"BANGKOK -- Efforts to curb the sale of ivory and rhino horns were voted down on Thursday at an international wildlife summit in Bangkok."

"At the 178-nation Convention in Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) meeting, Burkina Faso and Kenya cited the 'merciless slaughter of elephants' in their attempt to extend to a wider group of nations a pledge from some countries not to sell ivory stockpiles before 2016. But the proposal was seen as legally flawed by many delegates and failed to get support.

But Tom Milliken, head of the elephant and rhino team at wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, , said he was more optimistic than ever that tough action would still be taken. 'This time people are listening because everything is pointing in the same direction: poaching is up to a record high, as is illegal ivory trading and elephants seem to be down,' he said. About 25,000 elephants were killed by poachers in 2012."

Damian Carrington reports for the Guardian March 7, 2013. [2]