Informant38

Online sales of illegal ivory are booming in the United States despite a longtime global trade ban, conservationists charge.
In a practice that goes virtually unchecked, a new analysis suggests customers are buying, with a mouse-click, what appear to be illegal new ivory trinkets by thousands.
The sale of most new ivory was banned in 1989 to curb the slaughter of elephants in Africa. The ban has been instrumental in the species' recovery in several nations. Consumers in the United States still can legally buy items like chess sets and cutlery fashioned from antique ivory as long as the sales are accompanied by permits and certification documents.
Americans have the world's biggest appetite for ivory, along with the Japanese and Europeans. And a new, burgeoning clientele has conservationists especially worried: the rising middle class in China.
Investigators for Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network, say they found more than 1,000 ivory items advertised each week on eBay and other auction Web sites. More than one-third of the merchandise specifically was described as elephant ivory. Few pieces carry even a pretense of documentation, they said.
Officials for eBay said they pull listings for illegal and unethical items, but ivory is subject to complex regulations. The online marketer said it is working with law enforcement and conservationists to improve its procedures
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Conservationists calculate that, based on the number of items seized and sold, as many as 4,000 elephants, hippos and other ivory-bearing animals are being killed each year for their tusks.
They said U.S. law enforcement was doing a "good job despite limited resources" of spotting illegal imports through conventional channels. However, they said the new online markets were operating with "little oversight."

Houston Chronicle 25.Sep.04