South Africa to sell ivory to China, Japan

by Amy Judd | October 9, 2008 at 03:30 pm

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In what could be the return of the ivory trade, South Africa has said it will go ahead with plans to sell 51 tons of ivory to China and Japan, which is a special exemption to the ivory trading ban.

South Africa has a large stockpile of elephant tusks so they are allowed to sell them on a one-off basis.

However, it could raise fears that the money brought in by this trade could signal the beginning of the deadly ivory trade again.

South African wildlife experts visited China and Japan in September and said Thursday they were satisfied that both countries would meet the stringent conditions set by the international pact on trade in endangered species and would not re-export ivory to supply the black market.