September 27, 2013 • 81

I believe ivory belongs to the elephants…

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Did you know that it’s legal to sell some types of ivory in the United States? I bet you didn’t. Many people think that ended in the 1980s. The truth is that today, the United States is one of the largest markets in the world for ivory sales.
And across the globe, the demand for ivory – both legal and illegal – is driving elephants to extinction.
Not to mention the people who are fueling the trade: criminal networks such as the Lord’s Resistance Army and Al Shabaab, who also feed the drug and arms trades.
I just asked the Obama Administration to institute a ban on ivory sales in the United States. This clear and simple move will get ivory off the market and ensure that those who want to break the law are prosecuted. It also shows African nations that we support their efforts to control trafficking in their countries and encourages them to institute their own bans.
It’s clear that criminal networks have strong incentives to kill wildlife. We need to do everything in our power to curb this motivation by driving down demand and stopping poachers in their tracks – before it’s too late.

I just asked the Obama Administration to institute a ban on ivory sales in the United States.

Will you sign the petition too?

click on the link below

https://secure3.convio.net/wcs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=601&s_src=2013-09_ADV_Elephants_taf

Petition created by WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

Anyone from countries outside the US, choose NONE in the “state/province” section.

Categories: Animals, Conservation Awareness

Tagged as: , , , , ,

81 replies »

  4. You may wish to check out http://awkwardsituationist.tumblr.com/tagged/animals. One of the blogs, posted Oct. 2, was on a four man team who stand guard over the rhino’s in Kenya. I should warn you that some of the photos are not pretty as they are of mutilated rhinos. However, we should not keep our head in the ground on the plight of this planet’s animals, any more than we should on the plight on our fellow humans who also suffer.

    Reply

    • Thank you for this, my friend. I know, it’s horrible and there’s no end to the insanity of humans. I discover human atrocities so often, it really is disheartening. I agree that we shouldn’t keep our head in the ground.

      Reply

  5. Sent. I am an animal activist who lives in South Africa. Animals here are poached, particularly Rhino, for their ivory which is then sold in Asia. Unfortunately ivory is still seen as a status symbol in Asia. We are desperately trying to change attitudes towards ivory. It is just sickening what is happening.

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    • That is great, Emy. Thank you. It’s reassuring knowing that there are people like you in the world who still care and try to help! Hopefully, one day this specie called human, will mature and learn to respect all other life forms as well as his fellow beings. Keep it up! 🙂

      Reply

  8. Thanks for sharing Marina.
    It should be mandatory for everyone to see how ivory is extracted. They wouldn’t touch ivory products ever again. i cried watching a BBC documentary the other day where these gentle creatures were left to die after crudely hacking their tusks out. They don’t even bother to kill them humanely! I do believe that there is no species more cruel than ours.

    Reply

    • Unfortunately, yes… Even though we created words like ‘respect’, ‘humane’ etc, it seems that animals aquire a better understanding of them. I have also seen documentaries for similar ‘humane’ activities like animal testing, poaching, slaughter houses or chicken factories… images I wish I had never seen. You are right about making them mandatory. Only by acknowledging the problem do we stand a chance of changing it.

      Reply

  13. Oh, yes … as a jeweler I am very aware of the problem with ivory. In 1979, I purchased a piece of ivory before I was aware of the issue. A customer yelled at me and made me frightened to have used it. Ignorance is no excuse but I gave the ivory to a local museum to showcase the problem.
    Yes … ivory belongs to the elephants. We should respect that.
    The video from David Kanigan is brilliant.

    Reply

    • Precious isn’t it? [David’s video]!!
      What a thoughtful thing to do, Issy! If only everyone thought the same way.
      As a pianist i learned about it at a very early age but I thought that it was over. Do we ever learn?!

      Reply

  14. Ivory absolutely DOES belong to the elephants – they were born with it attached to them. Who the hell can bear to have any piece made of ivory adorning their home, I do not know – & what artist would work with ivory to create something, I don’t know either.

    I’ve signed this easily, readily. Good post.

    Reply

    • There seems to be a problem with that and I have already written to them about it. Hopefully this will be resolved soon. If not, we can simply share so that more people become aware of this.
      Thank you for trying! 🙂

      Reply

  31. Hi Marina, yes its appalling that this is still allowed, and while ever there is a demand for Ivory the elephants will be slaughtered. I am going right along to sign your petition, I am forever signing petitions against the terrible slaughter for gain at the cost of suffering and extinction of our animal kingdom.
    Thank you for bringing awareness so that we may help join together to fight this terrible trade.

    love Sue xoxox

    Reply

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