Barely ten years ago, wild elephants in Africa and Asia
were hurtling towards extinction. Poachers were killing elephants in
record numbers to feed the international demand for the ivory from
elephant's tusks and their hides. Elephants in Africa were particularly
hard hit, with populations in many countries nearly destroyed. In 1989,
the nations of the world took action through the Convention on
International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) to ban the
international ivory trade and stop the wholesale slaughter of the
world's elephants.
In 1997, CITES allowed a one-time trade in stockpiled
ivory to resume from some countries. That experiment resulted in
dramatic increases in poaching, both in the countries involved in the
trade and across Africa and Asia.
This past April in Nairobi, Kenya, the world's nations
were once again asked at CITES to approve a proposal to lift the ban and
allow the ivory trade to resume. In the end, this request was withdrawn,
but the poaching and illegal trade that was sparked by the experimental
ivory sale continues. To bring this poaching under control and to ensure
that it doesn't explode again if the ivory trade resumes, governments
must act now to enforce their laws and build their capacity to combat
elephant poachers now and in the future.
Help save elephants by visiting:
http://www.helpelephants.org
Send a free e-mail to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging them to
support elephant conservation and work to oppose illegal poaching and
future efforts to resume international trade in ivory.
Sincerely,
Help Elephants Campaign
Defenders of Wildlife
Go on to Excess
Animals
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