CITES and its partners in crime today signed the death warrant for tens of thousands of African elephants by approving “China as a ‘trading partner’ for over 100 tonnes of stockpiled ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.” The decision “has left many conservationists and wildlife managers stunned and appalled,” reports Born Free.
I’ll bet you can tick off a half dozen reasons right now why China should not be allowed to trade in African elephant ivory, other than the rapid extinction of an endangered species. One reason cited in Wildlife Direct’s Baraza blog is “cultural tradition.”
“Dr. Meng Xianlin, head of the Chinese delegation to the CITES meeting in Geneva, said China needed legal ivory to maintain ancient carving traditions. He accepted that Chinese demand for ivory presents a “big problem” for elephant conservation …”
Cultural tradition? Whenever I hear that excuse for pilfering and pillaging from wildlife or continuing the insanely destructive “tradition” of eating and wearing non-human animals, I think of NPR’s Scott Simon when he said: “It’s hard to excuse cruelty by calling it a cultural trait.” And that’s exactly what the Chinese will do – they’ll be committing cruelty for the sake of a cultural trait.
Born Free cites the following as further proof that this deal should never have been approved:
The reasons why China should not have been approved are numerous:
- The lack of comprehensive internal law enforcement and trade controls
- The steady stream of illegal ivory shipments destined for China
- The increasing involvement of Chinese nationals based in Africa in ivory trafficking
- The continued high levels of elephant poaching (estimated to be running at between 20,000 and 25,000 animals a year)
- The rising price of ivory (poached Sumatran ivory tusks have reportedly increased in value by 300% since 2005)
- The fragile nature of most African elephant populations (only half a dozen or so African countries have robust and significant elephant herds out of a total of 36 countries that are home to the species)
“Now, in addition to all these challenges and threats, we are faced with the prospect of China and Japan bidding against each other for the ivory stockpiles, driving up the price and heightening still further the incentive to poach and smuggle ivory” said Mr Travers, speaking from Geneva where the Standing Committee of CITES is convened.
African soil will be dark with the blood of its last elephants. If you disagree with this decision, if the thought of elephant families being slaughtered for nothing more than their tusks makes your stomach turn, then click the tab above labeled “Stop China from Trading Ivory” and write to the entire CITES standing committee and tell them what you think. Write to your legislators because the U.S. is the number two importer of illegal ivory in the world. You know who’s number one.
s.
Filed under: endangered species, politics, wildlife conservation Tagged: | african elephants, Elephants, ivory ban
Ugh, that picture is brutal.
And I also hate the whole “it’s how it’s always been done – it’s our culture!” as a reason to hurt and kill animals. What a bunch of B.S.!
we can only hope most humans manage to eradicate themselves, some superbug perhaps, that doesn’t kill off the elephants.
I think more pictures of this nature need to be distributed, I find myself in tears every time I see one but a lot of people have no idea what they do to remove the tusks (cheapest and easiest option!!) This beautiful elephant has had to have his face hacked off to supply some person with a trinket, most people wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference if it were fake! and worse still we don’t know if they even killed it first! it absolutely breaks my heart.
Hi Sheryl
Thanks for the comment on my blog! It’s good to know I am not alone with my suspicions.
Yes, that photo makes my skin crawl and even worse, while I was writing my little piece, searching for a image made me cry so hard that I could not see the screen. Pages and pages of poached and hacked animal. Good God where does it stop?
Thank you for bringing up the subject of ‘cultural tradition’. What BS to use as an excuse! Headhunting and cannibalism could also be seen as ‘cultural tradition’ in certain areas of the world.
If people want to continue their ‘ancient carving traditions’ let them dig up the bones of their ancestors and start there.
So, thank you Sheryl. The more we make noise, the better.