5 Species Including Hippos and Orcas to be Protected from Ivory Trade

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The toughest Ivory Ban now protects more animals beyond elephants including hippos and four other species.

United Kingdom (20 June, 2023)—An important extension of the ‘toughest Ivory Ban’ will make room for further protection of five animal species! Beyond elephants, other animals are also unfortunately part of the ivory trade plaguing the world’s wildlife. However, activists have fought to get the law on the animals’ side, emphasising conservation above unethical profit gains.

Now the United Kingdom’s Government has announced that hippos, walruses, orcas, sperm whales and narwhales will also be protected under the extended Ivory Act; banning the importation of their ivory into the UK. This means heftier financial and legal consequences for trading ivory from different animal sources, closing loopholes left open in the original Ivory Act that came in as a foundational win for animal rights activists last year.

The O.G Ivory Act Was Important but Needed Tightening

Around this time in 2022, 14 leading NGOs celebrated the Ivory Act coming into effect (deemed the greatest ivory outlaw effort) that would enforce severe penalties for ivory dealing with fines up to over R4 million.

However, the concern many activists had at the time related to the loopholes the Act left open for other ivory species being sourced and poached.

According to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the big ban has already had a significant impact on elephant ivory dealing, and the hope for further crackdown is that it will have the same impact on other species.

“Today is a good day for conservation and a step change towards international commitments to safeguard our natural world,” said Frances Goodrum, Head of Campaigns and Programmes at IFAW UK.

All of the animals listed above fall part of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) while hippopotami, walrus and sperm whales are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.

The Future of the Global Ivory Trade

The Ban is an undisputed positive move toward a better and more protected direction for animals! But, like many domestic laws attempting to inspire global change, it’s only one moving part. We can applaud the efforts and still consider that the ivory trade needs global, public input to become truly antique in more countries and not just ‘regulated’.