Viewing ourselves through the eyes of others can be very revealing.

I was in America last weekend and was watching CBS News. In between the latest Trumpernalia, they reported that the Conservative manifesto had ‘dropped’ the specific commitment to ban the sale of all ivory (that had appeared in their manifesto at the last election) and replaced it with a generic call ‘for the protection of endangered species’. 

Given that the USA last year legislated for an almost complete ban on ivory sales, putting that legendarily consumerist country behind us in the attempt to stem and reverse the impending extinction of elephants, the news was tough to watch. 

The very few exceptions to the blanket ban in the US are things like existing pianos with ivory keys. 

The manifesto omission was interpreted by CBS as giving way to the Antiques Trade lobby, which does not wish to lose the millions of ‘dollars’ they make annually from the sale of antique ivory that encourages poachers to continue to shoot, and leave to die, another elephant every 25 minutes, just so that they can hack off their tusks. 

They reported that the sale of ‘new’ (post 1947) ivory was already banned in the UK, but enforcement was inadequate given the difficulty in dating items and this encouraged the continuation of the species threatening reduction of elephant numbers.

It is to be hoped that the incoming government will understand that, whether there is a specific commitment in their manifesto or not, and want to be seen by other countries to be leaders in protecting our planet and its endangered species, rather than supporting those who wish to profit from its devastation.

Interestingly the news report linked the revelation to a story about the same party’s commitment to allow a free vote by MPs on the restoration of the already banned fox hunting which they described as a “bloodsport, which was a mainstay of British upper-class society for hundreds of years, was banned 12 years ago”. 

As those 12 years have passed, it has seemed to many of us less and less credible that anyone ever celebrated and elevated the destruction of one small animal into a sport. 

In a world in which we are slowly moving towards a greater sense of responsibility towards the fragile ecosystems of the planet we share, I can only hope that the new intake of MPs shares that view.