12 Chinese and 22 Japanese buyers bid for Ivory

MEDIA RELEASE


ISSUED ON 06 NOVEMBER 2008


SOUTH AFRICAN IVORY STOCKPILE AUCTIONED


South Africa today (06 November) auctioned approximately 47 metric tons
of stockpiled ivory. The sale, approved by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), took place in Pretoria.

12 Chinese and 22 Japanese buyers bid for the South African stockpile.
The sale saw buyers bidding off brochures depicting the 63 lots of ivory
that the stockpile had been divided into. Buyers visited the stockpile
in Kruger National Park on Wednesday, 05 November during a private
viewing session.

During his opening statement Dr David Mabunda, Chief Executive of South
African National Parks (SANParks), said: "We fully appreciate and
embrace our responsibility to ensure that we stamp down on poaching of
any kind and so we intend to use considerable amounts of the funds we
raise today towards increasing our anti-poaching capacity"

The sale of the South African stockpile fetched approximately 6, 7
million USD. The average price for the 63 lots on auction was 142 USD
per kilogram.   

CITES Secretary General, Willem W Wijnstekers attended the auction as
the CITES observer.  

Wijnstekers said that a total of 101 tons of ivory was auctioned in the
four countries and generated total revenue of approximately 15 million
USD.

For previous press releases access the links below

http://www.environment.gov.za/HotIssues/2008/Ivorysale/ivory.html


http://www.sanparks.org <http://www.sanparks.org/>   


For media queries contact

wanda mkutshulwa (SANParks) on 082 908 2692 or

Roopa Singh (DEAT) on 082 225 3076