Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/illegal-elephant-ivory-still-sold-on-ebay/

It was over a decade ago that eBay banned the sale of elephant ivory from its online auction marketplace. According to research that was recently published in the Tropical Conservation Research journal, they may have outlawed the practice but it did little to stop it.

Researchers from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) led the study and wrote a paper on how vendors are using code words to disguise illegal ivory sales. They are offering ivory for sale on eBay but calling it “bone.”

If an object has been carved out of elephant ivory, it is sometimes called a Netsuke. For the layperson, it may not be easy to distinguish between authentic elephant ivory and bone that has been carved. Sofia Venturini and Dr. David Roberts of DICE are experts in the field and they looked into the authenticity of any eBay Netsukes that were sold. Specifically, they were looking for Schreger lines, which are unique to elephant ivory and make it easier for those illegal items to be selected as authentic.

Scans of photographs were used, rather than pointing to the auctions directly. In that way, they could blow the whistle on the practice but not add to the illegal sale of elephant ivory carvings. During their investigations, they found that many of these items were referred to as “cow bone” in the description, although they were actually elephant ivory. Although between 1.3 and 6.9 percent of those auctions were identified and removed, it took a month and the number is rather small.

EBay placed a global ban on the sale of ivory beginning January 1, 2009. The online auction also works along with the World Wildlife Fund and is a founding member of the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online. They also work with the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

According to CNN Business, an eBay spokesperson had the following to say: “We have global teams dedicated to upholding standards on our marketplace, and over a recent two-year period we blocked or removed over 265,000 listings prohibited under our animal products policy.”

Dr. Roberts also said in a statement to the University of Kent that eBay may have a strict policy in place but the ivory trade is still ongoing. He also brings out that it may be difficult to detect illegal sales of ivory because it is not a word that is unique to an elephant tusk.

We live in a world that is becoming more and more aware of illegal wildlife trade and trafficking, but that hasn’t stopped the demand for those items worldwide. It is definitely something that is worth watching.

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog