Ivory Trade: Elephant Tusk Seizures Reach Record Number In 2011
AP VIA HUFFINGTON POST
First Posted: 12/29/11 03:11 AM ET Updated: 12/29/11 08:35 AM ET
It's been a disastrous year for elephants, perhaps the worst since ivory sales were banned in 1989 to save the world's largest land animals from extinction, the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said Thursday.
A record number of large seizures of elephant tusks represents at least 2,500 dead animals and shows that organized crime — in particular Asian syndicates — is increasingly involved in the illegal ivory trade and the poaching that feeds it, the group said.
