Jewelers Run Afoul of CITES Treaty
The New York Times reported yesterday that two jewelers pleaded guilty to trafficking in nearly a ton of illicit ivory, worth over $2 million. Endangered Asian and African elephants, increasingly the targets of poachers for their tusks, are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). According to the CITES website, roughly 5,000 species of animals and 29,000 species of plants are protected under the treaty. Specific lists of protected species are enumerated in the appendices to the treaty text. The United States was among the first round of countries to adopt CITES in 1975.
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