Report: Huge illegal ivory seizure in Dubai
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Customs authorities in Dubai have seized ivory worth as much as 15 million dirhams ($4.1 million) from more than 100 poached elephants.
The UAE's state news agency WAM reported Sunday that authorities at the Jebel Ali Port seized the ivory hidden in a shipment of green beans. They said it came from an unnamed African country but did not say where it was headed.
The elephant population in Africa has dropped in the past 40 years by more than to 600,000, mostly because of poaching. A global ban on the ivory trade in 1989 briefly halted the slide.
Conservationists say poaching, especially in central Africa, now reduces elephant numbers by 60,000 every year. Port cities like Dubai are key transport hubs for ivory, most of it destined for China.
The UAE's state news agency WAM reported Sunday that authorities at the Jebel Ali Port seized the ivory hidden in a shipment of green beans. They said it came from an unnamed African country but did not say where it was headed.
The elephant population in Africa has dropped in the past 40 years by more than to 600,000, mostly because of poaching. A global ban on the ivory trade in 1989 briefly halted the slide.
Conservationists say poaching, especially in central Africa, now reduces elephant numbers by 60,000 every year. Port cities like Dubai are key transport hubs for ivory, most of it destined for China.
This really puts into perspective just how disheartening people are to innocent animals. I hope eventually there will be a way to stop this kind of thing happening. The only "poached" I've ever heard of before this was for eggs. I googled "poached elephant" and that was awful to read and see pictures of that.
Sounds like the criminals that did this are nowhere to be found. Need to catch the people not the product.
Gotta have those ivory knife handles or whatever. Poor representatives of the human race.
 @Chico I think they use it for sexual potency spells/"folk medicine", along with tiger penis and a bunch of other weird stuff. This is what lack of education does to people. Hell, look at our own deep South...it's not a coincidence that the bottom 10 least-educated states in the US all went for Romney. No education means voting directly against your own interests, along with a bunch of other ignorance.Â