An elephant killed by poachers for its ivory. (Hong Kong For Elephants)
To you, ivory may seem like a relic from a bygone era when people didn’t know any better. But the sad truth is that the demand for ivory is not only alive and well, but growing – and Hong Kong is major transit hub for these products, and historically, a centre for the ivory carving industry.
Hong Kong authorities seized over 8,000 tonnes of smuggled ivory in 2013 alone. And with 100,000 African elephants killed by ivory poachers in the last three years, the trade needs to be stopped. Now.
Unsurprisingly, China is the largest market for ivory, but you may be shocked to hear that the US is the number-two market.
With Hong Kong such a crucial city for the trade, local activists are working to convince people to stop buying and selling the product.
On Saturday, local activist group Hong Kong For Elephants will be holding a protest in front of a yet-to-be-named ivory shop in North Point. (The group wants to make sure the shop doesn’t get word about the protest ahead of time, so shhh!.) Protesters meet at 11am at Exit B1 of the North Point MTR station.
The group also calls for stricter regulation of ivory as a step towards a full ban on its commercial trade, calling on the city’s chief executive and environmental secretary to ban the ivory trade in Hong Kong before it’s too late.
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