More great news. The sale of all elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn is now banned in France, Environment Minister Ségolène Royal has decreed before leaving for the Arctic where she will examine the effects of global warming.
The ban “concerns all species of elephant and rhinoceros”, Royal said in a statement Wednesday, although special exemptions may be granted.
And it does not forbid the possession of ivory and rhinoceros horn.
Many private individuals and museums own artefacts made from ivory, some of considerable age.
With African and Asian elephant populations threatened by the slaughter of animals for their ivory, a worldwide ban on the trade came into effect in 1989, but it did not cover the sale of ivory obtained before that date.
Poaching of elephants and rhinoceroses, whose horns are used in traditional Chinese medicine, has continued and the populations have continued to decline.Read On
The motion covers a site on Alfie Byrne Road, which is controlled by Dublin City Council. The move has been welcomed by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals whose CEO Dr Andrew Kelly said it is now time for a national ban. Animal rights group ARAN said Ireland is a step nearer to a national ban on the use of animals in Irish circuses. But it added there was still much work to be done to bring “our outdated and old-fashioned views of using animals for entertainment into modern century thinking”. The motion proposing the ban was put forward by Sinn Féin Councillor Noeleen Reilly.
