Europe ivory trade fuels slaughter
- Published: 7 Mar 2013 at 12.27
- Online news:
Hundreds of ivory items are illegally traded online in Europe each week, adding to the slaughter of African elephants, an Interpol report said Thursday.
A recent survey of Internet sites in nine European countries found that ivory items worth an estimated 1.5 million euros (two million United States dollars) had been sold in a two-week period, Interpol said in a report released at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species being held in Bangkok.
The illegal ivory trade has tripled worldwide over the past 15 years, trafficked primarily by "Asian-run, African-based" criminal networks, according to a United Nations Environmental Programme report also released at the conference.
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