Officers from the State Forestry Administration and the General Administration of Customs, destroy 6.1 ton of illegal ivory items in Dongguan, Guangdong province, ranging from elephant tusks, to smaller carved ivory items, Jan 6, 2014. [Photo by Wang Zhen/Asianewsphoto]

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Agencies curtail ivory smuggling

China will continue its efforts to protect African elephants and curb the illegal ivory trade by cracking down on the black market.

"Combating the ivory trade and wildlife smuggling has always been a core task for China's law enforcement agencies," said Liu Dongsheng, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, China's wildlife watchdog. And they are making a difference, he said.

"The number of illegal wildlife smuggling cases in 2014 dropped 70 percent from 2013," Liu said. Next, he said, "China will get tougher toward illicit tusks."

At the same time, China has strengthened its supervision of Internet channels that are providing a fast, covert means of covering up illegal transactions.

According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, at least 18,590 animal-related items were for sale online in the country at the beginning of last year. Nearly 79 percent involved ivory.

The Forestry Administration has guided e-commerce platforms and logistics companies to cease providing the means for illegal trading in animal and plant products, including the means to advertise.

It also encouraged the public to decline, and also report, illegal ivory trade to the administration.

China has long been criticized as the world's biggest importer of ivory and blamed as being responsible for most African elephant poaching.

A report released by the nonprofit organization Save the Elephants and The Aspinall Foundation in December said skyrocketing demand for ivory in China has led to a smuggling boom that is driving the unsustainable killing of elephants.