Only Elephants should wear Ivory
-- This is not a solicitation for funds --

Introduction | Websites & Email Addresses  | Background Information | Arguments - Pros/Cons

STOP IVORY TRADE - DON’T LIFT THE BAN!

Email your opinion today to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, Convention on Trade in Endangered Species, Your State and Federal Legislator, Your Business Contacts, Your Friends

submit comments online

Background Information: The Elephant • Slaughter in the 1980's • Previous CITES Ban • Resuming Ivory Trade • CITES background • U. S. Gov. Position • Proposals to CITES • Prop. 11.24 - Help

Pros & Cons of Ivory Trade

Introduction

Could the increased poaching in East and Southern Africa be the feared signal for demise of the wild elephant population, or is it just a coincidence? 

The process involved in procuring ivory is indeed horrific. The elephant must be killed before the ivory can be procured - stoning, poison dart resulting in slow painful death or machine gun slaughter of entire herds at waterholes. Regardless of the mode in which the elephants are killed, the process of extracting the ivory is all the same. In order to obtain all the ivory from the elephant, the hunter and poacher must cut into the head because approximately 25% of the ivory is contained in the head. What is then left on the fields of the African or Asian plains is the corpse of a tusk less elephant with a mutilated face and head.

A quote in the visitor's center at the Olympic Mountains, Washington State seems appropriate:

"If all the beasts were gone, man would die from great loneliness of spirits. For whatever happens to the beasts soon happens to man. All things are connected."
by Chief Seattle

Like most persons who have seen wildlife at close proximity, or even on a documentary, observing the social behavior of a herd of elephant, is probably the most humbling of all experiences. My special moment with the elephant was on a camping excursion with our children at a Masai Ranch in Amboseli, Kenya, where two young bull elephants frequently visited at nighttimes to feed on their obviously favorite shrubs all around and within a few feet from our backpack tents, and did not snap a single guy-rope. The magnificence and agility of such enormous creatures, which can weigh 3 to 6 tons is something we shall remember forever.

Prior to the ban on all trade in elephant ivory being imposed in 1989, the elephant population was reduced from approximately 1.3 million to 0.5 million, through indiscriminate poaching, in less than 20 years. During that period, there was no organized trade in ivory as a commodity as is now being proposed. Furthermore, the major proponent, South Africa, had trade sanctions placed against it at the time. If the ban on the trade in elephant ivory is now lifted, it is quite unlikely that there will remain hope for any wild elephants for the next generation to experience.

How can you help?

Please review the various arguments on our website http://www.ivorynet.com/BanIvoryTrade and if you agree that there should be absolutely no trade in Ivory, request your legislators to urgently raise this issue at the various levels of government or email the international division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (r9osa@fws.gov). Individuals and businesses can also forward this message to as many friends, families and acquaintances as possible with your personal appeal for the elephant:

1. Business Community and Tourism & Travel Industry Professionals: Appeal to your contacts in the countries proposing lifting of the ban that such an act is against a world heritage
2. Individuals: Contact the International Affairs Division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The United States rightly supported the ban during the last CITES and it should not waiver on this occasion. Also, contact your travel agents and request them to send a very clear message to their associates in Southern Africa and Japan.
3. Students: Organize class projects on this sociable mammal, and spread the word to your family and friends.

Thank you for helping,

Alnoor, Karimah, Soraya and Nadira Dossa