Let 2018 see the end to the trade in ivory

Zhou Fei, head of the Wildlife Trade Programme of the World Wildlife Fund China, called Sunday "a day to be inscribed into history" after a ban was introduced on the processing or selling ivory and ivory products in China. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Doubtlessly it was a historic day, because the Chinese government has not only issued the ban, but also taken a series of steps to end the ivory trade in the country.

The State Forestry Administration had already ordered all previously legal ivory processing and trading companies to shut down by Sunday. From Monday on, it has established a permanent legal enforcement system together with other governmental departments, in order to strike at any in the ivory trade chain that dare illegally continue commercial ivory activities after the ban.

However, to root out the ivory trade, what’s needed are not only legislation and law enforcement, but also more moves to remove the sick pursuit of ivory from people's hearts.

On Dec 20, a poster by China Construction Bank called for consumers to "enjoy the last major consumption of ivory products" before the ban. Later, the bank apologized for that wrong move.

According to a WWF survey this August, 50 percent of the respondents said they would like to buy ivory products, while 19 percent said they would continue buying even after the ban. One of the "stubborn buyers" was quoted as saying, "I enjoy greater respect when I wear ivory items so I will continue buying them." Worse, some illegal traders are eyeing other parts of wide elephants, including their meat, bones, and skin. Search "elephant skin wallets" on some domestic searching engines and you get thousands of shops selling them.

On Friday, the SFA and WWF jointly published a video starring former NBA All-Star and national political advisor Yao Ming, a long-time WildAid ambassador, who said that "Behind every ivory product you wear, there are numbers of elephants losing lives."

Only when everyone gives up the sick, blind pursuit of ivory products, will the deadly trade totally disappear.