Yahoo Japan to End Online Ivory Trade

Yahoo Japan announced today that it is going to end the ivory trade on all of its websites starting from next November, AFP reported.

Yahoo’s decision follows the internet company's marketplace rivals "Rakuten" and "Mercari" ban adopting two years ago, in their respond to the international concerns that the Japanese domestic market could help in escaping through poor law enforcement. But still some traders in the country have been suspected of manipulating with rules.

Yahoo Japan had previously said that it made its decision after confirming that ivory trade on its site - which is the most popular in the Japan – had escaped abroad and detected by foreign customs authorities.

The company added that after careful consideration of the global situation and receiving advices from some environmental groups, they had "decided to ban all transactions of ivory products in its e-commerce services starting from November 1st, 2019".

On their part, Conservation activists praised the move.

"WWF and Traffic welcome this critical step taken by Yahoo Japan to align themselves with the global efforts to combat illegal wildlife trade online," Crawford Allen, senior director on wildlife crime at the NGO Traffic, said in a statement.

According to AFP, the ivory sale is a multi-billion-dollar industry in Asia and the Middle East for traditional medical uses.

It should be mentioned that China had banned ivory sales at the end of 2017, in an attempt to rein the product's - previously - largest market in the world, banning its imports in 2015 as well.