Recent U. S. imports of certain products from the African elephant

Abstract

In 1978 the African elephant was listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Between 1977 and 1983, bills were introduced in the U.S. Congress prohibiting the importation of elephant products. However, some authorities consider that there are some large populations which if properly managed could sustain commercial exploitation. The paper gives sources of information, the volume and pattern of the U.S. import of elephant products and notes the reasons for the increase or decrease in imports regarding amounts and countries that imported and exported raw and worked ivory and elephant skins between 1982 and 1987. The US trade in elephant products is significant with a annual declared import value of $29.4 million between 1984-1986 and an estimated retail value of at least $100 million. Worked ivory constituted the bulk of imports but the US was during the early 1980s the largest importer of elephant skins which were almost exclusively obtained from culling programmes ongoing in southern African countries.