New U.S. Rule Bans On Ivory Sales To Protect Elephants

The federal government is moving to ban virtually all sales of items containing African elephant ivory within the U.S. For a long time it's been illegal to import elephant ivory. This new rule extends the ban to cover ivory that's already here.

The new regulations come out of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which says the move will further limit the market for traffickers of illegal ivory. They say the problem is that smugglers currently can evade detection and bring illegal ivory into the U.S. Once here, it's impossible for people to know whether that billiard cue or pocket knife they're buying was made with sanctioned or illegal ivory.

Research by wildlife protection groups has found that the U.S. is one of the largest markets for illegal ivory. So under the new system, officials hope that the near-total ban on sales will largely shut down the U.S. as a buyer of the illegal ivory.

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