Edinburgh scientists discover mammoth secret in ivory DNA

By Kenneth Macdonald & Marc Ellison BBC Scotland

4 January 2019

Scientists based at Edinburgh Zoo are cooperating to create a genetics laboratory in Cambodia to fight the illegal ivory trade.

While trying to save elephants, they have found ivory from another animal that is now extinct.

In the WildGenes laboratory of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Dr Alex Ball is drilling what sounds like a giant tooth.

Which is in effect what it is: an ornately carved elephant tusk.

The lab is working with three partners in a project funded by the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Together they are building Cambodia's scientific capacity to preserve its wildlife and combat the ivory trade which passes through it.

Continued  

Sri Lanka destroys huge illegal ivory haul

Government publicly destroys biggest ever illegal ivory haul in bid to show poachers it will not tolerate the violent trade

Tuesday 26 January 2016 10.19 GMTLast modified on Tuesday 26 January 201610.22 GMT

 The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday publicly destroyed its biggest ever illegal ivory haul in what customs officials said was an attempt to show poachers that the island will not tolerate the violent trade.

More than 350 tusks were displayed at the Galle Face promenade in the island’s capital Colombo before being fed into a 100-tonne crusher to be sent to an industrial furnace.

The haul, which experts said came from African elephants slaughtered for their tusks, was seized at Colombo’s port nearly four years ago en route to Dubai from Kenya.

“There are some very small tusks which would have come from baby elephants,” Colombo customs director, Udayantha Liyanage, told reporters.

“We are trying to demonstrate that there is no value for blood ivory ... It is horribly cruel and the elephants suffer for about a week before they die,” he said.

Blood ivory is a term used by activists to describe tusks obtained illegally by slaughtering elephants.

The organisers observed a two-minute silence for the slain elephants before Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim leaders performed funeral rites for the animals.

Liyanage detected the container-load holding 359 pieces of ivory in May 2012 while it was in transit to Dubai from the Kenyan port of Mombasa, falsely labelled as storing plastic waste.

Officials confiscated the ivory in line with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna regulations, the customs director said.

The illegal trade in ivory from African elephants is driven by Asian and Middle Eastern demand for their tusks, which are used in ornaments and medicines.

Most Sri Lankan elephants do not have tusks and the animals are venerated and protected by law.

Read on …

Japan's inaction fuelling illegal ivory trade as demand rises, study finds

Investigators uncover widespread fraud which allows traders to register ivory as ‘legal’ despite coming from endangered sources

Justin McCurryin Tokyo

Thursday 10 December 2015 04.35 GMTLast modified on Friday 11 December 201500.01 

Japan is fuelling the trade in illegal ivory and undermining international efforts to protect Africa’s elephants by failing to crack down on illegal registration practices, according to a report released today.

Although Japan signed a 1989 convention banning the global trade in ivory, traders are registering tusks that are of undetermined origin, including those that could have been imported illegally after the ban, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), said on Thursday.

One-off sales of ivory stockpiled before 1989 are permitted and trade in old ivory is also allowed, but those concessions also enable smugglers and traders to cover the illegal trade in tusks, according to conservation groups.

The UK-based EIA said its undercover investigation, conducted this summer, had revealed widespread fraud in the tusk registration system in Japan, where more than 5,500 tusks have been registered as “legal” over the past four years, despite doubts about when they were procured.

“Japan is awash with ivory of dubious origin and not a shred of real evidence is required by law to ensure that ivory is of legal origin and acquisition,” the report, Japan’s Illegal Ivory Trade, said.

The EIA said that of 37 Japanese ivory traders approached by Japanese investigators posing as sellers of whole tusks, 30 offered to engage in illegal activities, including buying and processing unregistered tusks of unknown origin, and registering tusks using false information.

Continued ...

Three countries receive CITES trade bans for failing elephants

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Kevin Heath

Three countries have been placed on a trade ban list for failing to meet their obligations to protect elephants and deal with the rampant illegal ivory trade. Notices were issued today by CITES recommending that signatories no longer permit trade with Nigeria, Laos and DR Congo.

During the July 2014 meeting of CITES tackling the ivory trade and elephant poaching became a pressing concern and a number of countries were listed as not doing enough to halt the trade. 11 countries were ordered to produce and submit national ivory action plans.

These plans had to be submitted to CITES by October 2014. Despite reminders being issued to Nigeria, Laos and DR Congo in January and February this year and the deadline being extended until March 14th no plans have been submitted.

During an inter-sessional meeting in January this year it was decided that those countries failing to meet the 14th March deadline should face trade bans on all CITES species.

The CITES Secretariat have now invoked those sanctions and issued formal notice to all CITES members to enforce trade bans with the three countries.

Continued ...

Ugandan officials intercept $1.5 million ivory heading to Amsterdam

Kevin Heath / 1 day ago

Customs officials in Entebbe International Airport have made a large seizure of ivory and pangolin scales that were destined to be flown to Amsterdam. 700kg of tusks and 2 tonnes of pangolin scales were confiscated.

Customs officials discovered the haul packed into three boxes that had been marked for export to Amsterdam.

The tusks had evidence that they had recently been removed from elephants.

The first box contained 76 tusks, the second box had 61 tusks and pangolin skins while the third box contained purely pangolin skins.

The boxes had been marked up for communications equipment needing to go to Amsterdam for repairs and had already been cleared for customs. It was only on the insistence of wildlife officials that the boxes were re-examined more closely and the tusks and skins found.

A number of people have been arrested including a customs official, an airport clerk and the driver of the lorry which delivered the consignment.

Continued ...

New report identifies actions needed to curb illegal ivory and rhino horn trade

A new report by the wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC has identified actions needed to curtail illegal ivory and rhino horn trafficking before it is too late.

The assessment identified capacity gaps and key intervention points in countries combating wildlife trafficking. Their recommendations included developing coordinated, specialised intelligence units to disrupt organised criminal networks and improving training, law enforcement technology, and monitoring judiciary processes at key locations in Africa and Asia.

Between 1998 and 2011 illegal trade in ivory has increased by nearly 300 per cent while the illegal rhino horn trade has reached the highest levels since the early 1990s and according to the report “the fundamental trade dynamic now lies between Africa and Asia.”

Continued ...

CITES list of shame reaches almost 20 countries

Eleven more countries have been added to CITES original list of eight countries they have highlighted as needing to do more to protect elephants and end the illegal ivory trade crossing into their borders.

CITES have now called on Angola, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Lao PDR, Mozambique and Nigeria to develop national action plans to protect both elephants and rhinos:

They join China, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania and Vietnam, and bring the total number of countries on CITES list of shame to 19.

However some of these countries have already started to act and install action plans. For example, since 2013, there has been a clear increase in the number of seizures made in Africa, with 80 per cent of large-scale ivory seizures occurring in Kenya, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania. However Thailand is still to show any improvement and officials have them given till March 31st ,2015 to put in place changes to national laws and regulations to control its legal domestic ivory trade or face sanctions.

Continued

Gang of 8 becomes Gang of 19

Posted by: Kevin Heath / 6 days ago

The so-called ‘Gang of 8′ which were singled out by CITES as not doing enough to tackle the illegal ivory trade has seen its number swell by another 11 countries. The latest meeting of CITES which ended yesterday has ordered 11 more countries to develop national action plans on how they plan to protect elephants and end the illegal ivory trade crossing into their borders.

The first 8 countries that were highlighted last year for special measures and ordered to produce national action plans on ivory were:

China,

Kenya,

Malaysia,

Philippines,

Thailand,

Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania and

Viet Nam

Now 11 new countries have been added to the list of those causing concern. They have been identified as being major players in the ivory trade either as source, transit or destination countries. The following countries need to develop national action plans to protect both elephants and rhino:

Continued

Ivory poacher’s sick boast: I killed 70 elephants

In the latest example of how illegal poachers are bringing elephants to the brink of extinction, a Kenyan poacher has reportedly boasted how he brutally slaughtered more than 70 elephants in a decade.

John Sumokwo, 33, told a newspaper how the elephants “screamed as they died” adding “to me it was just business.” He described how he speared the animals through the heart before hacking off their trunks, skinning their heads and cutting off the ivory with an axe.

The convicted poacher told The Mirror that the elephants he slaughtered would then be sold to dealers for a fraction of the price they can fetch on the black market.

Continued

Tanzania seizes illegal ivory in Dar es Salaam

Two people are being held by police in Tanzania after the seizure of a consignment of illegal ivory at Dar es Salaam port, officials say.

Agents confiscated 81 tusks, from an estimated 41 elephants, the port authority and tourism ministry said.

The tusks were fresh, meaning that the animals were killed in the last month.

Tanzania's deputy tourism minister says the killing of elephants has increased sharply since a controversial anti-poaching operation was suspended.

Continued

Only 6 signatures – how successful was the Botswana Elephant Conference?

In the wake of the Elephant Summit held in Botswana in early December where urgent measures to halt the rampant illegal ivory trade were adopted one is left asking if it is enough?

Against a backdrop of ever increasing levels of poaching across Africa the Summit was called to tackle the onslaught that threatens this iconic species. Statistics released at the summit indicate that 22 000 elephants were poached in 2012, an improvement on the estimated figure of 25 000 elephants poached in 2011, however ivory seizures in 2013 signal that elephant deaths in 2013 may reach 40 000.

Read on

Falling demand for ivory in Cambodia and Singapore?

November 2013: Despite unprecedented levels of illegal ivory trade globally, there are positive signs that ivory markets in Cambodia and Singapore may be showing signs of decline, according to a piece in TRAFFIC Bulletin, the only journal devoted exclusively to wildlife trade issues.

Two separate surveys carried out by TRAFFIC suggest that there has been a significant reduction in ivory items for sale in markets in Cambodia and Singapore over the past decade. Where large amounts of ivory were on sale in retail outlets in Phnom Penh during surveys carried out in 1994 and 2001, most of the approximately 900 ivory items observed for sale in March 2013 were estimated to comprise less than 30 kg of ivory.

Similarly, a survey undertaken in Singapore in 2012 found a reduction in ivory products for sale and the number of outlets selling ivory, compared with a similar study a decade earlier. However, Singapore remains an important transit route for high volume consignments of illicit ivory between Africa and Asia, and within Asia.

www.traffic.org/bulletin/

CITES meeting in Bangkok must pressure countries threatening elephant and rhino survival

All eyes on countries fuelling illegal ivory trade

February 2013. The international body that regulates wildlife trade should begin proceedings to impose sanctions on the countries that are most complicit in the illegal trade of ivory, which causes the deaths of up to 30,000 African elephants each year.

CITES trade restrictions
WWF and TRAFFIC are urging the 177 governments gathering in Bangkok in March under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to begin a formal procedure that would lead to strict trade restrictions against the worst offenders in the illicit ivory trade.

Thailand, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Evidence shows that Thailand, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have failed repeatedly to address their rampant domestic ivory markets despite CITES rules that outlaw the unregulated sale of ivory. Under treaty rules, CITES member states can recommend that parties stop trading with non-compliant countries in the 35,000 species covered under the convention, from timbers to crocodile skins.

"These countries have been identified in every ivory trade analysis for the past decade as those most implicated in the illicit ivory trade," said Steven Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC. "With the demand for ivory driving a widespread poaching crisis, CITES member countries must demand compliance with international law."

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cites-bangkok.html

Rescue of four baby elephants in two weeks highlights increased poaching threat in Kenya

Elephants will be raised for release into the wild

October 2012. Four orphaned baby elephants have been rescued in the last two weeks in Kenya by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) - suggesting that poaching levels are continuing to rise.

The charity, which will protect and raise the baby elephants through an adoption programme run with the support of UK charity Care for the Wild, has now rescued 28 baby elephants in 2012 alone.

Three orphaned by poachers
Three of the elephants are reported to be victims of poaching for the illegal ivory trade, left alone after their mothers were killed by poachers. The fourth elephant Lemoyian, was rescued from a man-made well having fallen and become trapped.

Philip Mansbridge, Chief Executive of Care for the Wild, said: "This is fantastic work by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. These orphans have the ‘awww' factor, but we must also focus on the big picture - poaching is at record levels, and if the international community doesn't do something to stop it, there won't be anything left to rescue."

As poaching continues to escalate, elephant numbers have fallen from 1.3 million in 1979 to an estimated 400,000. Presently up to 36,000 elephants are being killed every year for their tusks, left unchecked, this level of poaching would see wild elephants in Africa disappear by 2025.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orphan-elephants.html

1.5 tonnes of ivory seized in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka seizes 1.5 tonnes of elephant tusks - ivory traffickers developing new trade routes?

May 2012. The seizure of 1.5 tonnes of elephant tusks in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was the single biggest ever ivory haul made in the country, fuelling concerns over the increasing boldness of illegal ivory traders in developing new routes for their contraband.

"This is a greedy, vicious trade that is hell bent on getting its booty to the markets that demand it," said Jason Bell, Director of the Elephant Programme at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). "The boldness of these thugs in attempting to side-step authorities by developing a complex web of delivery networks is quite breathtaking."

350 elephant tusks in Colombo port - Arrived from Kenya
Sri Lankan authorities said they had seized some 350 elephant tusks in Colombo port. The tusks had been described as plastic waste and were hidden among logs of wood packed in shipping containers. The containers had arrived from Kenya, en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. No arrests have yet been made.

Terrible year for elephants
So far 2012 has proven a bloody one for elephants. Earlier this year about 650 free roaming elephants were killed by poachers in northern Cameroon, near the border with Chad.

"The ivory is smuggled into markets in Europe and Asia, most often China. East African ports are favoured points of departure and the ivory then often transits through South East Asia en route to its destination," said Bell. "The size of this haul and the choice of Sri Lanka, which is an apparently new route, raise concerns."

Bell said IFAW saluted the Sri Lankan authorities for intercepting the haul but warned that ivory trafficking would continue to enrich international criminal syndicates and devastate biodiversity unless arrests, convictions and daunting penalties are applied.

"For now ivory trafficking remains a low risk, high reward activity for international criminal syndicates. Each piece of ivory comes from a dead elephant, and until law enforcement authorities are resourced, equipped and trained to hit back hard at the illegal ivory trade, the terrible onslaught against elephants will continue," he said.

IFAW is working with INTERPOL on Project WISDOM in 2012 to tackle the horror of ivory trafficking. INTERPOL's Environmental Crime Programme will coordinate anti-ivory enforcement operations in 18 African countries, hopefully culminating in arrests, convictions and a serious blow to the cruellest threat to elephants.

"The operations with INTERPOL we are funding are vital for saving elephants now, but ultimately we must stamp out demand for ivory in China, and elsewhere as well. It is the only way to stop the slaughter," Bell concluded.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sri-lanka-ivory.html

Tiger skins, elephant ivory and bones seized in Malaysia

Man arrested and charged

February 2012: A 29-year-old man has appeared in court in Malaysia after eight tiger skins, 22 tiger-bone pieces and six elephant tusks were seized in the north of the country.

The items were found after a dozen officers from Malaysia's wildlife department, Perhilitan, raided a house following a tip-off in the early hours of Friday morning in Kota Setar in the northern district of Kedah.

The man was arrested and has been released on bail, with a trial date set to be announced soon. A second house was also raided as part of the investigations, although no animal parts were discovered there.

Among the goods confiscated were eight tiger skins, nine elephant tusks, one deer horn and 22 bags containing animal bones. The bones are to be sent away for identification and forensics analysis.

Buyers also need to be brought to book‘TRAFFIC warmly congratulates the wildlife department on this important seizure,' said Kanitha Krishnasamy, senior programme officer with TRAFFIC South-East Asia.

‘However, it is vital thorough investigations are undertaken of all seized items to determine their origin, who was behind trafficking in them, and where the buyers are, so that they can be brought to book.'

The confiscation of elephant tusks could mark a shift in Malaysia's involvement in the illegal ivory trade. Prior to 2011, Malaysia was considered a transit country in the flow of ivory from Africa to Asia, but in January 2012, 450kg of ivory was seized in Port Klang, with Malaysia as its final destination.

Under Malaysian law, anyone convicted of possession of parts of totally protected wildlife, such as Tiger skins, faces a maximum fine of approximately £21,000 or up three years in jail or both, for each offence.

‘The government has regularly warned its citizens about the penalties for anyone caught dealing in protected wild animal parts,' said Krishnasamy. ‘Now is the time to back up those warnings – if anyone is convicted in this case, they should feel the full force of the law. A small fine is just a slap on the wrist and sends completely the wrong message: laws are there to be obeyed.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/malaysia-wildlife-parts.html

More than 200 elephants slaughtered in Cameroon since January - massacre continues

Elephant massacre continues 

February 2012. Poachers slaughtered at least 200 elephants for their tusks in Cameroon in a continuing killing spree that began in mid-January.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said an armed gang of Sudanese poachers had killed the free roaming elephants in the Bouba Ndjida National Park in northern Cameroon, near the border with Chad.

At least 100 elephant carcasses have been found in the park in the past month and ongoing shooting is making it impossible to conduct a further, detailed assessment of the situation. It is understood that more carcasses are expected to be found in unexplored regions of Bouba Ndjida.

Orphans
According to reports, many orphaned elephant calves have been spotted abandoned following the shootings and concerns are high the babies may soon die of hunger and thirst. Their deaths will only compound the impact of the poaching spree on the Cameroon's threatened elephant populations.

IFAW's Celine Sissler-Bienvenu said it was common for armed gangs of poachers to cross from Sudan during the dry season to kill elephants for their ivory. But this latest massacre is massive and has no comparison to those of the preceding years.

Ivory smuggled to Asia
"The ivory is smuggled out of West and Central Africa for markets in Asia and Europe, and the money it raises funds arms purchases for use in regional conflicts, particularly ongoing unrest in Sudan and in the Central African Republic," said Sissler-Bienvenu.

The embassies of the United States of America, European Union, United Kingdom and France have sounded alarm bells on the Bouba Ndjida elephant killings and have called on the Cameroon authorities to take urgent action to stop the killing.

Cameroon shares a border with Chad which, in turn is bordered to the east and south by Sudan and the Central African Republic. Armed insurgents seeking elephants frequently cross the porous borders on poaching raids in Cameroon and Chad.

Few elephants left in Chad
Sudanese poachers, who travel south through Chad on their way to Cameroon, are thought to be responsible for the killings. In the past few years Chad's elephant population has dropped from several thousand to just a few hundred, sending the heavily armed poachers further afield. 

Celine Sissler-Bienvenu, IFAW France's Country Representative, said: "These are well-armed, well-organised gangs and nothing seems to be able to stop their reckless pursuit of ivory. They are targeting one of the most vulnerable elephant populations in Africa. The ivory from these slaughtered elephants is flowing out of Africa at an uncontrollable rate."

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cameroon-elephants.html

Elephant poaching: 'Record year' for ivory seizures

More elephant tusks were seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989, when the ivory trade was banned, international wildlife trade group Traffic says.


The group said elephants have had a "horrible year", with 23 tonnes of ivory seized - representing at least 2,500 dead animals.

Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 to save elephants from extinction.

But it has continued illegally because of huge demand in Asia, where it is used to make decorative objects.

"The escalating large ivory quantities involved in 2011 reflect both a rising demand in Asia and the increasing sophistication of the criminal gangs behind the trafficking," said a statement from Traffic, which monitors the trade in wildlife products.

"Most illegal shipments of African elephant ivory end up in either China or Thailand."

Shifting smuggling routes
The group said there had been at least 13 large seizures of ivory this year, amounting to more than 23 tonnes, compared to six last year of less than 10 tonnes.

"In 23 years of compiling ivory seizure data... this is the worst year ever for large ivory seizures. 2011 has truly been a horrible year for elephants," Traffic's elephant expert Tom Milliken said.

Read more:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16353204

33 rhino horns and a quantity of ivory seized in Hong Kong

Rhino horns shipped from South AfricaNovember 2011. Hong Kong Customs have seized 33 rhino horns, 758 ivory chopsticks and 127 ivory bracelets that were concealed inside a container shipped to Hong Kong from South Africa. This seizure may provide a unique opportunity to gain insights into the criminal syndicates trafficking wildlife goods between Africa and Asia, according to TRAFFIC.

Track the DNA
TRAFFIC supports the South African Department of Environmental Affairs in requesting the authorities in Hong Kong to send DNA samples of the seized goods to the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of Pretoria in South Africa for examination. If the horn samples can be matched with records in the rhino DNA database it may be possible to identify the individual animals that were poached for their horns.

“Such an effort could yield major clues about who is behind this consignment,” said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC’s rhino expert.

Read more here ...

More huge ivory seizures as rampant poaching is reported

Elephant poaching in DRC and seizures in Vietnam show elephants imperilled by ivory tradeOctober 2011. Reports this week of rampant poaching by armed forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo add a disturbing twist to the recent announcement of a seizure of more than one tonne of ivory in Vietnam.

Record poaching
These alarming events come after seven months of record poaching incidents and seizures. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) commends the authorities for the arrests that have been made but warns that much more needs to be done to reduce the threat to elephants.

All ivory sales should be banned
"As long as demand for ivory in China continues to rise, elephants in Africa and Asia will be under increasing pressure from poaching," said James Isiche, IFAW East Africa Director. "China and Japan may have bought legal ivory in 2008 but here in elephant range states we continue to pay the price for that purchase as any legal trade in ivory provides the cover for ivory trafficking. We know what the solution is - it worked in 1989 and it can work again - a full and complete ban on all sales of ivory."

DRC soldiers poaching ivory
According to media reports, soldiers from different parts of the DRC conduct massive poaching raids in the Okapi Reserve, in the north-east of the DRC near the Ugandan border. Local populations are coerced into leading soldiers to find their wildlife targets, predominantly elephants. The soldiers use automatic weapons for poaching from the 7,500 forest elephants in the reserve; the largest remaining population in eastern DRC.

1 tonne of ivory confiscatedIn Mid October, Vietnamese authorities found one tonne of ivory made up of 221 individual pieces hidden in rolls of fabric that were being transported on a boat on the Ka Long river bordering Vietnam and China. Customs officials said on Monday that a Chinese man who was escorting the boat and the Vietnamese captain were detained by local police for further investigation. Earlier in the year Vietnamese officials seized 122 tusks and Chinese officials seized 707 tusks just over the border in separate incidents.

"These events make it clear that China's legal ivory market is a big attraction for ivory smugglers. There is ample opportunity to get the illegal ivory ‘white-washed' and sold under the cover of legal trade," said Grace Ge Gabriel, IFAW Asia Regional Director. "We need the international community to stand up against the ivory trade once and for all. We urge everyone to go to www.elephantmarch.com to pressure their government into taking action to save elephants."

Illegal ivory seizures in recent months

According to the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) there has been, "a steadily increasing trend in levels of illicit ivory trade in 2004 onwards, with an exceptionally sharp upsurge in 2009....seizures of ivory reached record levels in 2009 and that these levels were largely sustained in 2010."

2011 has borne witness to a staggering degree of carnage with 5,004 elephant tusks seized in these known major seizures. Countless smaller seizures have also taken place.

• On April 1 Thai officials discovered 247 tusks hidden in a shipment from Kenya. It is not clear where the ivory originated.
• Two weeks later Vietnamese officials seized 122 elephant tusks and a day after that Chinese officials uncovered 707 elephant tusks during a routine inspection.
• In early May Kenyan authorities uncovered 84 elephant tusks at Nairobi airport.
• On July 8 Malaysian officials seized 405 elephant tusks.
• On July 26 US Fish and Wildlife Officers made their biggest-ever bust in Philadelphia of approximately one metric tonne of ivory.
• In mid-August a China-bound shipment from Tanzania was seized in Malaysia with 664 elephant tusks.
• 1,041 elephant tusks bound for Malaysia were seized in Zanzibar on August 23.
• Officials in Hong Kong seized 794 African elephant tusks on a shipment from Malaysia at the end of August.
• That same week officials in Malaysia seized 695 elephant tusks that had come from Tanzania and were bound for China.
• On September 30 Vietnamese officials seized at least 24 tusks in the north-central province of Nghe An.
• Three weeks later Vietnamese officials seized approximately 221 tusks hidden in a boat bound for China.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/vietnam-ivory.html