Born Free has welcomed today’s confirmation that the trade in live, wild-caught elephants for captive use has been banned.

The confirmation, voted on today, follows an initial vote last week at a major international meeting on wildlife trade taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr Mark Jones, Born Free’s Head of Policy, said: “After a long and sometimes acrimonious debate at the Geneva meeting, governments voted by a majority of 87 in favour to 29 against, to ban the taking of live elephants from the wild from Zimbabwe and Botswana for export to captive facilities around the world except in exceptional circumstances. In the event, the European Union, which had originally opposed the restrictions, changed their vote following intensive negotiations to clarify a number of issues with the African countries that had originally proposed the ban.