Thailand will strengthen elephant protection

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday said her government will increase efforts to prevent illegal trade in ivory.

>>>Thailand is a country with large illegal trade in ivory

Speaking during the opening session of the annual conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Bangkok today, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra said the Thai government would change the laws to prevent activities illegal trade in ivory. However, she did not provide a roadmap to revise the law, AFP reported.

Conservationists repeatedly called on the Thai government to suppress stronger ivory trade. Thai law allows people to buy and sell tusks from elephants living in captivity. Conservationists argue that criminal organizations are using the law to sell illegal ivory from Africa. This situation causes elephant hunting to culminate and tens of thousands of elephants are killed each year.

Elephants in Thailand. (Photo: bigearth.com)

The International Nature Conservation Fund (WWF) believes that Thailand is now the second largest illegal ivory market, just behind China. Foreign tourists make up the largest proportion of those who regularly buy ivory products.

Carlos Drew, the head of the WWF delegation at the CITES conference, said the three words of Yingluck were a commitment to permanently end the trade in ivory in Thailand.

"We are excited to know that the Thai Prime Minister takes advantage of the world's attention to commit to ending ivory trade in her country," Drew commented.

But Mr. Tosaporn Sereerak, a spokesman for the Thai government, said the implication in Ms. Yingluck's words is not as profound as Mr. Drew's.

"Yingluck just wanted to say that Thailand will take more serious measures to suppress illegal ivory trade. She said nothing about legal ivory trade , " he explained.

The female prime minister affirmed that Thai people loved elephants. But many criminal organizations regard Thailand as a transit area for illegal ivory trade.

"Thailand will enforce stricter measures to prevent illegal ivory entry into Thailand, while ensuring that the domestic ivory supply comes from domesticated elephants," said Yingluck.