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Imports of ivory from hippos and killer whales to be banned in the UK
Five species are set to receive greater legal protection under the UK’s ivory ban.
The new extension to the Ivory Act comes after concerns that increased global restrictions on elephant ivory sales could drive the trade of ivory from other endangered animals.
Imports of ivory from hippos, walruses, killer whales, narwhals, and sperm whales will be banned under new legislation to help protect the species from poaching.
Elephants were the first animals to be protected under the UK’s 2018 Ivory Act in response to their drastic decline in the wild. However, a loophole means that other animals could become a target for the ivory trade.
The five species are all listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates their international trade.
The proposed extension to the Ivory Act will ban the import, export and dealings in items containing ivory from any of these five species. Anyone found in breach of the ban could face an unlimited fine or up to five years in jail. Parliament still needs to vote on the extension of the Act before it can come into force.
Trudy Harrison, the biodiversity minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), says, ‘This is a pivotal moment in delivering one of our key manifesto commitments on international conservation.’
‘The Ivory Act is one of the toughest bans of its kind in the world, and by extending greater legal protections to five more species, we are sending a clear message the commercial trade of ivory is totally unacceptable.’
A desire for ivory products has driven the decline in elephants over the past 200 years. Image©Christopher PB/Shutterstock.
Why was the ivory ban introduced?
In the 1500s, it is believed that over 25 million elephants were roaming across Africa. But hunting and a growing demand for ivory dramatically decimated their numbers throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Ivory became a desirable commodity throughout Europe and North America as it was used in various products, including combs, jewellery, decorative ornaments, piano keys and snooker balls. By 1913, the United States was consuming an estimated 200 tons of ivory each year.
While the demand in Europe waned, Asian demand for ivory began to increase through the twentieth century. By the 1980s just 600,000 African elephants were estimated to remain in the wild.
The ‘ivory frenzy’ eventually led to the international commercial trade in elephant ivory being banned in 1989. However, many countries continued to sell ivory within their own borders.
Following the ban, elephant populations began to stabilise, until CITES approved two legal sales of stockpiled ivory to Japan in 1999 and China in 2008. Since then, elephant populations have once again been in steep decline.
Despite the international ban still being in place, between 2006 and 2015, a fifth of the total population of elephants was killed, with just 415,000 African elephants estimated to survive.
The trade was mainly driven by illegally imported ivory, which was being passed off as ivory traded domestically. In response, China took the monumental step of imposing a near-complete ban on the ivory trade in 2016. Apart from a few exceptions, such as some antiques, elephant ivory can no longer be bought or sold in the country.
Pressure for the UK to follow suit escalated, and in 2018 the British parliament passed the Ivory Act, granting the near-total ban on elephant ivory sales.
Only some exceptions to the UK ivory trade remain, including items made before 3 March 1947 with less than 10% ivory by volume and items intended to be bought or hired by qualifying museums.
In just nine years from 2006, a fifth of African elephants were killed, mainly for their ivory. Image©Jane Rix/Shutterstock.
Why is the ban extending to these five species?
As restrictions continue to tighten on the elephant ivory trade, concerns are being raised that the trade will increase in other animals whose products can be used as a substitute.
As ivory is made up mostly of dentine, which is found in the teeth and tusks of many animals, the concern is that any species with big enough teeth for it to be worthwhile to harvest them are now at an increased pressure from the ivory trade.
A report produced by Born Free found that the trade in hippopotamus teeth increased within a month after the near-total ban on elephant ivory was introduced in the UK.
While hippo teeth can still be traded globally under CITES, international sales require an export permit. Despite this, according to the European Commission in 2020 hippo teeth were among the mammal body parts most often seized in the EU. Hippos are now believed to be the species most at risk from the ivory trade after elephants.
As well as hippos, the ongoing threats to wild populations of killer whales, sperm whales, narwhals and walruses from human activity and climate change are among the main reasons these species are also due to be included in the ban.
The continuing trade in the teeth of killer whales and sperm whales and the tusks of narwals and walruses is viewed as likely to decrease the chances of their long-term survival.
Frances Goodrum, Head of Campaigns and Programmes at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) UK, says, ‘As we approach the one-year anniversary of the UK Ivory Act coming into force, IFAW UK are encouraged by early indications that the ban is having a significant impact on the trade in elephant ivory.’
‘Yet other species are still poached globally to meet an unnecessary demand for ‘luxury’ ivory products, including the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, sperm whale and killer whale.’
‘We welcome Defra’s decision to extend this powerful legislation, which will go a long way in cracking down on a damaging trade. Today is a good day for conservation and a step change towards international commitments to safeguard our natural world.’
