夏威夷在线象牙贸易调查（英文版）.pdf

An InvestIgAtIon of HAwAIIs Online ivOry TradeTABLE OF CONTENTS executive summary the global elephant Poaching Crisis the U.s. Ivory Market online Ivory sales In the U.s. Hawaiis Ivory Market Investigative Procedure summary of findings Documentation And Legality Claims Conclusion sources Acknowledgements 03 04 05 06 07 08 10 14 15 16 183 An InvestIgAtIon of HAwAIIs onlIne Ivory trAde Over the last decade, surging consumer demand for ivory has triggered a nearly unprecedented poaching wave, one that threatens to drive African elephants toward extinction unless the killingand demand for tusks and carvingsis halted soon. Many countries including the United States have moved this issue to the top of their conservation policy agendas, most importantly by restricting their domestic ivory markets. The U.S. federal government is expected to finalize a strong ivory trade ban soon that will address imports, exports, and interstate trade, and several states have passed laws to complement the federal rule by restricting intrastate ivory commerce. Hawaii, which has perhaps the countrys biggest remaining market for ivory products, is poised to follow suit. These local efforts are crucial to stopping sales of illegally-imported itemsLaw enforcement officials estimate that some 90% of smuggled shipments leak past border inspections and find their way into the marketplace, 1where they are largely indistinguishable from older, legal ivory. 2 For this report, investigators compiled advertising and sales data from 47 Hawaii-based retailers and individual sellers engaged in the online trade of elephant ivory and related wildlife products, including walrus tusks, whale teeth and bone, mammoth ivory, and hippopotamus teeth. They found a total of 4,661 products in stock or for sale, with an overall value of more than $1.22 million, over a six-day period. The vast majority of this inventory (85.5%) was elephant ivory. Few of these retailers provided any evidence that their wares had been legally imported into the state. Some 28% of the sellers (14 of 47) referred to their advertised items as being “pre-ban,” “antique,” or “vintage,” but only one of the 47 provided supplemental documentation of legal import. Taken together, this large overall inventory and scant proof of legality are cause for concern. Add to this the fact that Hawaii is a known destination for illegal ivory shipments, and the case grows for strong restrictions on intrastate ivory sales. ExECuTivE SummAry IMAGE: JULIE LARSEN MAHER WCS4 An InvestIgAtIon of HAwAIIs onlIne Ivory trAde african elephants are facing an unprecedented crisis. Populations are plummeting all across the continent due to astounding levels of poaching: Out of a total of perhaps half a million individual animals, scientists estimate that more than 100,000 elephants were killed by poachers between 2010 and 2012 alonean average of one elephant every 15 minutes, or 96 every day. 3Populations of one subspecies, the African forest elephant, have declined by 65% since 2002, meaning it could be extinct in the wild in a decade if the trend continues. 4Sadly, despite growing international attention, the massacre shows few signs of stopping. Wildlife trafficking has plagued the African continent in decades past, but the current generation of poachers is increasingly organized and well-armed; many are backed by international criminal syndicates and some are even linked to brutal terrorist groups. 5The recent uptick in elephant poaching is driven by extraordinary consumer demand for their tusks, which are carved into a variety of objects including jewelry and decorative statues. The past ten years has seen soaring market prices for ivory products, largely due to a growing middle class in China and other Asian countries where ivory products are considered by some to have significant cultural value. 6But the United States is also a significant ivory market that contributes to the global demand for ivory products; ivory from recently poached elephants is regularly smuggled into the United States and sold both in storefronts and online, often disguised as antique, legal ivory. 7In response to the resurgent crisis, the federal government and some U.S. states are working to close the loopholes that have allowed the illegal ivory trade to flourish in the United States. On the heels of a 2013 Executive Order on combating wildlife trafficking, issued by President Barack Obama, the U.S. Fish AfriCAN elephANTS Are liSTed ONly AS “ThreATeNed,” A CATegOrizATiON ThAT prOvideS FEWER LEGAL PROTECTIONS.6 An InvestIgAtIon of HAwAIIs onlIne Ivory trAde While some of the wildlife trade in the United States takes place in bricks-and-mortar stores, a growing portion occurs on the internet, particularly when it comes to ivory. Indeed, a 2008 study by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) found that the United States was responsible for more than two-thirds (or 5,026) of the 7,122 online auctions, advertisements, and communiqus openly offering trade in legally-protected wildlife it uncovered in 11 countries over six weeks. 23This was nearly ten times more than the two countries with the next highest volumes: the United Kingdom and China. 24Elephant productspredominantly ivorywere the most commonly available items in six of the eight countries profiled, with the United States responsible for ten times more ivory listings than the next closest country (the U.K.). 25 Similarly, in its 2014 study of both storefront and online ivory auctions in the United States, IFAW found 4,186 ivory and suspected ivory items offered for sale from 340 online auctions during a nine-week investigation. 26This is an average of 465 lots for sale per week (or an estimated 24,186 ivory lots for sale per year). 27In 2015, IFAW and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released a study specifically on the trade of illegal wildlife products, including ivory, on the online classified advertising platform Craigslist. 28Craigslist has long banned wildlife product sales (and, in response to the investigation, added “ivory; endangered, imperiled and/or protected species and any parts thereof” to its index of banned items in 2015), but the study unveiled a large volume of these items available for sale on the website. 29during the five-day investigation, which examined Craigslist sub-sites for 28 U.S. locales, investigators counted 522 postings offering more than 615 ivory, suspected ivory, and related wildlife products. 30The combined list price for these items was at least $1,429,151. 31If extrapolated to a full year, this would be more than 6,600 items with a list price exceeding $15.3 million. 32 The United States growing online marketplace for wildlife products coincides with worldwide trends. Indeed, in 2014, IFAW reported a total of 33,006 endangered wildlife and wildlife parts and products from species listed on CITES Appendix I and II available for sale in 9,482 advertisements on 280 online marketplaces in 16 countries during a six-week period. 33 Ivory was one of the most widely traded items, featured in almost one-third of all advertisements. 34 As a result of growing awareness of the online marketplaces role in the ivory trade, along with public pressure, numerous businesses have taken steps to minimize their impact on elephants and other imperiled species. For example, Craigslist explicitly banned ivory advertisements in 2015 (as mentioned above); 35eBay banned the sale of ivory in 2009; 36Etsya popular platform for art and handcrafted items instituted a ban on endangered species products in 2013; 37and LiveAuctioneers. com, one of the subjects of IFAWs 2014 survey, has implemented a significant program for retailer outreach and review that aims to minimize the use of its platform as an ivory sales hub. However, as demonstrated by the Craigslist study, even websites that institute restrictions on the sale of wildlife products often have difficulty controlling the trade on their forums. ONLiNE iv Ory SALES iN ThE u .S. IMAGE: JULIE LARSEN MAHER WCS7 An InvestIgAtIon of HAwAIIs onlIne Ivory trAde Hawaii is the third largest retailer of ivory in the United States, behind only New York and California which, as mentioned above, have recently enacted laws prohibiting most ivory sales. 38 This is likely due, at least in part, to Hawaiis position as a major Asia- pacific center of commerce and tourism, with dozens of flights and ships entering its ports and airports daily from across Asia and the pacific. A 2008 investigation of Hawaiis ivory market found that 89% of ivory items found for sale in Hawaii were of unknown or likely illegal origin. Of the 1,659 items found for sale on the island of Oahu, only 191 (11%) were determined to be legal. 39 The survey also found that Hawaii had the largest proportion of ivory items that were “recently made” for sale in the nation, further suggesting that the items were illegally imported or carved after the federal restrictions were already in place. 40 In July 2013, the HSUS and Humane Society International (HSI) conducted preliminary research to examine Hawaiis online ivory marketplace. Seven prominent online ivory websites were identified that, combined, offered more than 1,000 ivory objects for sale. Items advertised for sale ranged in price from $45 to $35,000. Only one of these websites offered any documentation regarding the date and origin of its items, and even this documentation failed to correspond to any individual item. Jewelry and small statues were the most common types of ivory found for sale; in particular, there were many Mings ivory jewelry pieces from the eponymous international retailer, established in 1940, which had a location in Honolulu. Mings honolulu offered hand-carved ivory items depicting Hawaiian and Asian motifs and flowers. All of the Mings stores were shuttered by 1999, and Mings jewelry is now highly coveted by collectors and jewelry connoisseurs. The study also found that many stores that had once had store-front locations had transferred their business online. 41 federal and state officials have expressed major concerns about the legality of the ivory trade in Hawaii. In June 2015, agents from the Hawaii & pacific islands Office of USfWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) seized more than 430 bone, coral, and ivory carvings suspected to have been smuggled from the Philippinesincluding 90 elephant ivory carvingsfrom a retail merchant with four stores across Waikk, honolulu, called Hawaiian Accessories, Inc. 42 Officials filed a 21-count indictment against the business and five individuals involved in the smuggling ring. 43 In response to the growing elephant poaching crisis and aforementioned studies identifying Hawaii as a top ivory market, in May 2013 the Hawaii State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 149 urging Hawaii residents and businesses to comply with CITES regulations and not to buy or sell ivory of unknown origin that may have been illegally smuggled into the state. 44 hA w Aii S iv Ory mArkET ACCOrdiNG TO A 2008 STudy, 89% OF iv Ory iTEmS FOr SALE iN hA w Aii wErE OF uNkNO wN Or LikEL y iLLEGAL OriGiN.