As China has taken steps to crack down on the ivory trade, dealers are turning to a new source for ivory: mammoth fossils. While this trade is considered “ethical,” some worry that maintaining any kind of ivory trade will only serve to fuel demand, and that the trade in mammoth ivory can become a cover for the trade in illegal elephant ivory. As Mark Jones, associate director for policy for the Born Free Foundation, says, “As long as there is a legal trade in mammoth, ivory of all kinds can be laundered into it.”
Link: New York Times