Once-Outlawed Trade in Elephant Ivory Resumes

Side by side, the newspaper ads tell the story:

A chastened jewelry shop declares in a Little Tokyo newspaper: “Every year thousands of wild animals are killed by man. . . . (The store) believes jewelry should adorn the human heart as well as the body. Some things in this world are more important to the heart of man than an ivory necklace.”

The other ad, from a Southland department store, extols “the subtle, fine grain of pure ivory, creating the most beautiful of classic and contemporary pieces . . . a perfect complement with the colors of Spring.”

The first ad appeared in December, 1981, as part of a penalty exacted by local prosecutors, back when California’s law barring the sale of elephant parts or ivory was being vigorously enforced against boutiques, department stores and galleries. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in elephant goods were confiscated--some of it from the store which later ran the first ad. The second ad appeared barely two weeks ago in the Los Angeles Times, nearly three years after an appeals court ruled that the federal government’s less-stringent code preempted California’s 1976 landmark ban on elephant product imports and sale.

So elephant ivory trade is back in California, although the state law against it is still on the books, a law that once forced even chic catalogues to warn, “cannot be shipped to California” beneath ivory objets .

Called ‘Utterly Repugnant’

Now, three years after the federal decision halted their efforts, prosecutors and wildlife agents say they can only watch as what one called the “utterly repugnant” ivory trade has been revived.

“California law ran afoul of federal law,” said Los Angeles Assistant City Atty. Steve Tekosky, who worked on some cases involving endangered species. “That resulted in our prosecutions coming to a screeching halt.”

As a result, said Tom Riley, regional assistant special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “We have seen larger amounts (of ivory) coming in. I wouldn’t say gross amounts, but larger amounts.”

The rest of California’s pioneering Brown Administration law on endangered species products--ironically, the inspiration for the federal standard that now overrules it, Tekosky said--is still enforceable. Agents can still seize python, cobra, leopard, sea turtle or other products. But the elephant products they once seized--from elephant-hide cowboy boots to an ivory chess set worth $30,000--are against state law, but technically legal under the federal code.

‘Encouraging Unabated Slaughter’

With the new ruling, Tekosky said bitterly, “We’re encouraging a market where a market should not exist. We’re encouraging the unabated slaughter of the elephants and it’s being done in the most horrendous fashion.”

Tens of thousands of elephants are killed each year, legally and illegally. Some of them are shot by automatic weapons, some have their water holes poisoned, and the tusks are sometimes hacked out of living animals “like a frontiersman with a hatchet chopping down a tree,” said Tekosky, who has seen films of poachers at work.

“I think we’re very frustrated by the turn of events,” said Los Angeles City Atty. James Kenneth Hahn. “We developed a reputation in the City of Los Angeles, we were very tough and very aggressive on prosecution of those dealing in (prohibited) animal products.” Los Angeles still holds the U.S. record--$1 million--for a single ivory seizure.

But the 1983 decision, based on an appeal by a Texas boot company and a San Francisco ivory importer, does not mean that the elephant species is any better off, said Barry C. Groveman, a deputy district attorney who prosecuted many endangered species cases when he was an assistant city attorney.

“The fact that the law is interpreted differently doesn’t mean the animals are now thriving,” he said. An endangered species products exhibit, partly paid for by fines from an ivory law violator, is still on view at Los Angeles International Airport.

“All of a sudden, a loophole comes along and people pay more attention to the legality than the mortality. . . ,” Groveman said. “Loopholes in the tax situations are one thing. This is a question of life and death for these species, and nobody really cares, at least these store owners don’t.” Under federal guidelines, Asian elephants--numbering fewer than 40,000--are “endangered,” facing extinction, and no Asian elephant products can be imported. But African elephants--numbering an estimated 1.5 million--are merely threatened, “in danger of being endangered,” said a U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent.

Since African elephants are at risk from expanding human settlement and human predators, African elephant products can be imported only under international permits issued to control the number of elephants killed, and thereby protect the species.

But, believes Groveman, the permits the U.S. government requires to limit elephant ivory imports are sometimes worthless, issued “like credit cards, handed out to anyone who comes along” in the countries where more elephants are killed than quotas or restrictions permit.

Unbeknown to retail buyers or importers, Riley said, the documents that declare that ivory was legally obtained may have been forged or bought.

False Documents

Buyers may not recognize a false document, Riley said, and even for U.S. inspectors, “it really is hard” to determine the validity of permits, although they have samples of official documents, and sometimes cable for advice to Africa or to Switzerland, home of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Indeed, Groveman contended, so dubious has documentation become that African countries whose elephant populations are known to have been wiped out long ago, are still--on paper--exporting elephant tusks. Permits sometimes turn up from nations whose ivory quotas have already been met, or where elephant hunting is prohibited, he said.

It is a paper-trail process City Atty. Hahn likened to the laundering of money. Some countries “virtually wiped out their elephant population, yet they’re still exporting ivory.”

In some countries, “permits can be bought,” Riley said.

The paper problems are one reason California took the legislative step of barring elephant ivory entirely, and the renewed trade is frustrating for Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), who authored California’s original endangered-species law when he was a state senator and who took the ivory issue with him to Washington.

‘Got Discouraged’

His first no-ivory bill passed the House in 1979, but was rejected by the Senate. His next two tries were bogged down in a House committee. “We sort of got discouraged after two Congresses,” said aide Melissa Kuckrow. “Part of it is the deregulation mentality that has taken hold.”

The lure of ivory is an ancient one; ivory objects were found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb.

“There’s no doubt ivory is a very beautiful commodity,” Riley said. “Some of the most beautiful jewelry I’ve ever seen has been ivory. But then again, you don’t see the slaughter or killing that goes on to obtain this merchandise. I feel if most individuals saw what goes on to get this, they wouldn’t buy the ivory.”

Environmental groups, traditional guardians of animal species at risk, fear for the elephant, but they are confronted by mounting concerns--from condors and laboratory animals to the northern white rhino, which numbers only 3,900, said Emily Mead of the World Wildlife Fund.

Because of that, African elephants are “not a high priority in terms of lobbying,” with more critical species such as the rhino at stake, she said. Still, “We encourage people to decrease the use of threatened- and endangered-species products.” Elephant items are available now, “but who’s to say what’s to happen in the next 20 years? If everyone starts buying it, it’ll disappear.”

Consumers Outraged

When Groveman appeared on a television show about 18 months ago to discuss the law, some outraged consumers tore up credit cards of stores selling ivory, and at least one chain pulled ivory off its shelves, he recalled.

California Fish and Game warden Louise Fiorillo, said: “There’s a lot of ivory on the market in California you wouldn’t have seen four or five years ago,” and wardens “get a lot of phone calls complaining about ivory” sales from consumers. Merchants call too, to find out what they can import, and the agency refers them to government attorneys.

The intent of the state law “was to remove the commercial market for these animals and protect them,” she said. “I have no ill feeling against companies selling ivory,” she added, “but it’s a shame to do that to the world’s elephant population. I’d hate to see them depleted so someone can wear a bracelet.”

Groveman said consumers often do not make that connection.

“In these boutiques and exquisite department stores, the hacking of the tusks out of these animals while they lie crying on the ground--I’ve seen the films--is not associated with those intricately carved pieces of jewelry,” Groveman said.

‘Article of Depravity’

Consumers “need to recognize what is being sacrificed for the luxury, if that’s what it is, or article of depravity we choose to parade around with as a status symbol,” he said. Once the public remembers “that it’s not just intricately carved living jewelry but part of a living organism that was slaughtered, then stores will lose business and well they should.”

A number of Southland shops and department store chains now carry ivory jewelry. One, May Company, does not, basically for business reasons, said Board Chairman Ed Mangiafico. “We’re just selling those products we feel are appropriate and wanted in the marketplace. There is a lot of ivory-type stuff that doesn’t come from natural ivory. Our objective is to sell merchandise.”

A spokesman for Neiman-Marcus said, “We are aware and appreciate the concern of wildlife and therefore we adhere to the law.”

Other stores contacted for comment did not respond immediately.

At Man Hing, the San Francisco shop whose appeal led to the overturning of the California law, Wai Au, who said he was in charge of one of the shops there, said, “We are still doing ivory business.” His customers, he said, “like it very much.”