Listing of ivory objects

The population of African elephants has decreased from 12 millions to 400,000 within a century. The reason for this dramatic drop is poaching driven by the demand for ivory tusks and their trade.

The demand for ivory is not new; it has been very popular for centuries. Ivory is dense, solid, yet easy to saw, carve or grind. It was used to create sculptures, sword and dagger hilts, jewelry, furniture ornaments, miniatures and other small objects.

The international trade of ivory and ivory products has been banned by an international agreement since 1989 (CITES). Despite this, especially in the 2010s, the demand for ivory surged, and even nowadays, around 20,000 elephants are slaughtered for their tusk each year.

The different local regulations further hinder an effective solution to his phenomenon. For example, the European Union does not ban the trade of ivory originating from before 1947, and many countries around the world still allow the local trade of ivory. According to environmentalists, these various regulations allow players of the black market to disguise their trade as a legal activity. This situation provides an opportunity for traders and buyers to misinterpret rules, and many might consider this illegal activity as legal.

Thanks to the efforts of animal rights organizations, there has been a positive turn of events recently. One of the most important milestones was reached on 1 January 2018 when China - the biggest market for ivory by far - banned the trade of ivory. Since then, many other countries have followed in their footsteps, banning or limiting the trade of ivory, and many international online platforms have made crucial steps in order to stop the online trade of endangered species or items made from them, including ivory.

Here on Galeria Savaria, we have been limiting the listing of items containing ivory, but now we decided to make our rules even stricter.

We think that every measure aiming at limiting the trade of ivory is progress in the fight of saving elephant populations.

With this in mind, starting 1 February 2021, Galeria Savaria completely disallows the listing of objects containing ivory. This is how we take part in this global challenge.