Old Vs. New

Ivory from the 1900s

New ivory
Photo by Brent Stirton

In 1989 the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) banned the trade of ivory.  This ban was in response to extreme elephant slaughter in Africa in the 1980s.  The good news was the ban worked, because soon after the price of ivory, the poaching, the illegal trade and the demand for ivory all went down.  The bad news, however, is that in 2008, the ban was lifted to allow some African countries to sell stockpiled ivory to Asian countries.  And THAT has fueled the current demand for illegal ivory. Experts say the current slaughter of elephants is unprecedented.  

Directly above is a picture I took from the front window of an ivory shop in Chinatown, San Francisco.  The sales clerk claimed that  all of the ivory in the store was at least 25 years old, leftover from before the ban.  

Compare these pictures.  Clearly, they were selling new ivory!

Please consider not buying ivory... new OR old.

Go make a difference!