Battle for the Elephants Page #3

100,000, 200,000 and more.

These aren't trinkets, these

are priceless sculptures.

BC:
It's very unusual.

Saleswoman:
Yes.

BC:
How much is this?

Saleswoman:
6 million

Hong Kong dollars.

BC:
million Hong

Kong dollars...

so a little under a

million dollars U.S.

Saleswoman:
Yes.

BC:
And how old is

this do you think?

Saleswoman:
This

more than 20 years,

before they banned the ivory.

THE STORY LEADING UP TO THE

IVORY BAN BEGAN CENTURIES AGO.

IN 1800, AROUND 26 MILLION

ELEPHANTS ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE

ROAMED AFRICA.

IN THE EARLY 1900'S, SHOOTING

AN ELEPHANT ON SAFARI WAS THE

HEIGHT OF MANLINESS

FOR WEALTHY WESTERNERS.

ALREADY THE MASS PRODUCTION OF

COMBS...BRUSH HANDLES...PIANO

KEYS...

AND POOL BALLS WAS

FUELING AN IVORY FRENZY.

BY 1913, THE UNITED STATES WAS

CONSUMING 200 TONS OF IVORY PER

YEAR , AND AFRICA'S ELEPHANTS

HAD DROPPED TO AN ESTIMATED

10 MILLION.

WORLD APPETITE FOR IVORY

CONTINUED TO DECIMATE ELEPHAN HERDS, UNTIL BY 1979, ONLY

1.3 MILLION WERE LEFT.

EVEN AS MANY WESTERNERS REALIZED

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE TRADE,

ASIAN DEMAND PICKED UP.

BY 1989, ELEPHANTS

NUMBERED ONLY 600,000 .

FOR CONSERVATIONIS RICHARD LEAKEY,

JUST NAMED DIRECTOR OF THE

KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE,

TIME HAD ALMOST RUN

OUT FOR THE ELEPHANT.

RL:
I felt, we've got to do

something really dramatic-that

if you can bring world attention

to the problem facing elephant,

you can stop it.

LEAKEY CONVINCED KENYA'S

PRESIDENT TO PUBLICLY BURN THE

COUNTRY'S STOCKPILE

OF ACCUMULATED IVORY.

THE IMAGES RALLIED THE WORLD.

WITHIN A YEAR, TRADE IN

IVORY WAS BANNED WORLDWIDE,

AND DEMAND EVAPORATED .

WITH LITTLE KILLING

FOR OVER 10 YEARS,

THE ELEPHAN POPULATION REBOUNDED,

GROWING TO NEARLY 1 MILLION .

BUT DECISIONS IN 1999 AND

2008 CHANGED EVERYTHING.

UNDER PRESSURE FROM SOUTHERN

AFRICAN AND ASIAN COUNTRIES,

CITES ALLOWED 2 SPECIAL

SALES OF STOCKPILED IVORY ,

THUS SANCTIONING A

LEGAL TRADE IN TUSKS.

THE RESULT HAS:

BEEN DEVASTATION .

BC:
The problem is, that auction

has given cover to illegal

traders across China.

These sales are driving the

price to 20 times what it was

in Africa and now there is just

enough confusion

in stores like this one.

Is it legal or illegal?

ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL

FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE,

ONLY 16% OF THE IVORY

SOLD IN CHINA IS LEGAL .

IF SO, THAT MEANS 84% OF THE

ITEMS ON DISPLAY

COULD BE ILLEGAL.

BC:
As I'm walking around a shop

with someone who knows I'm a

journalist, there's a bit of a

dance...they know the political

reality of the ivory trade.

Bryan:
So it's not

carved recently?

How old is this one?

BC:
When a sales person is

telling me that ivory is old,

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