminals are resourceful and can adapt if demand for ivory persists: Wildlife Justice Commission.

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Indonesia

Indonesia jails poachers who killed endangered elephants

Nine men were given sentences of between 10 months and three-and-a-half years; two others were jailed for almost two years.

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Crime in Hong Kong

Opinion | Hong Kong’s ivory ban is not enough to end demand or save elephants

Banning the ivory trade without addressing the demand for ivory products only forces the trade underground and makes it harder to stop. Hong Kong needs to ban the sale of antique ivory and remove demand before it can truly protect elephants.

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Ivory is displayed in a shop in Sheung Wan on January 2. For most people, it is impossible to distinguish antique ivory from illegal elephant ivory. Photo: Sam Tsang
Hong Kong

Editorial | Hong Kong ivory ban needs to be strictly enforced

Cruel smugglers have got away with it long enough and now the city must make sure those who break the new law by selling prohibited products pay the price.

Animals

China’s ivory ban at risk from legal trade in woolly mammoth tusks

High volume of woolly mammoth ivory ads sparks fears these could drive up demand for elephant ivory or act as a cover for trade in the banned product.

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Conservation

The grim facts of Hong Kong’s role in wildlife crime, and hope for a change

The plight of the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal, is emblematic of Hong Kong’s leading role in the global extinction crisis as a hub of the illegal trade in wildlife and animal parts.

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A dead pangolin. Thousands of carcasses like this are illegally trafficked to Hong Kong every year. Photo: Paul Hilton/Earth Tree Images
China society

China jails ivory smuggling ringleaders for life in landmark case

17 people sentenced for moving millions of dollars in tusks from West Africa as part of the biggest illicit network of its kind in China.

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A Chinese court jailed 17 people for their roles in what has been described as the country’s biggest ivory smuggling operation. Photo: Weibo
Elephant ivory

Seized ivory on display in China

Conservation

Maasai warrior hopes to see end to Chinese obsession with rhino horn, ivory

Daniel Ole Sambu, a conservationist from the Big Life Foundation, talks about the impact of the Chinese demand for wildlife products, and why his Kenyan culture is turning its back on the teenage tradition of lion-killing

Conservation

Delight and dismay at elephant trade ban

Countries have agreed to limit the controversial sale of wild elephants caught in Zimbabwe and Botswana, to the delight of conservationists but the dismay of some of the African countries involved.

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Wildlife experts said a resolution approved in Geneva was a ‘momentous win’ for elephants because it restricts their sale to zoos. Photo: AFP
Conservation

‘Hundreds’ of elephants are being poached each year in Botswana

Elephants Without Borders research likely to increase pressure on Botswana, which last month sparked controversy by lifting its ban on hunting.

Three elephants eat and play in the grasses in the elephant orphanage at Elephants Without Borders in Kasane, Botswana. Photo: Washington Post photo by Carolyn Van Houten
Africa

Good news: elephant slaughter down. Now the bad news ...

The illegal slaughter of African elephants to feed Asia’s demand for ivory has decreased by more than half in eight years, but the majestic mammals are still threatened with extinction, researchers warned.

Conservation

Letters | Asia must stop being a paper tiger in fighting illegal wildlife trade

Numerous national regulations and global treaties exist that target the traffic in ivory, rhino horn and other endangered wildlife, but lax enforcement makes them paper tigers.

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Crime in China

Chinese customs officers seize more than 7 tonnes of ivory in record haul

Twenty-six suspected members of international trafficking ring arrested in coordinated operation across six provinces.

The haul of 2,748 elephant tusks was the biggest seizure of ivory handled by Chinese customs in recent years. Photo: Sina
Vietnam

9 tonnes of ivory seized in Vietnam amid struggling crackdown

The ivory-stuffed timber logs were discovered Tuesday at Da Nang’s main port on a ship from the Republic of Congo in central Africa

Conservation

Letters | No excuse for Hong Kong not to crack down on illegal ivory right away

Hong Kong should treat Japan’s recently passed law requiring proof that ivory was legally obtained as an example to follow

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Beijing backs 15-year jail term for Chinese ‘Ivory Queen’

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Crime in Hong Kong

Customs seize US$16.7 million in goods, arrest 1,200 in holiday blitz

During 27 day operation, customs detect about 1,300 smuggling cases.

Customs officers seized wine bottles at Hong Kong International Airport containing four kilograms of suspected liquid cocaine with an estimated market value of about HK$4.8 million (US$615,000) during a comprehensive smuggling investigation. Photo: Handout
Crime

Letters | New stiffer penalties strike harder at illegal wildlife trade

Increased penalties for the smuggling of endangered species send a clear message to the public about the seriousness of such offences.

Crime in Hong Kong

Wildlife smugglers must face justice

The lack of prosecutions following the seizure of ivory tusks worth HK$70 million is sending the wrong message to those who trade in animal parts

Environment

Letters | Are ivory chopsticks worth the lives of elephants?

Hong Kong must redouble efforts to stop the illegal trade in ivory, following the latest reminder of how syndicates that profit from the crime often go scot-free.

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An elephant splashes in the waters of the Chobe river in Botswana Chobe National Park in 2015. Ninety elephant carcasses were discovered in Botswana with their tusks hacked off, a charity said in September last year, in what was believed to be one of Africa’s worst mass poaching sprees. Photo: AFP

Ivory smuggling target of campaign by Chinese customs and environmentalists

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Conservation

Biggest seizure of ivory in 30 years ... but zero prosecutions

Customs seized seven tonnes of tusks worth about HK$70 million in a shipment of frozen fish in 2017 but justice department said there was insufficient evidence to support a reasonable prospect of conviction.

Conservation

Blood of 3,000 elephants, 65,000 pangolins on Hong Kong’s hands

Study reveals alarming surge in smuggling activity, but prosecution rate remains low. Experts call for cases to be handled under law against organised crime for greater deterrence and investigative firepower.

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