Ebay Bans the Trade of Ivory!
The International Fund for Animal Welfare's Lynn Levine is on the ground at CITES in the Hague...she filed this exiciting news about Ebay's decision to ban the trade of ivory just a few moments ago...
Dateline: June 5th, the Hague, the Netherlands
The day began rather quietly, as discussions of many of our priority issues got postponed due to a variety of reasons, including technical (the electronic voting system was on the fritz). As these things happened, however, the pace picked up dramatically with the receipt of a call from one of our media contacts asking us if we could comment on some information he had received indicating that ebay would be announcing a global ivory ban. After a flurry of activity, including calling San Jose, California, speaking with journalists and confirming details, we were elated by the news that ebay had indeed (and not a moment too soon), decided to announce global policy banning sales of ivory across international borders, in compliance with CITES regulations. Their quote, regarding ivory, was a resounding 'it's the right thing to do," a refrain that we have been repeating for quite some time now! The message is clear for us here in the trenches; both public opinion and commercial trends indicate a move towards decisions based on responsible conservation practices. Not bad for a day's work (plus all the work over the course of two years; well done all of you who spearheaded this effort)!
Lynn
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A fantastic result and a tribute to all the work you guys have put in on this!
Posted by: Chris Gale | June 10, 2007 at 03:44 AM