NY Bill to Ban Ivory Sales Draws Praise from Conservation Group

A sweeping bill proposed by the New York state Assembly to prohibit the purchase or sale of elephant ivory and to increase the penalties for doing so in New York has attracted praise from conservation organizations, including the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Assemblyman Bob Sweeney, Chairman of the Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation, is the primary sponsor of the bill A8824, which has 29 other co-sponsors, according to Open State.org.

Currently, the sale of ivory in New York requires a license from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

"Current law does not mandate the issuance of licenses, but instead indicates that the Department has a choice as to whether or not to issue licenses. I am urging them to choose to protect elephants and to stop issuing licenses permitting the sale of ivory until there are provisions in place that will provide the elephants with the protections they need. I think it is unacceptable that 96 elephants die per day to satisfy the vanity ivory market and to finance terrorism," Sweeney said in a statement.

Sweeney was quoting a figure from the New York City-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which reports there is a 76 percent decline in African elephant population since 2002 and that one elephant is killed every 15 minutes of every day.

"New York State must close the market that is driving the elephant to extinction and helping to finance terrorism," Sweeney said.

In a statement released Thursday applauding NY Assembly bill A8824, the WCS said the legislation is needed because New York is the largest importer of ivory into the US.

"This legislation will enhance federal efforts announced last week by President Obama to tighten the ivory trade ban on a federal level. While these federal efforts are a major step in ending the ivory trade, state collaboration is critical to ensuring that the sale of ivory is truly banned in the United States," the WCS said.

"The world is waking up to this issue," the WCS continued. "Last September, eleven African nations stood up at the Clinton Global Initiative and asked for help from the world community to stop the wave of poaching led by organized crime that ravaged their respective countries. Since then, there has been a growing rallying cry to save elephants, with the US, China, France, Chad and Hong Kong destroying, or announcing they will destroy, stockpiles of illegal ivory.

"But much more needs to be done, and we are hopeful that New York will be helping lead the charge to protect Africa's elephants."