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GLOBAL internet auction site eBay announced on Monday that it will ban the sale of ivory from all of its 39 sites worldwide from January 2009. The move was prompted by a report this week exposing the scale of potentially illegal internet trade in wildlife products, and especially ivory.

Although eBay introduced a ban in June 2007 on sales of ivory between countries, transactions involving ivory have continued, reveals the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which released its report “Killing with Keystrokes” on Tuesday. “The complex nature of regulations that govern [ivory’s] sale globally means it is extremely difficult for…

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