Opinion: Chinese president comes to Washington and makes a stunning pledge to protect elephants

In addition to all the other news swirling through Washington in the last 48 hours — the pope in, Speaker Boehner out — there’s a new development that could save elephants. In a stunning announcement, Chinese President Xi Jinping (also in D.C. the last couple of days) agreed to enact a nearly complete ban on the import and export of ivory in his country. President Obama committed the U.S. to a similar ban.

This is nothing short of huge in the effort to save African elephants from being poached and killed into extinction. On average, poachers in Africa illegally kill an elephant every 15 minutes — 96 killings a day — and hack off the animals’ tusks for ivory which they easily sell on the black market, flouting an international treaty and laws around the globe. China is, by far, the largest market for illegal ivory, according to conservationists, but the United States is also in the top five.

The U.S. has been trying to do its part. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is attempting to tighten restrictions on interstate commerce in ivory. New York and New Jersey, where auction houses often sold ivory, recently passed very restrictive laws that ban the sale of most ivory.

And the California Legislature just passed AB 96, introduced by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), which would bar the sale of almost all ivory in California. The bill exempts antique objects that are less than 5% ivory and musical instruments that have proper documentation showing that they were not manufactured after 1975. Current state law allows for commerce in ivory obtained before June 1, 1977, the year that African elephants were first listed by international treaty as being threatened. But it’s extremely difficult to tell new, illegally obtained ivory from old ivory. New ivory can be worked to look old. That’s why California, a big market for ivory, needs the new restrictions. Gov. Jerry Brown should sign AB 96 into law.

For the Chinese, who are not known as great defenders of animal welfare, to assume such a pivotal role in stanching the illegal flow of ivory into their country is stunning. Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the U.S., called the joint commitment of the U.S. and China on this front “a watershed moment for the efforts to stop commercial trade in ivory.”

Protecting wildlife for the entire planet is an admirable and worthy endeavor. It’s heartening to see Xi and Obama take that seriously. Likewise, congressional leaders should take seriously the effort to stop the slaughter of elephants. They can start by removing a provision in the House of Representatives’ interior and environment appropriations bill that prohibits the Fish and Wildlife Service from proposing new restrictions on the importation and sale of ivory across the nation. That provision is simply shameful and needs to go.

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