Illegal ivory trade in Africa - examples of worked ivory

In Africa, the bush- and forest-elephants are targeted for their ivory. Although it varies by these two species in size, shape, color and hardness, the use is pretty much the same – ornamental carvings, sculptures, jewelry and other trinkets.

As most of other valued commodities and natural resources of the African provenience, also ivory leaves the continent mostly crude – raw – unworked. In ivory of course, the major reason might be the fact that is is illegal to keep it, work with it and deal, so the conditions for artisanal use are nowadays not favorable in most of the places. I described some of my experience with the raw ivory trade in Central Africa in my previous two articles. Today I am going to focus on those rare cases when I witnessed a direct finalization of the ivory items to an art object or piece of jewelry. But I repeat - vast majority of the ivory leaves the continent raw and is being worked elsewhere, in the destination countries mostly in East Asia.

The first photo above shows a Chinese national arrested in the Republic of Congo in 2015. As he was heading to the Brazzaville International Airport Maya Maya to leave the country after several months of engineering work he attempted to smuggle out of the country some „souvenirs“ for himself and his family. A joined patrol consisting of the sniffer dog unit (of the organisation PALF, member of the EAGLE Network) and agents of Congolese Ministry of Environment discovered in his suitcase two prohibited items (thanks to dog's nose!). In his left hand he is holding a can full of scales of the tree (white-bellied) pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) and in his right hand a ivory bracelet. According to him he was not aware about the conservation status of the pangolin, but certainly he knew about the ivory and its cruel origin. The guy spent few days in the jail but despite strong pressure and activism of the PALF workers and volunteers, the case has been lost. The procurator of the court and even the judge ignored the fact that this man was part of the illegal market responsible for the poaching epidemic in the region and let him go.

Part of the seizure by a massive bust on ivory trader in Brazzaville, Congo, in 2015. These items including Buddha statues, chopsticks, beads, bracelets were seized by a joint operation of PALF agents, Ministry of Environment officers and armed Gendarms. Despite the strong gendarm's presence, they failed to arrest the culprits – due to corruption and threats, as I will explain in one of the next posts. Congo, 2015.

The market of „Bikeko“ in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC – Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo took by my first visit in 2013. The situation in 2015 during my second visit looked exactly the same – raw and worked ivory being sold openly and publicly in the city centre. Zero law-enforcement in this country regarding wildlife laws resulted in this terrible open market. The sellers were not even afraid of the camera and me taking pictures and videos. During both of my visits, I noticed that majority of the customers on this market were people from China. Does anyone has a more recent experience from this market, please? If so, let me know how the current situation looks like! DRC, 2013.

This is an ivory carver/sculptor using traditional tools for carving. I took some photos and a long video of his work in 2016 when I visited him for the second time and organized suitable situation for the arrest operation of the persons around him. Finally, after weeks of preparations, we succeeded with the LAGA agents (EAGLE Network) to bring about an arrest of 2 people possessing and dealing with ivory. Cameroon, 2016.

A detailed view on the ivory bracelet by a trafficker in northern Cameroon. The characteristic „Schreger lines“ can be seen on the cut surfaces of the bracelet. According to the inner structure of the ivory, we can discern between the elephant and mammoth ivory. Cameroon, 2013.

Ivory chopsticks ready to be sold to Asian tourists or workers in northern Cameroon. The photo shows cut off elephant's feet. The elephant has been shot legally (yes, Cameroon still allows several dozens of the bush- and also forest-elephants safari hunts per year!) and the feet served as a base for some „decoration.“ The ivory apparently disappeared after it and merged to the illegal market. Cameroon, 2015.

Items made of African elephant ivory seized in Czech Republic. The land-locked central European country served in the recent years as one of the smuggling routes further to Asia. Ivory has been trafficked in international flights, and the Czech customs and Environmental Inspection succeeded to reveal and seize important quantities of ivory. Czech Republic, 2014.

Part of the ivory, raw and worked, later seized during the arrest. The tusks have been hidden under the humid soil in the courtyard of the sculptor, not only for security reasons, but allegedly also because it was then easier to carve into it. Cameroon, 2016.

Arthur F. Sniegon, July 2018
Founder and Coordinator of @save-elephants
www.save-elephants.org
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