End the Killing of Elephants for VN Ivory Trade

ENV’s Wildlife Crime Unit handled a total of 538 ivory cases in 2022, with 472 of these being ivory internet crime cases. These were largely thanks to reports to the Wildlife Crime Hotline by members of the public, as well as internet ivory crime surveys carried out by ENV internet case officers.

Last year, we launched the Elephant-friendly Businesses Campaign, engaging several tourism businesses in Dak Lak to sign onto the campaign not to sell or promote any elephant ivory products. ENV made site visits in Buon Ma Thuot city, where we opened the discussion with business owners, many of whom signed pledges. This campaign is ongoing into 2023, where establishments can display their 'Elephant-friendly Business' status at their premises to inform customers and visitors that they do not support the sale of ivory and to raise awareness on the issue. 

Notable cases from Q4 of 2022 and 2023 so far:

• A jewelry shop owner was arrested and 4.3 kg of ivory products and 1.3 kg of claws and canines seized following evidence from ENV, in a case beginning as far back as 2014.
• 12 months in jail for subject caught with 3 bear claws and advertising other wildlife products online, including ivory products. This seller first came onto ENV’s radar in May 2020 for advertising all sorts of wildlife products. He had previously been warned by ENV and had his account deactivated, yet he created around 19 new accounts. He went to trial on November 3 in Minh Hoa District Court.
• Over 3 kg of ivory products confiscated from online seller following a public report to the ENV hotline. They had been reported to advertise ivory pendants, rings, bracelets and chopsticks, all of which were confiscated along with numerous other ivory products.
• 4.5 kg of elephant ivory products were confiscated from an online seller in Hanoi following a report to ENV from a member of the public.
• Online seller caught with elephant bone hairpin and a hawksbill sea turtle trophy and hand fan. This seller also advertised ivory bracelets, pendants and combs on Facebook.
• Online seller fined VND 1,250,000 following evidence package sent by ENV of subject selling ivory jewelry and other wildlife products online. The subject could only be fined for advertising, since no products were kept in their possession.

In world news concerning ivory shipments to Vietnam:

On February 2, nearly 500 kg of ivory was seized from a port in Hai Phong by their Customs Department. The shipment had come from Nigeria and been declared as “cow horns”, which would not have been banned from import. Luckily, they inspected the cargo and found the contained was filled with elephant ivory. This discovery was shortly followed by another seizure of 130 kg of ivory on February 6, also by Hai Phong Customs. This shipment had arrived in February 3, the day after the first shipment was discovered. The investigation continues by Hai Phong authorities.

On February 21, the subject was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his connections to shipments totaling almost 10 tonnes of wildlife parts. This included around 460 kg of elephant ivory, 6.2 tonnes of pangolin scales, 140 kg of rhino horn, and 3.1 tonnes of lion bone. These shipments arrived from South Africa and Nigeria to Da Nang Port in Vietnam in July 2021 and January 2022. This strict punishment issued by Da Nang People’s Court will help discourage future wildlife crime, showing an example on the type of prison sentence handed to traffickers. However, strong efforts need to be made to catch and prosecute the kingpins behind such huge shipments.

Tackling ivory crime in Vietnam is complex due to the sheer scale and international nature of wildlife trafficking networks. It is a huge development to see a strict prison sentence handed out to a trafficker in relation to a port seizure.

From the demand-side - working to raise public awareness in Dak Lak - to the crime deterrence side - in prosecutions and seizures - we hope to keep seeing progress in the fight to end the killing of African elephants for Vietnam’s ivory trade. Thank you for making this work possible.