eBay to ban sales of ivory on Web site
SAN FRANCISCO — In response to growing pressure from between nations law-enforcement agencies and conservation groups, eBay, the online-auction cyclops, announced Monday it would denunciation the whole of commerce in ivory, including most heirlooms, to avoid providing a market that will cheer the slaughter of endangered elephants.
The announcement, made to the company’sitting merchants and customers, came as a conservation organization based in Massachusetts prepared to issue the latest in a sequence of reports documenting how online-auction sites, particularly eBay, have become a magnet in spite of trading in items derived from endangered species, in the midst of them rare birds and reptiles sold to collectors, ivory-handled walking sticks or bracelets and figurines carved from elephant tusks.
The report, to be released here today by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, analyzes data gathered in a six-week survey that tracked more than 7,000 listings of wildlife or their feathers, teeth or pelts offered despite sale on more than 185 Web sites in 11 countries. Nearly three-quarters of the items were elephant products, the report said.
The vast majority of the online vocation in endangered animals, the report says, is done on eBay.
