Anne was one of the 124 signatories to a letter calling on the British prime minister to ban all ivory trade in the UK. 

The St Albans MP is a strong supporter of animal welfare and a vocal critic of illegal wildlife trade internationally. 

Dear Prime Minister,

Action for Elephants UK is a grassroots group fighting to save elephants and to end poaching and the ivory trade that perpetuates it. With the support of wildlife NGOs, we’re organising the UK marches taking place on September 24th as part of the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos (GMFER).

The third annual Global March will take place this year on the opening day of CITES CoP17 in Johannesburg. Over 140 cities around the world will unite to call for a global ban on ivory and rhino horn trade, and for other measures to help save these iconic species. Action for Elephants UK and the undersigned groups are appealing to the government for a total ban on ivory sales in the UK, which is one of the Conservative Party manifesto commitments.

Tens of thousands of elephants are still being slaughtered every year for their ivory. This rate of poaching is pushing African elephants ever closer to extinction, and the window of opportunity for saving them is rapidly shrinking. Since poaching for the ivory trade is the most pressing threat facing Africa’s elephants, the closure of all ivory markets, both international and domestic, is critical for their survival.

At present, the legal ivory trade in the UK feeds one of the largest markets for ivory in Europe. Significant amounts of ivory are also sold through online marketplaces in the UK. The existence of a legal ivory trade serves as a cover for illegal sales of ivory, while continuing to perpetuate the cycle of supply and demand.

The laws that attempt to regulate the ivory trade in the UK have proved to be ineffective and unworkable, and ivory sellers – whether market traders or high-end auction houses – continue to sell ivory without the required paperwork. The police and the courts don’t have the resources to monitor the trade or prosecute all cases where the law is broken.

Earlier this months, the results of the Great Elephant Census – the first aerial census of Africa’s elephant populations – revealed that one-third of Africa’s elephants were wiped out in just seven years (2007 to 2014) – equivalent to 144,000 elephants. Between 2010 and 2012 alone, over 100,000 elephants were brutally slaughtered for their ivory. The poaching continues today across much of Africa, with some countries seeing an increase in illegal killings.

Rhinos are also in dire peril because of poaching for their horn, which has soared in recent years – in South Africa alone, by 9000% since 2007. Furthermore, the trade in ivory and horn is fuelled by organized criminal networks and widespread corruption; known terrorist groups are involved in both the poaching of elephants and rhinos and trafficking their body parts, reaping huge profits.

The past two years have seen an increase in international momentum to ban ivory: following a joint announcement on ivory bans by the USA and China in September 2015, the USA brought in a ban on ivory in July 2016, and China imposed a 3-year ban on ivory imports, promising a timeline for a complete ban by the end of 2016. Hong Kong, one of the biggest hubs of the illegal wildlife trade, announced in June 2016 that it will move towards a ban. France announced a ban on ivory trade in all its territories in April 2016.

Against this backdrop of global momentum, we would encourage the UK to not only take similar action by closing its own domestic ivory markets, but lead the way as a powerful voice in stopping this trade globally.

While your government has shown leadership in combatting the illegal wildlife trade internationally, including the landmark 2014 London Conference, it now needs to show similar leadership in implementing a total ban on all trade in ivory products in the UK once and for all.

With regard to CoP17, we hope the UK delegates will be voting against all proposals to allow trade in ivory and rhino horn, and in favour of proposals that afford these species maximum protection, including uplisting all elephants to Appendix 1.

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

http://actionforelephantsuk.org/letter-to-theresa-may-calling-for-ban-on-uk-ivory-trade/