By Canadian Press

EU, conservationists face off over trade in live elephants

Aug 27, 2019 | 8:18 AM

GENEVA — The European Union is squaring off against conservationists like Jane Goodall and celebrities like actress Judi Dench over efforts by some African and Middle Eastern countries to limit trade in live African elephants.

The EU was holding up final adoption of language Tuesday at a conference in Geneva on trade in endangered species, known as CITES, that would all but restrict trade in live elephants to “in-situ conservation programs” or secure areas in the wild. That would curtail exports beyond Africa.

Conservationists have accused the “powerful” European zoo and circus lobby of pressing the bloc’s hand.

Dozens of celebrities have sent a letter to EU president Jean-Claude Juncker saying it would be “obscene for the EU to endorse snatching wild baby elephants and condemning these beautiful leviathans to a life of captive misery.”

Last week, three separate proposals both to expand and reduce protections for elephants under CITES failed, meaning that the status quo remains in terms of protections for African elephants. The EU move is part of CITES “implementation” process, or applying rules that have already been adopted in past sessions.

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Countries originally voted 46 to 18, with 19 abstentions, on Aug. 18 to support a stricter understanding of existing rules on “appropriate and acceptable destinations” for elephants. The more restrictive interpretation was supported by countries like Burkina Faso, Jordan, Lebanon and Sudan.

But EU states didn’t have full credentials during that vote, and were poised to unfurl their full voting power — including 28 member states — later Tuesday.

“The United States and European Union are opposed to banning the capture of wild African elephants for export to zoos and circuses,” said Johanna Hamburger, wildlife attorney for the Animal Welfare Institute, in a statement. “There is also intense lobbying pressure from China, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and zoo associations, which could flip the balance and allow this barbaric trade to continue.”

The Associated Press