Britons support moves to protect elephants
Date: 16-Oct-02
Country: UK
The survey commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) showed that 93 percent of Britons believe the government should support a policy to save elephants from poachers.
Nearly 85 percent said leaders should vote against a proposal by five African countries at a meeting next month that could lead to a resumption in ivory trading.
"In terms of public opinion, the British government has a clear mandate to help protect elephants and oppose any resumption in ivory trading," said John Leaman, an associate director of MORI which conducted the poll.
Britain is finalising its voting position at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which is meeting in Santiago, Chile in November.
The IFAW is urging Britain to oppose proposals by South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia to reinstate a legal ivory trade.
"We believe this is the position shared by the British public," Phyllis Campbell-McRae, the UK director of IFAW, told a news conference.
Only three percent of the 1,002 adults who were interviewed for the poll, said the government should not take a stance on the issue.
Renowned conservationist and palaeontologist Richard Leakey, the former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service, said there is no way to distinguish legal stockpiles from illegal elephant tusks so poaching will go up massively to meet demand for ivory in China and Japan where it is sculpted into decorative objects.
"People have forgotten the crisis elephants face," he said.
He warned that if the ivory ban is eased it will lead to an increase in poaching and the illegal trading of ivory and the deaths of elephants in Asia and Africa.
