A PROPOSED ban on virtually all ivory sales – which will affect antiques dealers and auction houses - has received a mixed reaction in Dorset.

Steve Ozier, speaking from Cottees auctioneers in Poole, said the decision announced yesterday by environment secretary Michael Gove ‘broke his heart’.

“People have bought ivory in good faith over thousands of years and all the things that people have used and treasured in their families over the last 200 to 400 years have been relegated right down to very little,” he said. “It will do the elephant no good whatsoever because the whole market will go underground; people will say they can’t sell it at auction but will sell it to the bloke over the road. You can’t stop the trade in beautiful things that people love, that’s the problem.”

However, a spokesman for Elliots Uk of Wimborne said they had stopped taking ivory items ‘several years ago’. “Proving its age was becoming very difficult,” he said, referring to the current regulation which states that ivory items may be sold in some circumstances, according to its antique value. He said that many auction houses had stopped dealing in ivory altogether.

Tobias Ellwood MP welcomed the move. “This announcement confirms that this Conservative Government will make every effort to halt the heart-breaking decline in Africa’s elephant population in recent years," he said. “We need to leave our planet in a better state for the next generation, with stronger protections for animal welfare, but also cleaner air, greener spaces and tougher action on plastic waste.”

Michael Gove made his announcement following a consultation last year which saw a record 70,000 responses, with 88 per cent of people in favour of the proposals.

Describing the trade in ivory as “abhorrent” he said: “Ivory should never be seen as a commodity for financial gain or a status symbol, so we will introduce one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales to protect elephants for future generations.”

Experts believe that 55 African elephants are slaughtered by poachers every day for their tusks. Research published last year into records held under CITES (The Convention on International Trade in endangered species), suggested that between 2010 and 2015 Britain was the world’s largest exporter of legal ivory.

Despite Mr Gove’s proposal, it is understood there will be exemptions for musical instruments containing a small percentage of ivory, museum objects and some antiques, and the ban must be ratified by parliament.