Three-quarters of Hongkongers want ivory trade banned, survey finds
Majority favour ban on local tusk sales despite lack of awareness of threat to elephants
Three-quarters of Hongkongers support a ban on the local sale of ivory, a survey found.
But the study by US-based conservation group WildAid also revealed that fewer than a quarter of respondents knew it was illegal to import or export ivory from Hong Kong without a licence despite regulations being in place for almost 25 years.
"Hongkongers seem to have insufficient knowledge of issues on illegal ivory poaching or trade," said Karie Pang Ka-lai, assistant director of the University of Hong Kong public opinion programme, which was commissioned to carry out the survey.
The programme polled 1,021 adults by phone between November and December last year, with a 67 per cent response rate.
Just 30 per cent of Hongkongers knew that elephants must be killed for their tusks to be extracted, while only a third of respondents were aware that wild African elephants could become extinct within our lifetimes if poaching is not curbed.
But despite the apparent lack of awareness, an overwhelming majority - 76 per cent - of respondents supported a ban on the local sale of ivory.
