In response to mounting pressure from environmental groups, the online auction site eBay (just in case you haven’t heard of ebay yet)  announced that it will ban all sales of ivory on its website, “including most heirlooms,” to prevent the promulgation of a market based around the slaughter of endangered elephants.

The New York Times reports that eBay had already banned the international sale of ivory, but conservation groups claimed that this ban hadn’t gone far enough.

Nichola Sharpe, a spokeswoman for eBay, said Monday that the company had been talking about a ban with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service’s enforcement division and conservation groups like the World Wildlife Fund. Because of the complications of abiding by multiple and overlapping state, federal and international conservation laws, Ms. Sharpe said, eBay officials decided on the ban, effective Jan. 1.

This announcement preempts a report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare that documents how online auction sites are a magnet for people trading in items coming from endangered species.   eBay is the central site for such commerce.

The announcment also comes as elephant populations continue to decline dramatically.

Wildlife experts have documented a precipitous decline in elephant populations, particularly in Africa. In the 1980s an estimated 100,000 elephants a year were being slaughtered, Mr. Flocken said. The worldwide population of elephants stood at an estimated 1.3 million in 1979; by 1989, the number was 450,000. The population has increased slightly since then, he said, to about 470,000.

So, there’s that.   eBay’s pitching it to do its part.   You can in turn pitch in and takepart by visiting World of Good, the eBay website where you can shop knowing your purchases are ethically responsible.