Pressure grows for UK to bring in blanket ban on ivory trade

Consultation by the government shows huge public support for ending all salesEnvironmental campaigners believe that public pressure is finally about to force the environment secretary, Michael Gove, to introduce a blanket ban on the commercial trade in ivory in the UK.A consultation on what form a proposed ban should take has just closed, and the government says it will give its response soon. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is overseeing the consultation, said there had been "a massive public response to the government's proposed ban on ivory sales". More than 60,000 responses were received, half of them coming in the week running up to Christmas, making it one of the biggest consultations in Defra's history. Of the responses analysed so far, the overwhelming majority support a ban. Continue reading...