word of advice : straiten image of a poached elephant below
An estimated20,000elephants are still being wipe out each yr for their bone , and despite the high - profile meetings and the bravado ofivory crushes , there has been slight to no alteration in this rate over the past few years . In reply to this , President Barack Obamahas announcedthat the United States will insert even more stringent controls , tightening law to ban the cut-rate sale of bone within the country .
“ I can announce that we ’re proposing a unexampled regulation that bans the sale of virtually all ivory across state bloodline , ” say Obama at a joint press conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta , during his recent state sojourn to the country .
This dramatic shift in how the U.S. treats the sale of “ white gold ” follows U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell ’s recent trip-up to China and Vietnam , during which she sought to build external cooperation in an effort to battle wildlife trafficking . As one of the Earth ’s large consumers of wildlife , both legal and illegal , this is a move to taste and take out the U.S. from playing a hand in the decimation of Africa ’s elephant .
“ If our child – and their grandchildren – are to produce up in a world where they apprize their natural heritage and can see elephant in the wild and not just in the history books , then we owe it to them to keep out down avenues that prompt sea poker to go after these iconic animals , ” suppose Jewellin a assertion .
“ As we work to put the brakes on poach and prevent elephants from depart extinct in the wilderness , we necessitate to take the leash in a global effort to shut down domestic grocery for illegal ivory . Today , we are make it harder for criminals by further shutting the threshold to the American market . ”
The young rules will stamp out about all craft between states . Under the novel principle , the government exact that the U.S. will not be contributing to the poaching and illegal trade crisis presently ripping through Africa . The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( FWS ) notes , however , that the complete ban on sale of ivorywould not be helpful , and could in fact hinder elephant conservation if museum and investigator were stopped from being able to deal collections and sampling .
“ By fasten domesticated control on trade in elephant off-white and reserve only very narrow-minded exceptions , we will close existent avenues that are exploited by vendor and treat off-white trade that position a scourge to elephants in the wild,”saidDan Ashe , director of the FWS . “ Union jurisprudence enforcement agents will have clearer credit line by which to demarcate effectual from illegal patronage . We want to ensure our land is not bestow to the scourge of poaching that is decimating elephant populations across Africa . ”
Carcass of a young elephant poached , along with 22 others , in Garamba National Park , DR Congo in March 2012 . mention : ENOUGH Project / Nuria Ortega / ANP / Flickr CC BY - NC - ND 2.0
