Britain on Friday outlined plans for a near-total ban on trade in antique ivory, bowing to pressure from campaigners who say that poachers are exploiting loopholes in the current regulations.
Announcing the plan, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the decline in elephant populations fuelled by poaching for their tusks “shames our generation.”
“Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for financial gain or a status symbol — so we want to ban its sale,” Gove said in a statement.
“These plans will put the UK front and centre of global efforts to end the insidious trade in ivory.”
Britain currently bans sales of raw ivory but allows trade in carved items produced before 1947, and campaigners warn that this legal market has been used as a cover for trade in illegal ivory.
Under the new proposals, to be debated over the next three months before legislation is introduced, sales of older items would be banned, with some exemptions including musical instruments…
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