AR-News: (Spain) Ivory from 400 elephants seized

[Masako Miyaji]

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/25838/story.htm

Ivory from 400 elephants seized

SPAIN: July 5, 2004 

MADRID - Spanish police have seized almost three
tonnes of poached African ivory, which experts
estimate could have caused the death of about 400
elephants.  

The Madrid haul is the single biggest ever of carved
ivory, Spain's Civil Guard paramilitary force said in
a statement on Friday.

Members of the Civil Guard's specialised environmental
arm Seprona started an investigation last year after
confiscating 110 kg (240 pounds) of elephant hair,
some of which had been turned into jewellery.

They subsequently found 3.4 tonnes of raw and worked
ivory in a store in Madrid, whose owner had a licence
to keep less than 500 kg, and confiscated the
2.9-tonne surplus.

"According to experts' initial estimates, the ivory
seized could have come from the sacrifice of more than
400 animals," the statement said.

Trade in ivory has been banned worldwide since 1990 by
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species, an international agreement to which 166
governments adhere.

The agreement has allowed some one-time sales of ivory
by South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, despite
opposition from animal rights' activists.

A report by Save the Elephants last year said China
was the destination of much of Africa's smuggled
ivory.  

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE