Four tons of African ivory caught in Hong Kong

edition.cnn.com...

(Hong Kong) (CNN) -- Hong Kong authorities confiscated $26.7 million worth of ivory found in two shipping containers this week.
The illegal goods weighed more than 8,000 pounds, making it one of the biggest seizures of ivory in Hong Kong.
The containers arrived from Tanzania and Kenya, according to Hong Kong customs officials. The agency seized a total of 1,209 pieces of ivory tusks and three pounds of ivory ornaments from the two containers....

Seven people, including one Hong Kong resident, have been arrested by Chinese authorities in connection to the cases, said a customs spokeswoman.

Hong Kong is viewed as a transit point for the illegal ivory trade, feeding into increasing demands in China, according to a Time article published this week.

Elephants are being killed in Africa at an alarming rate as international demand soars for ivory. Much of the demand comes from increasingly affluent Asian countries, particularly China and Thailand.

The last major bust in Hong Kong occurred in 2011, when officials seized a shipment of ivory and rhino horns valued at $17.4 million.

THIS MAKES ME SICK and FURIOUS.
I want to punch someone right now. Stories about animals being exploited are the most disgusting news in the WORLD to me.
I have few other words to say, except that this story has FURTHERED my anger at Chinese atrocities.

LEAVE THE ELEPHANTS ALONE!!

I want nothing to do with that barbarous culture. I realize there are decent people who live there, but ANY SOCIETY that slaughters WILD ANIMALS for nothing but their teeth based on GREED is appalling. So is vivisection on criminals, and all the other unbelievably UGLY and WRONG behaviors of people in those cultures.

I am also, equally disgusted by feedlots and slaughter-houses, the absolute LACK of empathy and compassion. Animals are NOT STUPID BEASTS. (Well, maybe bugs and fish, but even that's debatable)....

WE DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO SLAUGHTER THEM!

Ack. Short post, and I'm so angry right now that I need to log off.



ELEPHANTS CRY!!

reply to post by wildtimes


This is really saddening. Unfortunately as long as there is a demand for ivory, someone will supply it. My first instinct is to want to strangle the people who kill elephants just for their ivory tusks, but then I step back and think about it. These are people desperate to make a living in a place where making a living is difficult to say the least. I must therefore aim my anger at those most deserving of it: the middle men and the buyers. The middle men are the one's who gain riches from such atrocities, and the buyers only want the ivory as a status symbol- or just because they can afford it.

Until the demand for such things is extinguished I'm afraid we will continue to see it. The laws seem to have no effect on the greed of such people.

Not just elephants but rhinos, too. Just look at the growing problem in South Africa as more and more rhinos are being poached for their horns.

It's totally sick and unnecessary, and all because some Asian believes it will give him an erection.

Last couple of years rhino poaching has hit record numbers. . .

Since the start of the poaching epidemic in 2008 South Africa has lost over 1400 rhinos - a figure that, despite so much effort, increases daily.

Stop Rhino Poaching Now!

This will only get worse with the Chinese demanding more and more.

reply to post by Viking9019


Yes, true and not because there is a lack of effort to try and stop it but because of economic forces.

Vietnam Snubs SA on key rhino poaching agreement

The memorandum of understanding – which has been under discussion between to the two countries since September last year – was due to be signed during an international biodiversity conference which ends on Friday in Hyderabad, India. But South Africa's department of environmental affairs confirmed to the Mail & Guardian this week the signing had been called off, with spokesperson Roopa Singh claiming Vietnam's relevant government minister was "not available" to sign it. Singh said discussions with Vietnam would continue in the hope the memorandum could be signed before the end of the year. The news came as South Africa announced that poaching levels had reached a record high, with 455 rhinos killed since the beginning of the year, eclipsing last year's figure of 448.

These are only rhinos though. I can imagine the stats for elephants are equally bad.

reply to post by littled16

My first instinct is to want to strangle the people who kill elephants just for their ivory tusks, but then I step back and think about it. These are people desperate to make a living in a place where making a living is difficult to say the least.

THIS is exactly the second thought that came to my mind as I was crying over this.

I must therefore aim my anger at those most deserving of it: the middle men and the buyers. The middle men are the one's who gain riches from such atrocities, and the buyers only want the ivory as a status symbol- or just because they can afford it.

Yes.
Thanks, I appreciate your response. As SICK as it makes me, I still have to wonder what makes people so desperate that they must do this????

Do you think they are remorseful?????

I don't know. Maybe they are; maybe it is their last resort.

BUT........

NO!

That is NOT a good enough reason, because it's not realistic. If they can afford the equipment to kill and dissect the tusks, THEY CAN FIGURE OUT HOW to develop crops, to eat naturally AVAILABLE foods, and do okay.

If it came down to me starving, or the elephant being slaughtered for its tusks alone, I'D RATHER STARVE.

Gha

Thanks for your response, though. I guess I'm still too angry to discuss it civilly. I don't see ANY reason that this is justified, while at the same time I blame society for forcing such desperate poverty on some people.

That may be what infuriates me the most. That human beings are doing this, or allowing/encouraging it, when the elephants have NOTHING TO DO WITH the problems the Human Race has brought upon their own race.

*exhales and cracks tension out of neck while lowering shoulders*

*coughs*

Yes, so.
The REASON for this brutality needs to be addressed. You are right. I blame humans.

This may sound cliche' here on ATS, but things like this give me no hope for humanity. We will ultimately destroy each other and every species around us. Nobody gives a damn about ANYTHING anymore, well, at least not for what is right, and what is just. I'm not the crying type of man, but I shed a tear for these noble creatures, and other animals that die for the sake of dollars, and very evil people.