About the campaign :

Poaching for international trade has escalated dramatically in recent years and is now the greatest threat to many of WWF’s and TRAFFIC’s flagship species. Poaching for the illegal ivory trade is having a devastating impact on wild elephants, particularly in Central Africa where many populations are plummeting towards local extinction; tens of thousands of elephants are killed each year for their ivory, most in Central Africa. The current demand for endangered species products in Asia is unprecedented and often largely driven by demand for products as a demonstration of economic and social status and/or cultural value and beliefs. While elephants are revered in Thailand, an integral part of Thai beliefs and culture, the country has the world’s largest unregulated ivory market, and is consistently highlighted as one of the three most problematic countries worldwide in the illegal ivory trade. The sale of ivory from wild elephants is currently illegal in Thailand, but sale of ivory from Thai domesticated elephants is legal. However, it is impossible to determine whether the ivory products are derived from wild elephants or are coming from ivory from domesticated elephants, and therefore enforcement agencies are currently unable to detect illegal ivory from wild elephants entering the Thai retail trade. The legal loophole created by allowing unregulated trade in domestic elephant ivory also provides an avenue for the sale of illegally imported African elephant ivory, contributing to the current poaching crisis.