Undercover Investigation Finds Illegal Ivory in 20 Different Stores Across Florida

​worldanimalnews.com/undercover-investigation-into-elephant-ivory-being-illegally-sold-in-20-different-stores-in-florida/

An undercover investigation found over 350 items carved from ivory from 20 different stores across Florida, signaling a thriving ivory market despite a ban on any new import of ivory. During the investigation, store owners were unable to provide the necessary documentation for their ivory, indicating that they either did not know or understand the laws surrounding ivory sales, or intended to recuperate some of the money spent on purchasing these products for sale. Despite a ban on importing new ivory, it's obvious that the ivory market is thriving in Florida and elephants will continue to plunge towards extinction.

I do not own this image. Image taken from Britannica.

During the investigation, store-owners often couldn't source the ivory or were unclear on the rules surrounding ivory sales. Others suggested that the investigator bury the ivory in their checked baggage at the airport to avoid discovery. Whether they were knowingly selling illegal ivory or were truly unsure about the rules surrounding it, elephants are continuing to be slaughtered for ivory products as a result of states like Florida that haven't cracked down enough on ivory sales despite a nationwide ban on new imports. 

Since the 1960's, African savannah elephants have dwindled by 60% while bush elephants have plunged by almost 80%. Elephants face plenty of perils to their survival including habitat loss, fragmentation, difficulties finding food / water, conflicts with villages resulting in injury or death, trophy hunting, and illegal poaching for their ivory. Elephants killed for their ivory suffer excruciating deaths, having their tusks hacked from their faces, sometimes while the elephants are still alive. This blatant disregard for elephant survival and a sick yearning for monetary rewards continue to fuel the ivory trade. Despite bans across the globe, the illegal market continues to thrive and we must do more to counter this before it's too late.

It's obvious that Florida has a thriving market and doesn't do enough to prevent imports or crack down on ivory being sold throughout the state. Florida is contributing to the elephants' extinction and if they do not enact a ban on ivory altogether, elephants will continue to suffer. The possibility of elephant extinction is real. Our too little, too late approach to conservation isn't working. When it comes to the possibility of a species going extinct, especially when it is almost entirely traced back to humanity, we have an obligation to do as much as we can to prevent that outcome. We need bans on trophy hunting of elephants and we need investigations in to Florida's retailers to crack down on illegal ivory sales. If the market is still there, abolish the market entirely and ban ANY ivory sales, even those supposedly from ivory grandfathered in after the nationwide ban was implemented. 

We are directly responsible for the decimation of elephants. We're eradicating pangolins for their scales, giraffes for their bones or heads for trophies, tigers for their bones / blood for "medicines', etc., nothing on this planet is safe from our continued yearning for more. At this rate, we'll be the only specie sleft on this planet outside of factory farmed animals and those confined behind bars at zoos. It's not too late to change this. We must do everything we can to prevent extinction and in Florida, that starts with tackling illegal ivory entering from ports and cracking down on retailers in the state. 

Learn more by clicking the link at the top of this post to the original story from World Animal News.

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