Yesterday, the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) submitted a petition to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, calling on her to ban Thailand’s ivory trade.
According to a statement released by the WWF, the organization presented Yingluck with 500,000 signatures it had collected over the past month, all of which call on Thailand to outlaw the sale of ivory.
At present, Thai law allows for the sale of ivory from domesticated, Thai elephants, though this law is commonly used as a loophole through which traders are able to deal in imported, African ivory (which is still illegal under Thai law).
“We already have the existing laws to protect wildlife, and elephants are culturally important to Thailand,” the PM said. “We will take the issues raised by WWF into consideration.”
Despite that lukewarm response, Yingluck will nonetheless preside over the opening of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) conference, taking place in Bangkok next week.
The WWF had hoped to pressure Yingluck into announcing a ban on Thailand’s ivory trade prior to the start of the conference.
