Legal loopholes and inadequate law enforcement have made Thailand the largest illegal ivory market in Asia, wildlife advocates said Friday. Thailand's government refuses to crackdown on vendors who openly trade in items that come from African elephants, TRAFFIC, a British-based non-profit group, said in a report released Friday. Thailand has surpassed Japan and China as a center for illegal ivory trade, with hotels and markets in Bangkok openly offering tens of thousands of items for sale, the monitoring group said. Since 2004, the Thai government has reported just two seizures of illegal ivory for a total seizure of 1.2 tons of raw ivory, said Colman O'Criodain, the World Wildlife Fund's international's analyst on wildlife trade issues. The Thai Government needs to crack down on this serious illegal activity and stop allowing people to abuse the law, O'Criodain said.

less than 235 day(s) - Friday June,19 2009 @ 11:41 PM
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