Singapore bans ivory trade from tomorrow to protect elephants
By Yaw Yan Chong
THE trade in ivory will be banned in Singapore from tomorrow in a move to protect elephants which have been recently designated an endangered species.
Permits will no longer be issued and most ivory traders and ivory craft makers in Singapore, who were expecting the ban, have decided to close shop or turn to other businesses.
Singapore’s latest move effectively bans all imports of ivory.
Exports are also banned with the exception of stocks which have been registered with the Primary Production Department (PPD) before November 1986.
Along with the ban on ivory trade, the import and export of three species of birds — the Moluccan cockatoo, the Illiger’s Macaw and the Tucuman Amazon Parrot — will also be banned from tomorrow.
Last year, the Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) — an international wildlife protection organisation of which Singapore is a member — voted to make the African elephants an endangered species.
Asiatic elephants have already been listed as being threatened with extinction.
Dr Leong Hon Kee, a veterinary officer with the PPD’s Cites Unit, said yesterday: "More and more elephants were being killed for their tusks every day and world opinion rose against this. That’s why it was decided at the Cites meeting in Switzerland to ban all international trade in ivory."
He added that traders can still sell their current stocks to Singapore residents and tourists. For the tourists, however, the PPD will only allow sales of personal and household items. "They must be small in quantity and size," he said.
In their heyday, dealers saw a lucrative business in the export of ivory carvings.
One of them, Mr Chau Jee Fai, the managing director of Wen Cheong Handicraft and Jewellery Trading said he was now turning to exporting jade carvings instead.
"More than 50 per cent of my capital of about $100,000 is tied up in ivory carvings. I’ll just have to sell what I can locally and channel whatever profits I make to jades," said Mr Chau, 56, who had been in the Ivory trade for about 40 years.
Mr James Fu of Fung Ivory Manufacturing, said his factory — which makes ivory carvings from raw and scrap tusks —recently stopped operations.
Of the three species of birds under the ban, the Moluccan cockatoo, worth about $300 to $400 in the market, is the most commonly traded, said a Jurong BirdPark spokesman.
The BirdPark has more than six of these birds but none of the other two species — the Illiger’s Macaw and the Tucuman Amazon Parrot — both of which are quite rare.
Other animals listed by Cites as being endangered include all tigers, apes, rhinoceroses and giant pandas.
There are two other categories of classifications at animals where only controlled trade is permitted.
One of them states that the animal may become extinct if trade is not regulated and a Cites certificate is required to trade in these.
Elephants were previously in this class.
Singapore joined Cites in 1986 and has since introduced legislation to control illegal trading of endangered species of animals.
Action has been taken against 15 traders for violating this law — the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act.
Under the Act, anyone who is convicted of the offence is liable to a maximum tine of not more than $5,000 or a jail term not exceeding a year or both.
Repeat offenders would be fined up to a maximum not exceeding $10,000 or jailed not more than a year or both.
Source : The Straits Times 17th Jan 1990
Recycling Point Dot Com
(C) 2000 All Rights Reserved