BANGKOK
The Thai government has called on ivory owners and traders to register their items in the next two months or face jail or a hefty fine, local media reported Thursday.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha gave the warning at the launch of a campaign raising awareness of a law passed last month that requires the owners of ivory items to have them registered, the Bangkok Post said.
The law, which makes unregistered ownership punishable by a three-year prison term or a fine equivalent to $200,000, is part of Thailand’s effort to control the illegal ivory trade.
Thailand could face trade sanctions if it fails to comply with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which Thailand signed in 1983.
“I would like to thank all the state agencies working together enforcing the new law,” Chan-ocha said, according to the Post. “We need cooperation and help from everyone. We must overcome the ivory problem to prevent the implementation of international trade sanctions against us.”
Trade in elephant tusks and ivory from Africa has been banned in Thailand for several years but ivory from domestic elephants is permitted, although discouraged.
It is estimated that more than 20,000 African elephants are killed each year for their ivory, much of it ending up in Thailand where it is turned into jewelry and trinkets, and earlier this month a DNA testing campaign on ivory items purchased in Thailand by the NGO Traffic found most had come from African elephants.
In September last year, Thailand submitted a revised National Ivory Action Plan to CITES, with strengthened measures to prevent illegal domestic and international trade.
