The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is to extend its ban on the import and trade of elephant ivory to five more animals.
The teeth and horns of hippos, sperm whales, narwhals, killer whales and walruses should soon feature in the Ivory Act 2018following a recent consultation between UK ministers to further toughen the law.
Ministers expressed concern that hippos and other aquatic mammals will now be targeted to fill an illegal poaching void created by tighter controls on elephant ivory. Under the 2018 law, trade in elephant ivory is punishable by an unlimited fine or a prison sentence of up to five years. The new extension must now be voted on in parliament.
The 2018 law, which came into force on June 6, 2022, prohibits the trade in objects containing elephant ivory, with a few exceptions. This includes items made before 1918 that are of “exceptionally high artistic, cultural or historical value”. Full advice can be found here.
The ban has been described as the “toughest of its kind” in Europe by UK Biodiversity Minister Trudy Harrison. “By extending greater legal protection to five more species, we are sending a clear message that the ivory trade is completely unacceptable,” she said in a statement.
A whale and whaling crew carved from a whale’s tooth, for sale by Bonds Nautical Antiques
Courtesy of Bonds Nautical Antiques
But although welcomed by environmentalists and large sections of the public, the ivory bans have been criticized by antique dealers who sell items containing the material. They argue that broad restrictions are not only detrimental to their business, but that there is little evidence to suggest that the ancient ivory trade contributes to modern-day poaching.
In 2019, a group of dealers tried in vain to overthrow the 2018 law in the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Prior to the ban, worked ivory items produced before 1947 could be traded in the UK, as could items produced after 1947 which have government certificates. Most reputable dealers exclusively sell worked ivory made before 1947.
The expected extension of the 2018 law to these five animals is of particular concern to dealers in ancient scrimshaw – intricate carvings made by sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries out of the teeth and bones of whales and walruses.
“I never thought they would. It would destroy my business,” says David Bond, owner of Bonds Nautical Antiques in Dartmouth, one of the UK’s largest scrimshaw dealers. Bond, who says he is totally “anti-poaching and against the slaughter of whales”, says the 2018 law and its planned extension will do little to curb the slaughter of the animals they are meant to protect. “Whale teeth are a totally different argument than elephant tusks. Ivory is not the reason they are killed, historically or now.” Any new whale ivory that comes to market usually comes from countries like Norway, Russia and Japan, he explains, and has little to do with the antique scrimshaw trade. “They’re approaching this from the wrong angle.”
