July 2, 2004 9:00 PM

Ivory from 400 elephants seized

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have seized almost three tonnes of poached African ivory, which experts estimate could have
caused the death of about 400 elephants.

The Madrid haul is the single biggest ever of carved ivory, Spain's Civil Guard paramilitary force said in a statement on Friday.

Members of the Civil Guard's specialised environmental arm Seprona started an investigation last year after confiscating 110 kg (240
pounds) of elephant hair, some of which had been turned into jewellery.

They subsequently found 3.4 tonnes of raw and worked ivory in a store in Madrid, whose owner had a licence to keep less than 500
kg, and confiscated the 2.9-tonne surplus.

"According to experts' initial estimates, the ivory seized could have come from the sacrifice of more than 400 animals," the statement
said.

Trade in ivory has been banned worldwide since 1990 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an
international agreement to which 166 governments adhere.

The agreement has allowed some one-time sales of ivory by South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, despite opposition from animal
rights' activists.


Reuters

Any part of an elephant is Illegal. Elephant hair, ivory etc all comes from a dead elephant.

Yes, mostly the elephant tailhair bracelets are made from the hair of the elephant that you have hunted. But, the really tough PH's creep up to sleeping bull elephant and cut tail hair for their bracelets! They then let the bull grow ivory for a few more years before even considering hunting him!
Really! Needless to say I do not have one from a living elephant.
Andrew McLaren

They are guesstimating 15 lbs per elephant for the ivory. That is a lot of ivory chips on the floor of the carving shop, or a lot of small tusks.

TexasZebra,
Yep, since the 1990 ban, the good-luck-charm bracelets made from the ele tail hairs are illegal to sell. Before that you could walk into the tourist trap curio and jewelry shops from Panama City, FL to Maui, HI and buy them for less than $10. And in the high end places there were lots of spectacular ivory baubels, large and small. You don't see that anymore. Now you have to be satisfied with silver and gold wire replica bracelets.

Questions:

May the hunter with proper permits for importing the ivory and the hide from an elephant trophy also bring in the bracelet made from his elephant hair?

Can one still find any pre-ban tail hair bracelets for sale in shops in Africa, and if so, will one be busted by customs at the airport for wearing one of these if you do not have a dead elephant legally in tow?

I have an ele tail hair bracelet, but wonder if I could get in trouble with customs just for wearing it?

Will wearing one of these bracelets make me appear macho, effeminate, or just criminal if I do not have a dead elephant, or at least proper CITES paperwork, with me if I am spotted wearing one?

My wife has a couple of the bracelets from many years ago and I am also wondering if she would have a problem with U.S. Customs.

Perhaps putting it/them on a 4457 would be enough, but I think we'll just leave them at home like we have done on other recent trips. Right now in Africa, everyone probably thinks you are wearing a fake anyway- there were a lot of fake braclets sold over the years.

In India domesticated elephants are used in the logging industry even now and a number of Hindu temples own elephants. The tail hair on a number of these is collected and made into bracelets.

I wonder if there is a way of telling bracelets made from Indian elephant apart from African ones somehow, but if the bracelets are of undetermined origin, they could well be Indian. You can buy them in government owned handicraft stores in India and, if I am right, they are also exported along with peacok feathers etc by the Ministry of Handicrafts itself.