New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday signed one of the toughest laws in the nation banning the sale of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horns as a "stand against a dangerous and cruel industry."
The new law, which goes into effect immediately, was written to protect elephants that are being slaughtered at the rate of 96 a day in Africa. If it works as intended, the flow of ivory into New York — often ranked the number one importer of ivory in the United States — should soon slow to virtually nothing.
In the past, traders have found a way to get around bans, often by simply providing fraudulent paper work. But the new law is much stricter. New York will not allow trade in anything but 100-year-old antiques with small amounts of ivory (and documented proof of provenance), musical instruments made before 1975, pieces used for education or scientific purposes such as museums and items handed down through estates.
Even more important, the law dramatically increases penalties for those caught trading in these products. In 2012, federal, state and New York City officials seized more than $2 million worth of ivory from jewelers working in the New York City area. One New York City jeweler was caught with a ton of illegal ivory. He was fined a mere $45,000.The new law, by contrast, starts with a fine of $3,000 or two times the value of the article for the first offense. For any items worth more than $25,000, the penalty can be up to 7 years imprisonment.
The ugly market in ivory is an international problem, of course. The White House and other states can help by tightening their laws.
Quite intentionally, Mr. Cuomo signed the bill on World Elephant Day — August 12. Nearly 100,000 messages, many of them children's drawings about the need to ban ivory sales, were sent to governors and other public officials across the country urging them to follow New York's lead.
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