CALLS to ban the sale of ivory in the UK are to be discussed in Parliament next week after a Stourbridge animal lover's online petition passed the 100,000-signature threshold needed to trigger a debate.

International wildlife charity, the Born Free Foundation, is urging the Government to shut down once and for all the domestic ivory market in the UK following the response to film and TV graduate Ellen Cobb's petition.

The 22-year-old, who lives in Stourbridge's Old Quarter, was "shocked" to discover that, although it is illegal to sell ivory from elephants killed after 1947, older so-called 'antique ivory' items are still available for sale in the UK.

Will Travers OBE, president of the Born Free Foundation, said: "Official data makes it clear the volumes of ivory leaving this country for China and other destinations are highly significant.

"Only a ban can choke off this trade and ensure the UK is no longer complicit in fuelling demand for ivory that destroys tens of thousands of elephants each and every year."

Thanks to Ellen's e-petition - the issue is now set to be debated in Parliament on Monday February 6.

The former Redhill and King Edward VI College student told the News: "We are going into the debate with so much support from the public and conservation groups - sending a clear message to the Government that it is now time for a total ban on ivory in the UK.

"Since I started this e-petition, I estimate that around 14,000 more elephants have been poached for their tusks.

"The UK Government needs to send a message to the world that saving elephants from extinction is much more important than the sale of antiques.”

Ellen's e-petition was supported by an array of conservationists and celebrities including Bryan Adams, Nicky Campbell, Ricky Gervais, Bear Grylls, Stephen Fry, Amanda Holden, Eamonn Holmes, Rachel Hunter, Bianca Jagger, Gary Lineker, Davina McCall, Brian May, Deborah Meaden, Chris Packham, Gaby Roslin, Jenny Seagrove and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

It will remain open for people to sign until February 28.

The Born Free Foundation is also asking people to contact their MP to urge them to attend the February 6 debate in the Commons.

The charity says 30,000 African elephants are slaughtered each year for their tusks and the August 2016 Great Elephant Census revealed there are now less than 400,000 savannah elephants and that numbers have plummeted by 30 per cent over the last seven years.

A motion passed at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress last September encouraged governments to close their domestic markets for elephant ivory as a matter of urgency.

The UK, however, has failed to enact a total ban, whereas the US announced a near complete ban on the commercial ivory trade last July - and China unveiled plans in December to stop all commercial processing and sales of ivory by March 31 this year and to completely close its domestic ivory market by the end of the year.