Elephant Conservation PSA Contest Launched

Rally the Herd PSA Contest.

Nat Geo WILD, in partnership with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), announced today the Rally the Herd public service announcement (PSA) contest, to raise awareness of the plight of the African elephant.

The contest will give aspiring wildlife filmmakers, conservationists, students or anyone with a passion for protecting our largest land animals the opportunity to create a public service announcement that rallies others to action. The winning PSA will air on Nat Geo WILD.

Participants are asked to submit a PSA focused on the African elephant, with the goal of inspiring others to learn more about the decline of the population and to offer their help. PSAs should be no longer than 90 seconds and can be created with original footage, and/or footage and photography provided by Nat Geo WILD. Entries will be accepted through Sept. 7 at each of the partners’ Facebook pages or by visiting bitly.com/RallyTheHerd, and will be judged on the following criteria:

Connection to theme of the African elephant (30%)
Quality of storyline and script (20%)
Creativity and/or content originality (20%)
Production quality (e.g., lighting, shot composition, focus, sound) (15%)

Editing (15%)

The top three finalists will be announced by Sept. 14, 2015, and invited to the Jackson Hole Elephant Conservation Summit, Sept. 27-29, where for three days leading elephant scientists, conservationists and advocates will convene with 650+ international media professionals to share resources and strategies, and brainstorm innovative approaches to halt the killing of elephants and illegal trafficking of ivory. The winning PSA will air on Nat Geo WILD later this year.

“Getting people to care about these elephants is the first step in motivating them to act,” said Geoff Daniels, executive vice president and general manager of Nat Geo WILD. “We look forward to seeing how these filmmakers use the camera lens to ignite that passion in viewers to want to learn and do more.”

Poachers kill as many as 35,000 elephants each year in Africa, and other threats such as habitat loss and conflict with humans are jeopardizing the future of one of the continent’s most iconic species. Nat Geo WILD takes its viewers to the front lines of this crisis, where conservation groups like AWF are battling to save the species from extinction.

“Documentaries, films, National Geographic articles and programs have all helped to inspire a sense of awe and appreciation for the African elephant,” said Dr. Patrick Bergin, CEO of AWF. “Now we need the camera lens to inspire advocates for their survival.”

Lisa Samford, executive director of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and Conservation Summit, added, “We aim to engage the power of media to influence global change to spark a cultural shift and empower a public front that doesn’t tolerate the use of ivory products and illegal poaching of the world’s elephants.”

For more information and complete rules, visit bitly.com/RallyTheHerd.

California State Senate Votes to Ban Bullhooks

The California State Senate voted 28 to eight to ban bullhook use with elephants, making it the first state to enact such a ban. A bullhook is a long rod with a sharp metal hook at the top. It’s one of the weapons used by circuses to beat elephants in the name of “training” in order to coerce them into performing tricks.

California’s bullhook ban is now in the hands of Gov. Jerry Brown, whose signature can turn the bill into law. When this historic ban goes into effect in 2018, no elephant in California will ever again be beaten, hooked, jabbed, or threatened with these weapons, or the wielder will pay a price.

A bullhook being used on a baby elephant.

Some individual cities—including Austin, Texas; Miami Beach, Florida; Oaklandand Los Angeles, California; and Richmond, Virginia—have already banned bullhook use. While this is a step in the right direction, no animal should be forced to perform for our entertainment.

What You Can Do

Never patronize circuses or other shows that use animal acts.

PETA, Fair Disagree Over Treatment of Elephant.

Animal rights activists are crying foul over a display at the DuQuoin State Fair this year, but as WSIU's Jennifer Fuller reports, fair organizers are disputing the claims.

Animal rights activists say a display at the DuQuoin State Fair showcases an aging and mistreated elephant, and they want the animal retired.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Counsel Rachel Matthews says Nosey the elephant suffers from arthritis, and is kept in inhumane conditions. She says on top of that, the elephant has no contact with other elephants, leaving her lonely.

"Female elephants stay with their mothers for their entire lives, and their herd is made up of their mothers, their aunts, sisters, and cousins. And so she is totally alone, and is suffering in isolation."

But DuQuoin State Fair Manager Patrick Buchen disagrees. He says fair veterinarians and inspectors have investigated the claims, and found PETA is misinformed.

"I personally have walked over and watched the display. I got into the arena with the elephant, fed her, and looked into her eyes. There's no abuse there. There's a tremendous amount of respect, between animal and owner."

Buchen says the Fair carefully monitors animal treatment - and says its overall goal is the welfare of the animals in addition to fairgoers.

PETA and others say Nosey should be retired, not giving rides and traveling all over the country for shows.

Ivory Belongs On Elephants

It’s easy to feel disconnected from the plight of the African elephant. These beautiful creatures live halfway around the world, and most Americans have only ever seen them on TV or at the zoo. Sure, we have all heard that poaching is a problem, but did you know that the U.S. is the second largest market for poached and smuggled ivory in the world? Ivory from elephant tusks is valued for use in carvings, jewelry, and as a traditional (though fallacious) Chinese medicine used to purge toxins from the body and to improve one’s complexion – and a growing demand for it is decimating the species’ populations.

One African elephant dies every 15 minutes at the hands of ivory poachers. With rates of elephant poaching increasing, the wild population of African elephants outside of certain fiercely protected reserves could vanish completely within 10 years.

African elephants were listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1978, and most populations are currently listed under Appendix I, the category of most concern, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). A ban on the importation of raw ivory into the U.S. took effect in 1989, except for in specific cases.

After protections were put in place, African elephant populations had begun to recover, but with a surge in demand for ivory, rates of illegal poaching have jumped again. From 2011-2014, African elephant poaching reached the highest levels since international monitors began keeping records in 2002. And the price of ivory in China has tripled, making elephant poaching an extremely lucrative business.

Elephant, © Kelsey Schwende

What is the U.S. doing about the illegal ivory trade?

In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) crushed six TONS of confiscated ivory. This past June, they crushed another ton in Times Square. Millions of dollars worth of ivory sacrificed to send a message: The U.S. will not allow this prolific trade to continue at the cost of elephant lives.

It’s easy for illegal ivory to blend in with the legal ivory for sale in U.S. markets. Because it is legal to sell African ivory that was imported before 1989, and because legal ivory is often sold without certification, illegal ivory is often sold under the guise of a legal sale. And since many wildlife products made from hippo teeth, walrus teeth, warthog tusks, etc. look very similar to elephant ivory, it can be difficult for law enforcement officials to determine what is legal and what isn’t without the use of expensive and destructive testing. Right now, products are considered legal until proven otherwise. Law enforcement officers must prove that the seller knew that their ivory was illegally obtained in order to obtain a conviction. Current U.S. law is outdated, confusing, and full of loopholes.

As a result, the easiest way to stop the illegal sale of ivory is to prevent it from coming into the country in the first place. FWS inspectors are stationed at ports across the country in an attempt to catch illegal ivory as it enters. The FWS also provides enforcement training around the world, and has assisted in international efforts to trace seized ivory shipments back to the country of origin so that smuggling routes may be shut down. But the volume of products coming into the U.S. far outstrips the resources that FWS has to address the issue.

Elephants Marching, © Helen M. Mundell

What can you do to help?

Be a Conscientious Consumer. Remember, the sale of legal ivory often serves as a cover for the sale of illegal ivory. Choose to boycott all ivory products to help reduce the demand. Tell your friends and family about your decisions and explain why they should consider making the same commitment.

Be an Advocate. On July 29, President Obama proposed new regulations designed to close existing loopholes and shut down the importation and sale of illegal ivory within the U.S. Write your representatives to let them know that you support this and other tough anti-trafficking measures. Tell them that you also support increases in funding for FWS law enforcement so that more wildlife inspectors can be trained and stationed full time at our ports of entry.

Support Defenders’ work. Make a donation or adopt an elephant today . Your support helps us to keep pressure on the White House to follow through with their plans, to mobilize against Congressional attempts to weaken ivory restrictions, to encourage grassroots efforts to implement state-specific ivory bans, and to ensure that current laws are sufficiently enforced.

Know Your Stuff. Did you know that elephants are considered a keystone species? When elephants dig for water in dry riverbeds, their neighbors benefit from the new water source. Elephant dung is an important vector for seed dispersal, and also serves as a fertilizer and a nursery for dung beetles. Even the trails made by elephants walking across their landscape result in important trails for other species and serve as fire breaks and water run offs. Share this information with your friends – the more someone knows about a species, the more likely they are to want to protect it.

Get Your Travel On. Have you ever wanted to see an elephant in the wild? If you choose to travel, be sure to choose an eco-tourism company that supports elephant conservation efforts. Shopping for souvenirs? Never buy ivory , but buy other items that are made in the communities you visit. Supporting locally-owned and operated businesses helps provide sustainable livelihoods for people on the ground in elephant environments, a great alternative to the temptation of making money through poaching.

Spread the Word. Share this post on social media. Tell your friends and family about the ivory trade and its impact on elephants in the wild.

HELP PROTECT ELEPHANTS

The U.S. is the second largest market for ivory in the world. Let’s send a clear message that we’re serious about protecting elephants!

Take Action »

The world’s most visible market for illegal ivory isn't underground. It's on Craigslist. Unscrupulous vendors are selling millions and driving elephants into extinction.

Sign the petition

Tell Craigslist to get serious about stopping the illegal ivory trade.

Between 2010 and 2012, an elephant was slaughtered every 15 minutes. More than 100,000 elephants were killed to fuel the global illegal ivory trade.
With national and international laws banning the ivory trade worldwide, where can buyers be sure to find it? On Craigslist.

A recent investigation by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Wildlife Conservation Society found that Craigslist users advertise 6,600 ivory and related wildlife products each year — worth over $15 million. And that study only examined a fraction of the sites -- just 28 of the over 400 Craigslist sites in the U.S.

Craigslist already prohibits the sale of animal parts, but this investigation proves it is little more than lip service. Feeling the heat, CEO Jim Buckmaster recently added ivory to the explicitly prohibited items, even though the company has done nothing to actually stop ivory sales on its website. Meanwhile, African elephants have been driven nearly to extinction.

Tell Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster we want a Craigslist ivory policy with teeth, not tusks. Ban the sale of ivory on Craigslist.

Craigslist vendors use code words like "bone," "scrimshaw" and "faux" to skirt the complex web of international laws prohibiting the sale of ivory. The reality is that Craigslist is complicit in a global network of winks and nudges working together to illegally sell ivory -- decimating elephant populations while funding organized crime and terrorism.

The thing is, there is a fix to this -- eBay and Etsy work hard to eliminate illegal wildlife trade by screening for search terms and other filtering software. Craigslist is one of the most visible players left in international ivory trade -- and if it wanted to end the illegal trade of ivory from endangered elephants on its websites, it could do it tomorrow.

We just convinced major airlines across the globe to stop shipping trophy-hunted endangered animals like Cecil the lion. Let’s make this another win, and help stop the illegal trade in endangered animals once and for all.

Join us in demanding Craigslist close its illegal ivory loopholes and save the elephants.

Sign the petition

Rescued and Orphaned Baby Elephants “You Can’t Help But Fall In Love With”

See baby elephants escort a man into a wild herd in East Africa. Investigative journalist Bryan Christy takes some time to relax with the young orphaned elephants at the Ithumba Release Camp in Kenya's Tsavo East National Park. Much to his delight, the younger elephants are friendly and accepting of Christy, and they escort him to meet a herd of wild adults.

Click here to learn more about the episode, Explorer: Warlords of Ivory: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com...

Click here to read more, "How Killing Elephants Finances Terror in Africa": http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tra...

Click here to read more, "The Accepting Nature of Orphaned Baby Elephants": http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/...

CORRESPONDENT: Bryan Christy
PRODUCER/VIDEOGRAPHER: J.J Kelley and Toby Strong
PRODUCER: John Heminway
EDITOR: Katy Andres

The Mammoth Problem With Selling an Extinct Animal’s Ivory. As Arctic permafrost melts and reveals long-buried woolly mammoths, poachers are using their tusks to disguise the illegal sale of elephant ivory.

Despite a near worldwide ban on the sale of elephant ivory, tens of thousands of African and Asian elephants continue to be slaughtered every year for their tusks.

Now, thanks to accelerating climate change, the melting of permafrost in the Arctic could be leading to a rush on another, larger extinct animal’s incisors: the woolly mammoth’s. And that’s not good for elephants.

For the past 20,000 or 30,000 years, woolly mammoth tusks, some weighing as much as 100 pounds, have been preserved and mostly inaccessible in the frozen tundra of northeastern Siberia. But because of longer and hotter summer seasons brought on by rising temperatures, the Arctic stockpile is now reachable—and ivory traders are taking notice.

“It’s really picked up steam in the past three or four years,” said Daniel Fisher, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan. He has been studying woolly mammoths for more than 35 years, working at dig sites in Siberia for the past 15. When he first started, residents weren’t interested in ivory, but now his team often gets to mammoth excavation sites only to find the animals’ tusks missing.

“A decade ago, a mammoth tusk brought in about a tenth of what you can get today for it,” Fisher said. “The people that live in the area know what they can get for it, so they’re taking them.”

That’s leaving paleontologists with fewer tusks to study to learn about what happened to one of the largest mammals ever to roam the earth, and it’s opening up another avenue for the illegal trafficking of elephant ivory.

A Terrible Trade-Off: Lion Numbers Are Growing Thanks to Elephant Poachers

To the untrained eye, carved pieces of well-preserved mammoth tusk resemble elephant ivory—a product in high demand in Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Because mammoths have been extinct for more than 10,000 years, they aren’t protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the 1989 treaty that outlawed most trade in elephant ivory.

But even with the ban in place, two controversial decisions have allowed elephant ivory stockpiles seized by officials to be sold at auction for legal trade—49 tons in 1998 and 102 tons in 2008. China and Japan traders made up the bulk of the buyers, and now that ivory is being sold back to the public.

Conservationists see the continuation of the legal ivory market as disastrous in the fight to end elephant poaching, as it gives traffickers an avenue to mix illegal tusks with permitted stocks, and the influx of mammoth tusk on the market could be one more way to mask poached ivory.

As the supply of legal elephant ivory dwindles, Chinese ivory factories and retail stores are purchasing more tusks of the extinct variety, according to a 2014 report commissioned by the nonprofit group Save the Elephants.

That’s driven the price for well-preserved mammoth tusks up from $350 per kilogram in 2010 to $1,900 per kilogram in early 2014, the report states. To put that into perspective, one tusk from a large male mammoth can weigh as much as 40 kilograms—that’s $76,000 for a pair of well-preserved bones—a pretty penny for Russia’s northernmost-dwelling residents.

“You’re talking about people who live in villages with less than 100 people in the Siberian Arctic, who try to make a living hunting and fishing, all of the sudden out prospecting for ivory,” Fisher said.

So far, the returns for the new prospectors have been fruitful. In 2013, China imported 31 tons of mammoth tusks, compared with nine tons in 2003—93 percent of which was sourced from Russia.

But the mammoth boom has been a bust for elephants. Conservationists believe mammoth tusks are just one more way for traffickers to disguise illegal stock in elephant ivory.

“You can sell a mammoth tusk and transport it without any proof of documentation, so you can import and export it very easily,” said Iris Ho, wildlife program manager at Humane Society International. “So sellers will ship both elephant and mammoth tusks in the same containers to try and smuggle illegal ivory in with the legal mammoth tusks.”

In retail shops in Shanghai and Beijing, mammoth and elephant ivory are sold side by side—and sometimes in place of each other.

Mayu Mishina, marketing manager for the African Wildlife Foundation’s Washington, D.C., office, said China’s ivory retail shops require identification cards for every elephant ivory piece sold to show that it’s legal. “But investigators have found that sometimes the photos on the cards don’t always match the ivory piece being sold,” Mishina said. “That may point to ivory having been sold and cards being kept by the shop owner for reuse.”

In those same stores, mammoth ivory products don’t require ID cards at all—so elephant ivory products could be sold under the guise of mammoth ivory, Mishina said.

The only way to tell the difference between elephant and mammoth tusks is to look at a cross section of the tusk. But that isn’t so easy to see when looking at a carved piece, says Sam Wasser, a conservation biologist at the University of Washington. Wasser studies DNA samples of illegal elephant ivory seizures to determine where the poached elephants originated.

“We just recently had a seizure come in, and when we tested it, it ended up being hippo ivory,” he said. “It just shows that deciphering where, exactly, these ivory pieces are coming from is hard. Some people are getting away with disguising illegal ivory as mammoth ivory.”

Does that mean there should be a full ban on the trade of mammoth ivory?

Wasser isn’t so sure. “It’s a tough question because the animals are already dead, but their tusks are being used to disguise illegal trade that’s endangering elephants,” he said. “Banning the sale of one species to save another is problematic.”

China Makes a Move That Could Save African Elephants From Extinction

Officials in New York and New Jersey have already enacted ivory bans that include mammoth tusks, said Sara Marinello, director of government affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society. California is considering similar legislation.

“We have to work to shut down the legal market if it can help stop the illegal killing,” Marinello said.

For Fisher and his partners at Russia’s North-Eastern Federal University, tundra tomb raiding isn’t an immediate threat to the supply of mammoth tusks left to study. But he stressed that the stockpile is finite.

“Look, they’re like diamonds,” he said. “There are a lot of them—nobody knows for sure how many—and they are still rare and incredibly valuable.” Tusks tell researchers the story of the animal—its size, life span, health, and more.

“The more tusks we have to research, the more we can gain an understanding about these animals and learn about what caused their demise,” Fisher said. “The tusks are an important piece of that puzzle.”

State of Play: U.S. Ivory Trade Legislation.

Elephant bulls at Manyara Ranch in Tanzania

As many as 35,000 African elephants are killed by poachers every year. In the last five years, the elephant population in Tanzania—historically one of the great elephant range states—has declined by more than 60 percent. To the south, nearly half of Mozambique’s elephants have disappeared, again as a result of poaching. And in Central Africa, 65 percent of forest elephants have been killed in the span of a decade.

The elephant carnage in Africa is being driven by demand for ivory carvings and trinkets abroad, namely in China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the Philippines, but also in countries such as the United States. International trade in ivory has been banned since 1989, yet a black market enables the industry to persist, as ivory is smuggled under the table—or rather under tea leaves and other legal products stowed in shipping containers. As demand grows, it fuels the poaching on the ground.

The multi-billion dollar illegal wildlife trade draws in organized criminal syndicates that often traffic other "products," including people, drugs and arms. It draws in reasonably-armed non-state actors such as the Lord’s Resistance Army and Sudanese Janjaweed. It tempts the father of six living in a rural community with few job opportunities to turn to a life of poaching. It enriches the citified fat cat sitting in Dar es Salaam or Maputo who facilitates the deal with regional traffickers or contacts overseas. It corrupts some rangers and law enforcement officers, and endangers the rest. Its sole contribution is the decimation of species, the theft of a nation’s natural heritage and the erosion of the rule of law.

See what your state is doing to protect elephants

U.S. states and the slaughter

In spite of the international ban on commercial ivory trade, the domestic buying and selling of ivory continues, legally, in many countries, including the United States. Ivory traffickers exploit these loopholes and are well aware of the difficutly—for consumers and law enforcement—distinguishing legal ivory from ivory that has been illegally obtained.

During his recent visit to Kenya, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. government has proposed a new rule that would prohibit most interstate commerce of African elephant ivory and severely restrict commercial exports. The federal ban would not, however, govern intrastate trade in ivory products. As such, ivory can still be bought and sold within the borders of California, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts and other U.S. states, and ivory traffickers can still pedal their illicit wares under cover of the legal trade.

Reports on the U.S. ivory trade and arrests of ivory traffickers over the years indicate the United States is a prominent destination and transit country for illicit ivory. A report by the Natural Resources Defence Council estimated that 90 percent of ivory for sale in Los Angeles and 80 percent of commercially traded ivory items in San Francisco were illegal. In 2013, the U.S. government destroyed six tons of illegal ivory in Denver, Colorado. On June 19, 2015, it destroyed another one ton in New York City’s Times Square. The majority of the ivory crushed in Times Square was seized from a Philadelphia arts dealer currently serving a 30-month prison sentence following his conviction on ivory smuggling charges.

We are being watched

By far the largest ivory market in the world is in China. Short of reducing demand for ivory products in China to zero, a complete shut down of the country’s domestic ivory market would strike a game-changing blow to the illicit ivory trade. Conservation groups, individuals, and governments around the world have advocated for a full ban, and now there are indications that China will indeed phase out its ivory trade. However, the Chinese government is also urging the United States and other countries to remove all legal ambiguities around ivory trade within their borders.

Said Meng Xianlin, a top representative with China’s CITES Management Authority, in an interview with the Washington Post: “Some people say, ‘China should take the leadership, you first, you stop everything and other countries will follow,’ ... I understand, but I think we should negotiate with other countries to push these procedures gradually.”

In an effort to encourage the country with the world’s largest ivory market to shut down its trade immediately and permanently, the United States—at the federal and state level—must lead by example.

State of play

Only two U.S. states—New York and New Jersey—have passed legislation banning intrastate ivory trade. New York was home to the largest ivory market in the United States, while New Jersey’s ports have served as entry points into the United States for smuggled ivory. In 2014, New York’s State legislature amended an environmental law to permanently ban, with limited exemptions, the sale of elephant ivory, mammoth ivory and rhino horn. The bill also increased the penalties for those convicted of breaking the law. New Jersey alsobanned the sale of ivory and rhino horn, with no exemptions, in 2014.

Other states that currently have ivory trade bans on the table include:

California
California is the second largest market for ivory sales in the U.S., and it’s estimated that the majority of ivory sold in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco is illegal. On January 7, 2015, Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins introduced Assembly Bill 96, which, if passed, would ban trade in ivory and rhino horn, with limited exemptions. In May 2015, the California Assembly passed A.B. 96. The bill is now before the California Senate. Read about A.B. 96.

UPDATE 9/2/2015: California's Senate has approved A.B.96. The bill will now go to the Assembly, where it is expected to pass. After that, it will go to California's governor to be either signed or vetoed.

Delaware
Senator Karen Peterson and Representative Sean Lynn introduced Senate Bill 156, which would “prohibit a person from purchasing, selling, offering for sale, possessing with intent to sell, or importing with intent to sell ivory or rhinoceros horn, except as specified, and would make this prohibition enforceable by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.” On June 24,2015, the bill was assigned to the Senate Banking and Business Committee. Read about SB156.

District of Columbia
In January 2014, a pair of elephant tusks presented to the District by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was stolen from the District’s John A. Wilson building. No arrests were made and the ivory has still not been recovered. Between 2007 and 2013, and between 2007 and 2012, ivory has been confiscated in Baltimore and at Dulles International Airport respectively. On June 16, 2015, Councilmember Mary Cheh introduced B21-0251, or the “Elephant Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Trafficking Prohibition Act,” which would effectively “prohibit the import, sale, offer for sale, purchase, barter, or possession with intent to sell ivory and rhinoceros horns in the District.” The bill has since been referred to the Committee on Judiciary. Read about B21-025.

Illinois
On February 20, 2015, Senator Linda Holmes introduced SB1858, also called the Ivory Ban Act. SB1858 “provides that it shall be unlawful for any person to import, sell, offer for sale, purchase, barter, or possess with intent to sell, any ivory, ivory product, rhinoceros horn, or rhinoceros horn product” and “establishes penalties for violation of the Act.” Read about SB1858.

Massachusetts
On January 20, 2015, Senator Jason Lewis and Representative Lori Ehrlich introduced SB 440 and HB 1275, which would ban outright trade in ivory and rhino horn with limited exemptions. Bill H. 1275 has been referred to the Joint Committee on The Judiciary. Read HB1275.

Michigan
On June 4, 2015, Senator Steven Bieda introduced Senate Bill 0371 (same as House Bill 4509), effectively prohibiting “the sale, purchase, barter, or possession with intent to sell of ivory or rhinoceros horn or products thereof.” On the same day, the bill was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. Before the Committee on Natural Resources. Read SB 371.

Vermont
Sponsored by Representatives Kurt Wright and Joan Lenes, H.297, a bi-partisan bill, was introduced on February 24, 2015. If passed, H.297 would ban the import, sale, offer for sale, purchase, barter, or possession with intent to sell of any ivory, ivory product, rhino horn, or rhino horn product. H.297 has been referred to the Committee on Fish, Wildlife & Water Resources. Read about H.297.

In lieu of a bill, states that have mobilized to force a ballot initiative include:

Washington
On April 3, 2015, a campaign was launched to gather enough signatures from Washington residents to force a vote at the polls on Initiative 1401 (I-1401) during the November election. The first-of-its-kind initiative would criminalize trafficking in 10 endangered species and their parts, including elephants and their ivory, rhinos and their horn. Previously, in January 2015, HB 1131 was introduced, sponsored by Representatives Eric Pettigrew, Vincent Buys, and Joe Fitzgibbon, to impose strict regulations on trade in ivory and rhino horn products in the state. The new state initiative, I-1401, goes further than HB 1131 in banning trade in 10 endangered species and their parts. As of July 1, 2015, a total of 348,627 signatures had signed the petition to get I-1401 on the November ballot. Washington residents can follow developments with regard to the initiative.

States where introduced bills did not advance:

Arkansas
Connecticut
Florida
Hawaii
Iowa
Maryland
Nevada
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
Virginia
Washington (ballot initiative underway)

Rangers Receive Much-Deserved Recognition

Fifty-two park rangers around the world lost their lives in the line of duty in the past 12 months. On World Ranger Day, AWF highlights the difficult but necessary job performed by these courageous men and women. Photo credit: Billy Dodson

Rampaging wildlife. Poachers and, sometimes, rebel forces. Harsh climatic conditions. The job of the wildlife ranger may vary by day, but whether conducting ecological monitoring or arresting poachers, one factor remains the same: how difficult the job can be.

On July 31, World Ranger Day, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) honors all the brave men and women who risk their lives every day to protect wildlife and conserve nature across Africa. According to the International Ranger Federation and the Thin Green Line Foundation, 52 park rangers around the world lost their lives in the line of duty in the past 12 months.

“It takes a special person to put on a ranger uniform and go into the bush every day to protect wildlife,” says Dr. Philip Muruthi, vice president for species protection at the African Wildlife Foundation. “Wildlife rangers are literally on the front lines of the poaching and trafficking war—but in addition to those dangers, they may also confront aggressive wildlife, local community members encroaching upon protected areas or some other unexpected occurrence. At any given moment, a ranger must be prepared to act as a soldier, a law enforcement officer, a community liaison, a naturalist or even a medic.”

AWF regularly supports rangers across Africa to ensure they are well-equipped and fully trained to be able to do their jobs. Among the support AWF has provided:

Training in technology-based ecological monitoring. Rangers learn to use handheld GPS-enabled devices to record wildlife sightings and poachers camps and, later, analyze that data to inform future patrols. This year alone, AWF has trained rangers in the use of the CyberTracker handheld device and Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (or SMART) in Campo Ma’an National Park in Cameroon, Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda, and Bili–Uele Protected Area Complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Equipment, uniforms and field gear. Rangers receive smartphones, binoculars, uniforms, boots and food rations so they are properly outfitted for patrols. In Simien Mountains National Park in Ethiopia, AWF in July donated GPS devices, binoculars, Gore-Tex jackets and trousers, warm gloves and hats, and boots.
Housing. The very nature of their job requires wildlife rangers to live in remote locales, away from their families, while they are working. AWF has therefore funded the construction of ranger housing and outposts, which in some cases have also included solar panels and water tanks to provide for greater comfort and working capacity. In 2011 – 2012, AWF renovated 12 ranger houses in Kenya’s Samburu landscape and built additional ranger outposts in some of the national reserves in the landscape. In the Kilimanjaro landscape, AWF has supplied prefabricated ranger outposts where troops reside during their work postings.
Specialized training. AWF has tailored training for the specific needs of the wildlife authority or location. Because of the high level of insecurity in Bouba N’Djida National Park in Cameroon and DRC’s Bili–Uele, for example, we partnered with environmental security firm Maisha Consulting to give security training such as hand-to-hand combat, tactical maneuvering and camouflage. AWF worked with Kenya Wildlife Service and Tanzania’s Wildlife Division to select and train handlers to learn how to work with ivory detection dogs, which will be placed at two trafficking chokepoints in those countries. In Zambia, AWF provided support to local partner Game Rangers International to assist Zambia Wildlife Authority in its intelligence work.

All Video Footage for all Sunset Music videos was done using the GoPro Hero!

Thanks especially to the tireless and what is endless work of the people that are trying to stop all Wild Life Crime every day and in every way, and thanks to any participants who please, if you want to be credited in any way, contact us now at artistdevelopment@tropical-records.com. We will do it that minute.

This video is monetized in some way (ad shares, amounts of plays, amounts of views, etc.) and therefore any and I mean 100% of all revenues made from it, will go to the WWF.

Illegal wildlife trade has exploded to meet increasing demand for elephant ivory, rhino horns, and tiger products, particularly in Asia. Controlled by dangerous crime syndicates, wildlife is trafficked much like drugs or weapons. Wildlife criminals often operate with impunity, making the trade a low-risk/high-profit business. Today, it is the fifth most profitable illicit trade in the world, estimated at up to $10 billion annually.

WWF is leading a global campaign to stop wildlife crime.

We are applying the strength of our worldwide network, our influence with partners and governments, and the passion of our supporters to a crisis that is threatening to undo years of conservation progress. The past year has already yielded some big wins like Thailand’s ban on their ivory trade and support from champions such as U.S. President Barack Obama. Join our campaign and help us:

Push governments to protect threatened animal populations by increasing law enforcement, imposing strict deterrents, reducing demand for endangered species products and honoring international commitments made under CITES.

Speak up on behalf of those on the frontlines being threatened by armed poachers so they are properly equipped, trained and compensated.

Reduce demand for illegal wildlife parts and products by encouraging others to ask questions and get the facts before buying any wildlife or plant product.

As a matter of fact, we have set up an automated monthly payment which I am matching BTW, every month. Thanks for the help and for your participation in stopping all wildlife crime. If you want to donate direct to the WWF for the Stopping of All Wild Life Crimes, please click here (https://secure3.convio.net/eii/site/Donation2?df_id=1942&1942.donation=form1).

The Connection Between Tourism and Elephant Abuse

When people think of taking their dream trip to India, they often picture themselves trekking through the jungle on a tiger safari, visiting the Taj Mahal at sunrise, and riding atop a colorfully adorned elephant.

What they don't realize is that by riding an elephant, they are feeding an industry of cruelty, and contributing to the decline in Asian elephant populations in the wild. We wrote a blog for the Huffington Post, to try to spread the word, so that tourists can be responsible when they plan their India trips.