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Saturday, July 17, 1999
Japan is first to import ivory legally after ban lifted
Associated Press
TOKYO - Japan became the first country in a decade Friday to legally import ivory, unloading 50 tons of elephant tusks from southern Africa at a Tokyo harbor under U.N. supervision.
International trade of ivory was banned in 1989, but the United Nations authorized an experimental sale of elephant tusks from Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana to Japan after an explosion in the elephant populations of those southern African countries.
The sale was authorized in 1997 on condition the tusks be harvested from elephants that died naturally or were killed for population control. All proceeds of the sale must go toward elephant conservation.
"We are completely satisfied that all of the conditions were met," said Mario Hernandez, a member of the U.N. team that supervised the unloading.
The price for the ivory will be kept secret until the fall.
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