Latest Ivory Stories

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a world of economic uncertainty, elephant ivory has become a new investment vehicle in China, which coincides with an extraordinary surge in the number of elephants being killed for their ivory. A new ivory market investigation report released Monday by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - www.ifaw.org) shows the legal sale of ivory stockpiles in 2008 has spurred demand, particularly in China where ivory...

Further protections needed as 1.5 tons of elephant tusks seized in Sri Lanka WASHINGTON, May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sri Lankan authorities said they seized around 350 illegal elephant tusks weighing nearly 1.5 tons in Colombo port on Tuesday - marking the single biggest ivory haul in the island nation. As authorities around the globe work to bring these culprits to justice, today in the U.S. the Senate Foreign Relations Committee led by Senator John Kerry held a...

PARIS, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With up to 400 elephants already butchered for their ivory, last week soldiers were in a deadly battle with poachers to prevent further killings in Cameroon's Bouba Ndjida National Park. A team from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - www.ifaw.org), who was on the ground in Cameroon, reported heavy fire between the two sides last Monday as poachers targeted a herd of elephants. At least 63 gunshots were heard during...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, federal and California law enforcement officials filed charges against several people who were caught during "Operation Cyberwild." The online sting, run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the California Department of Fish and Game last summer, targeted individuals in Southern California and southwestern Nevada who were selling wildlife illegally through Internet-based marketplaces such as Craigslist.org....

Conservation group TRAFFIC said on Thursday that in the past 12 months a record number of large ivory seizures across the world have taken place. TRAFFIC said that it has been a "horrible year for elephants" and there had been at least 13 large-scale seizures in 2011, totaling at least 23 tons of ivory. In 2010, there were just six large seizures, totaling just under 10 tons of ivory. "In 23 years of compiling ivory seizure data for ETIS, this is the worst year ever for large ivory...

Humans play a far greater role in the fate of African elephants than habitat, and human conflict in particular has a devastating impact on these largest terrestrial animals, according to a new University of British Columbia study published online in PLoS ONE this week. In some of the best-documented cases to date, the study shows the elephant population in the Okapi Faunal Reserve – one of the last strongholds of forest elephants in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – saw a 50 per...

Annual international education program reaches seven million teachers, students, families; IFAW to collect one million signatures to urge countries to strictly enforce ivory ban YARMOUTH PORT, Mass., Oct. 4 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) today announced that actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio will lead its Animal Action campaign to save elephants and shut down the cruel international ivory trade. The campaign launched this week as part of an...

At Least 287 Rhinos Have Been Killed in South Africa as Crisis Escalates. Washington, DC (PRWEB) September 21, 2011 Rhino poaching has reached alarming proportions in southern Africa, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is calling for an end to the crisis on World Rhino Day, September 22nd. Officials in South Africa, home to the majority of the world’s rhinos, have responded to the recent poaching crisis by increasing protection, conducting more rigorous prosecutions, and imposing...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following a recent surge in museum heists targeting rhinoceros horn, conservation and preservation organizations warn that the illegal trafficking of art and wildlife is a threat to the public, as well as the world's natural and cultural heritage. The Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation (LCCHP), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Save the Rhino International, and Saving Rhinos issued the following...

LOS ALTOS, Calif., July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) today announced that its Kenya-based elephant conservation partner, Save the Elephants (STE), endorses the decision by the Kenya Wildlife Service to publicly set fire to five tons of confiscated tusks and processed ivory, which were seized in Singapore in 2002. The July 20 action in Tsavo West National Park is directed toward engaging the cooperation of the nations of the world in fighting illicit trade...