BANGKOK (Reuters) - Ivory is easy to find on the stalls of Chatuchak Market and River City mall in Bangkok. On display at just one shop are hundreds of kilograms of carved elephant tusk, unthinkable in most capitals but freely and legitimately for sale in Thailand.
As many as 30,000 elephants were slaughtered globally last year, environmental groups say, and populations are rapidly dwindling, with poachers undeterred by a ban on the international ivory trade in existence since 1989.