Unbeknown to many, the trade in woolly mammoth ivory is thriving. A staggering 60 metric tonnes of mammoth tusks are exported from Russia each year, according to a recent report commissioned by Care for the Wild International. The report, compiled by ivory trade experts Dr. Esmond and Chryssee Martin, identified Hong Kong as the major importer, from where most tusks are distributed to carvers in mainland China. Many thousands of carved mammoth ivory products are then sold into markets in Asia, North America, and Europe. Conservationists worry that this legal trade could be used as a front for the laundering of illegally poached elephant ivory, thereby fueling the poaching of elephants. “Wild elephant populations were decimated by the ivory trade. By the time the 1989 CITES ban came into force, Africa's elephants had been reduced by more than 50%”, said Mark Jones, Programs Director at Care for the Wild International. “Poaching continues to threaten wild elephants. Anything that encourages the continued demand for ivory products could potentially exacerbate this threat.” The report's author Dr Martin doesn't think this is currently the case. “We don't find mammoth ivory products for sale in Africa, because they are currently too expensive. If we did, they could be used as a cover for elephant ivory. As things stand, we don't believe the mammoth ivory trade is adversely affecting either the African or Asian elephant.” While whole mammoth tusks are relatively easy to distinguish from elephant tusks, differentiating some small carved items can be difficult. Although it seems that there is little or no attempt to disguise items made of elephant ivory as mammoth ivory in Western countries, if mammoth tusks or carved items made from them were to start to appear in markets in Africa, there could be a problem. As Dr Martin suggests, it is imperative that we continue to gather information on the demand for elephant and mammoth ivory, legal and illegal, raw and worked, in Hong Kong and mainland China, if we are to develop a true understanding of the complex dynamics of this trade. A link to the report can be found here. BM/Care for the Wild International
