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Ivory auction won't prevent poaching
The sale of 51 tons of stockpiled ivory would not make a dent in combating ivory poaching or elephant conservation, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said on Wednesday.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's auction to be held in Pretoria, IFAW's Southern Africa programme manager Christina Pretorius said the organisation was "highly opposed" to the sale of ivory to China and Japan.

"It will signal open season on the elephants."

Pretorius said that flooding the market with legal ivory would only extend the market for it illegally.

She while Southern Africa had better resources to combat poaching, the same could not be said for Central and West Africa.

Referring to the two recent sales of ivory in Zimbabwe and Namibia, Pretorius said the revenue raised would not make a dent in combating the problem of poaching or aid in conservation initiatives. Questions where therefore raised whether South Africa would be able to do the same.

She said IFAW was also opposed to the sale to Japan and China simply because the ivory markets in Asia were known to be incredibly successful and largely unregulated.

"Both are known to be among the world's largest illegal ivory markets," she said.

However, head of communications at SA National Parks Wanda Mkutshulwa said it wad "pure speculation" to suggest at this time that the sale would encourage poaching.

"A report by Mike (the Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants system) shows no relation between the previous sale of ivory and poaching.

"We have as a country followed all the correct procedures and all the legal processes to be granted this," she said.

Mkutshulwa said South Africa had committed itself to the provisions of conservation body Cites - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - that the money would be used as mandated.

In a statement released earlier by SANParks, it stated that China and Japan were named the accredited buyers of the once off sale of the ivory stockpiles on October 9 of this year.

The stockpile consists of ivory that has been verified by Cites as being of legal origin with data to back the origins.

About 45 percent of the ivory was obtained before 1994 when culling was still practised in the Kruger National Park.

The remainder - obtained from 1995 to the end of 2006 - was from mortalities and breakages.

"The tusks from elephants that have been part of the so called 'big tuskers' in Kruger National Park will not be sold as it is seen as part of the heritage of South Africa that will be conserved for the future," SANParks CEO David Mabunda said in the statement.

A nine year moratorium on the commercial sale of ivory will be implemented after the sale. - Sapa

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