The Elephant In The Room

I have a promising update: our sniffer dogs are sniffing out wildlife traffickers and detecting ivory and other wildlife contraband on a weekly basis. Arrests are being made; smugglers are running scared; and poaching for profit is becoming harder.

 If you read the message below from Philip Muruthi, AWF's Vice President for Species Protection, you know why we must deploy more canine units now.

Help us expand all our wildlife protection strategies with a donation to AWF today.  Candice Bergen gave a $50,000 matching gift toward our goal, and I invite you to join her. Together, we can stop the vile poaching and trafficking industries.

 Join Candice and give by 6/15 to help expand our vital conservation programs.
Your Gift Stops Poachers

Stop the slaughter for good.
When I am out in the field with fellow AWF staff, we often come upon an elephant that has been killed for its tusks. There before us lies a once magnificent and intelligent creature, brutally slaughtered for profit.

Sadly, I have witnessed this too many times. It never gets easier.

You can help stop the illicit trade in wildlife products by expanding AWF's canine detection units. Actor and animal advocate, Candice Bergen, has made a $50,000 leadership gift toward our goal – and she invites you to join her to put more sniffer dogs on the ground.

The wildlife trade threatens the very existence of elephants, rhinos and other critically important species. That's why ending wildlife trafficking is AWF's top priority.



With Candice's help we can deploy more AWF sniffer dogs to end wildlife trafficking. But we need your gift to go further!  

I hope you've seen our emails about our canine detection units. These dogs detect ivory and horn no matter how well it's hidden. That's when wildlife traffickers go to jail. This is just one of our successful programs ready for expansion.

We know what to do: stop the killing, stop the trafficking, stop the demand. We just need your help to keep moving. Please give today!

100 elephants have died (today). This is the number of elephants brutally slaughtered by poachers in the illegal ivory trade every day.
That's one elephant every 15 minutes.   
The worldwide elephant population is plummeting. And unless something changes quickly, we risk living in a world where these majestic animals don’t exist in the wild.

But President Obama is taking action.
I'm fighting for 'a new rule that bans the sale of virtually all ivory across state lines.' - President Obama
I'm fighting for 'a new rule that bans the sale of virtually all ivory across state lines.' - President Obama .

The President just announced a bold plan to protect elephants from poachers trying to profit off their ivory tusks.

We’re trying to reach 5O,OOO strong thanking the President for his efforts to stop the poaching and exploitation of elephants. Will you add your name?

 http://go.saveanimalsfacingextinction.org/Thank-Obama
Join us for Father's Day at the zoo in memory of Lucky's father, whose life likely became a statistic in the ivory trade! As usual protest will be from 10:00-12:00 as the weather is warming up and so that everyone can find parking. Please be sure to bring lots of water. It's heating up! We'll try to bring some for you all as well.

As you may be aware, Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied the San Antonio Zoo’s motion to dismiss the Endangered Species Lawsuit (ESA) for Lucky. This is a huge step in the right direction for the lawsuit. In short, Lucky’s case is moving ahead!

In support of Lucky's retirement and continued efforts, we will be holding this protest. As always, we'll be meeting in the train depot parking lot at the San Antonio Zoo.

While the GoFundMe for Lucky's cause has met its goal, we are continuing to raise funds to promote her cause.

https://www.gofundme.com/one-world

This is the best way you can help Lucky right now by keeping the pressure on. If you are approached by any opposition, please do not engage, stay calm, and contact Kelly or Melissa, and we will handle the situation.

We’ll have literature and posters provided, but feel free to bring your own if you’d like.


We’re looking forward to seeing everybody come together for Lucky. This is a family friendly event, so children are more than welcome to join in! Please send this out to EVERYONE you know.

Sunday, June 19 at 10 AM - 12 PM in CDT
6 days from now · 73–97° Partly Cloudy

San Antonio Zoo

3903 N Saint Marys St, San Antonio, Texas 78212

USDA: Stop Protecting Animal Abusers and Enforce the Law!
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—which is responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the only federal law that explicitly protects animals used for entertainment—has consistently renewed the licenses of even the most egregious animal abusers. The AWA allows an animal exhibitor or dealer to be issued a license only if the applicant can show that it operates in accordance with AWA regulations, yet the USDA has a policy of automatically renewing animal exhibitors’ licenses—even when the agency knows that the facility is not in compliance with the AWA. We need you to urge Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to ensure that the USDA stops licensing chronic AWA violators and starts protecting animals, not their abusers!

The USDA takes the position that whether or not a facility is in flagrant violation of the AWA at the time it applies to have its license renewed is completely irrelevant to the agency’s renewal decision. The USDA renewed the license of the Summer Wind Farms Sanctuary in Michigan in 2014 after issuing the facility 97 citations for violating the AWA that year. By ensuring that facilities that are not in compliance with the applicable standards nevertheless remain “licensed” under the auspices of the AWA each year, the USDA’s rubber‑stamping policy results in more licensed facilities, thereby diluting the USDA’s ability to detect, address, and prevent violations of the AWA. Already, the USDA’s approximately 125 inspectors struggle to inspect more than 7,000 regulated entities.

Keeping licenses out of the hands of abusive exhibitors is particularly important since the USDA’s “enforcement” is nearly meaningless, as most alleged AWA violators get off with little more than a slap on the wrist. According to the USDA’s own statistics, more than half of all cases result only in an official warning and many others are settled by agreement, with an average penalty of less than $5,000. In 2012, Summer Wind Farms Sanctuary paid only $500 and received a brief three-month suspension for violating the AWA more than 70 times. That same year, Carson & Barnes Circus paid just $3,714 to settle 10 violations of the AWA, including allowing an elephant to escape, and the Mobile Zoo in Alabama got off with a warning for a series of violations, including failing to protect deer and birds from wild dogs who entered the facility and killed them and denying sufficient drinking water to leopards in 90-degree heat.

For years, the audit reports by the USDA’s Office of Inspector General have found that when the USDA fines AWA violators, the penalties are often so low that violators prefer to simply budget for them rather than changing their behavior—which means that animals continue to suffer as a result. Yet the USDA continues to issue paltry penalties that have no deterrent effect on chronic animal abusers.

Please e-mail Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at tom.vilsack@usda.gov now and tell him that that he must act to ensure that the USDA ends its policy of licensing AWA violators, which allows abusive exhibitors to keep animals in inhumane conditions.

Be sure to forward this important information to your compassionate family members and friends!


Please feel free to use our sample letter, but remember that using your own words is always more effective.

PETA Asks Leading Medical Journal for Retraction

Written by Jennifer Bates | June 1, 2016
When the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a paper on cancer resistance in elephant populations late last year, PETA thought something seemed off. Sure enough, the study—which seemingly concluded that elephants rarely develop cancer—was more full of holes than vegan Swiss cheese.

Not only had the study’s authors used data from an online source no more reputable than Wikipedia, they had also studied only captive elephant populations. As cancer risks increase the longer one lives and captive elephants typically die very young of captivity-induced diseases like arthritis and foot problems, concluding that elephants rarely get cancer is as erroneous as it would be to study children and conclude that humans rarely contract heart disease.
Chained baby elephant at the Center for Elephant Conservation.
Where did this inaccurate and unscientific study come from? If you’ve heard the news that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is using its “retired” elephants for cancer studies, then you already know the answer. Two of the article’s authors are Ringling employees, and the circus both helped fund the study and provided elephant blood samples. Now, Ringling is touting the “findings” on its website and during shows.

In a letter sent today to JAMA‘s editor in chief, PETA asked the publication’s editorial board to issue a retraction or expression of concern about the article:

[T]he very premise of this article is based on unreliable data and its authors have used those unsubstantiated claims to mislead the public ….

As the most widely circulated medical journal in the world, JAMA has a responsibility to ensure that it shares accurate information, and we are confident that it will retract Ringling’s junk science.

What You Can Do

Elephants aren’t the only animals used and abused by Ringling. Urge the circus to take all animals off the road and send them—including the now-retired elephants—to true, accredited sanctuaries.

Big Cats and Elephants Like Libby Need Your Help at Circus World! Circus World in Baraboo, Wisconsin, insists on hosting cruel and archaic elephant acts and rides and has contracted with the notorious Carson & Barnes Circus again in 2016. This circus employs elephant handler Habib Omar, who is presenting elephants at Circus World all summer.

Elephant Handler Habib Omar
And the facility has decided to exploit tigers this year, too. Join PETA in letting Circus World know that these cruel animal acts have got to go.

Carson & Barnes Circus' appalling history of abusing elephants and endangering the public spans decades. It was Carson & Barnes that supplied the elephants who escaped and ran amok for nearly an hour at the Moolah Shrine Circus in 2014, an incident that prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue a $16,000 fine to Carson & Barnes. The circus's head elephant trainer, Tim Frisco, was caught on video viciously attacking terrified elephants with a bullhook and shocking them with electric prods. Frisco can be heard instructing others to sink the bullhook into the animals' flesh and twist it until they scream in pain.

In what resembles a juvenile act of defiance in response to the public's disdain for circuses' cruelty to animals, Circus World is taking an even bigger step backward this year by exploiting tigers in its shows as well. Big cats used in circus-style performances endure lives of abuse, neglect, deprivation, and confinement. They are forced to live in virtually barren cages that can't come close to the vast, dense forests that they would roam in the wild. Many are forced to eat, drink, sleep, defecate, and urinate all in the same small space and are only let out for training or performances. During training, these beautiful cats are often dragged by heavy chains or ropes around their necks and hit with sticks, poles, and whips.


Tell Greensboro Coliseum to Keep UniverSoul Out!
bo the elephant
Despite learning that UniverSoul Circus has a long history of working with notorious animal abusers, Greensboro Coliseum Complex officials are moving forward with plans to host this universally reviled circus in two weeks. Join PETA in urging the venue's management to insist that the circus perform without animals or not at all!

UniverSoul Circus has a long history of working with notorious animal abusers who have lengthy records of Animal Welfare Act violations. The circus currently contracts with big-cat exhibitor Mitchel Kalmanson, who was cited twice within four months for denying exercise and adequate space to big cats while with UniverSoul. The cages were reportedly too small for the animals to make normal postural adjustments, and a handler admitted that the cats were kept caged 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the entire four to seven weeks that they were on the road—and sometimes even longer. In addition, two elephants currently on the road with UniverSoul—Betty and Bo, who are exhibited by Larry Carden—have yielded over five years of reactive tuberculosis (TB) tests, suggesting that they are likely TB-positive. These elephants risk exposing arena and circus workers, members of the public, and other animals to TB. In addition, zebras, who are routinely part of UniverSoul's act, have escaped from the circus twice within the past six months alone and run amok through the streets.

UniverSoul Circus is phenomenal without animals—its human acts are among the best—so it doesn't need to abuse living beings to entertain audiences and make a profit. Ask Greensboro Coliseum Complex officials to cancel UniverSoul's appearance unless it performs without animal acts.


Elephants Are Dying in Zoos
Heartbreaking footage of circus elephant forced to stand in cramped conditions inside electric fence. The elephant's mental state is said to be so bad that he has attacked people on a number of occasions.

This is the distressing eyewitness footage that shows an elephant named Nosey being confined to a tiny electrified enclosure on concrete, with no shade or water in the sweltering heat.

The animal is owned by Hugo Liebel, a US circus owner.

For years, Nosey is said to have been forced to perform grueling tricks and give rides despite showing signs of painful, crippling arthritis.

In the footage, she is seen swaying back and forth constantly, an indicator of psychological distress.
Nosey the Elephant Outside Kaaba Shrine Circus in Davenport, Iowa
Witnesses reported that Nosey snapped last night and bit a handler at the Shrine circus in Burlington, Iowa.

If confirmed, it wouldn’t be the first time Nosey has attacked.

Read more: Scientists say humans should learn from pigeons to be better at work

She sent a circus worker to the emergency room several years ago, and there are suspicions of far more unreported incidents and close calls.
Nosey the Elephant Outside Kaaba Shrine Circus in Davenport, Iowa
The nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate the incident.

The Animal Welfare Act requires licensed exhibits to provide all animals with adequate care in areas that include housing, handling, transportation, nutrition and protection from the weather, according to Lyndsay Cole, assistant director of public affairs for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Update: Landmark moment in the fight to protect wildlife! The fight to protect the world’s endangered species experienced a victory last week when the US announced new elephant ivory regulations. The new US policy will help shut down commercial elephant ivory trade within its borders and stop wildlife crime overseas.

We are optimistic that these new US regulations are a key steppingstone in successful elephant conservation around the globe. Now, we need governments like China, Thailand and Hong Kong to strengthen their commitments to ending the illegal ivory trade.

Thank you for pledging your support for these majestic creatures. Help us continue to protect the elephant population -- and other endangered species and wild places by making a tax-deductible gift of $25 or more:
https://support.worldwildlife.org/site/Donation2?df_id=12310&12310.donation=form1&s_src=AWE1612GDH01


You Can Help Protect Nature
Explore World Wildlife Fund Online to learn more about endangered species like tigers, rhinos, whales, and pandas, the places where they...
https://support.worldwildlife.org









Stop Wildlife Crime, Starting with You. Wildlife crime is deadly serious. It’s now the most urgent threat to three of the world’s best-loved species — elephants, rhinos and tigers.


Illegal wildlife trade isn't just a foreign issue — it's thriving right here on U.S. soil. This past July, two New York City jewelers pleaded guilty to having more than $2 million worth of illegal ivory on sale. And in February, seven people in the Los Angeles area were arrested with dozens of illegal rhino horns and millions of dollars in cash and gold.

Organized wildlife crime hurts people too. Criminal kingpins don’t hesitate to use deadly force, intimidate communities and corrupt officials in order to get what they want.

You can be part of the solution. Buying illegal wildlife parts creates demand, and you may be an unwitting part of this vicious cycle. By asking questions and getting the facts before you buy any wildlife part or product, you can ensure that you are not buying into this outrage.
Sign the pledge now to never buy illegal wildlife parts and join World Wildlife Fund’s fight against wildlife crime. Click to help!

Praise Rescue Workers for Freeing Circus Elephants.

Elephant Wildlife SOS
Target: Rhea Lopez, Elephant Campaign Manager for Wildlife SOS
Goal: Thank rescuers for going above and beyond their required duties to save four circus elephants.
Four elephants have been saved from Rambo Circus in India. These elephants were forced to perform for years, and when they were not on stage, they were shackled by spiked chains.
Thankfully, Wildlife SOS intervened and saved Pearl, Ruby, Goldie and Sylvie, bringing them to a care facility to receive the medical attention they so desperately needed. The elephants are slowly adjusting to their newfound freedom, however, after being denied everything natural to them for years, it will take some time. The elephants are slowly but surely exploring the perks of their new home, including the pool.
Sign this petition and thank Wildlife SOS for saving these four precious creatures from a lifetime of misery.
Dear Ms. Lopez,
Recently, Wildlife SOS made a dramatic rescue of four elephants imprisoned at Rambo Circus. These elephants, named Pearl, Ruby, Goldie and Sylvie, were forced to perform for years, and when they were not on the stage, they were shacked in spiked chains.
Life at Rambo Circus was not a pleasant one. These animals were denied everything natural to them and neglected for far too long. Thankfully, your organization intervened and was able to save them from a lifetime of misery.
Thank you for going above and beyond to save these precious creatures. All animals deserve happiness and I am thankful organizations like yours exist to make that a reality.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Wildlife SOS
5 elephants POISONED. Last week, Zimbabwean national park officials discovered the carcasses of 5 elephants in the Gwaai Forest.

Greedy poachers brutally murdered them with cyanide.

What could possibly make this senseless slaughter worse? These elephants had their ivory tusks cut off.

 Tragedies like these remind us why we’re working around-the-clock to STOP elephant poaching and save this majestic creature from extinction. We can keep fighting… but only with your help.

Chip in $5 or more to support Save Animals Facing Extinction. Your donation will save lives (http://go.saveanimalsfacingextinction.org/Donate).

Poachers kill as many as 3OO elephants per year with cyanide.[1] Lacing salt licks and oranges with poison is becoming commonplace as a tactic to brutally murder elephants. And poachers will continue their slaughter unless we take immediate action.

If we're going to put a stop to elephant poaching, we need all the support we can get. Please, help us save these precious animals today:

http://go.saveanimalsfacingextinction.org/Donate

US institutes final ivory regulations to save elephants.
It is clear that the status quo wasn’t doing enough to protect elephants from American trade
The Obama Administration has finalized new legal protections for African elephants, culminating a series of loophole closures that should make it much harder for illegal ivory traffickers to turn a profit in the United States.

The announcement by US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Dan Ashe comes after more than two years of economic reviews and stakeholder outreach. Ashe told the New York Times “the people of the United States will be speaking loudly and saying we value living elephants in the wild more than we value the creation and the trade of trinkets made from ivory.”


IFAW President and CEO Azzedine Downes called the rules “a signal to the world that Americans accept our shared responsibility to protect wildlife, wherever it may roam,” adding that “we have come a long way from the days when an elephant’s tusks were the only part deemed worth saving.”


Taken as a whole, the regulations halt most imports and exports of ivory products, and limit interstate ivory sales to antique products and certain other items with small amounts of ivory. Nothing in the law affects mere ownership of ivory; Americans can keep what they have, and can even pass down heirlooms. But when it comes to commercial trade, sellers will now have to show that their wares aren’t from recently poached animals.


You can find a full breakdown of what’s allowed and what’s prohibited here.


Ultimately, people want to know “How much will these rules help elephants?”


It is clear that the status quo wasn’t doing enough to protect elephants from American trade: The US market has consistently ranked among the world’s largest – an (up until now) largely unregulated, multi-million-dollar black box where ivory could be bought and sold with almost no oversight, whether it was old or freshly poached. We believe that the new rules are a crucial step towards bringing the poaching crisis under control, though much still depends on the unglamorous next steps: implementation, enforcement, and diplomatic follow-through to ensure that this momentum doesn’t stop at America’s borders.


While the changes are a big improvement, they’re not perfect. The regulations still permit sales of documented antiques and certain older items with a small amount of ivory. But the documentation requirement is only loosely defined, putting pressure on FWS (and groups like IFAW) to ensure that ivory buyers and sellers uphold the spirit and the letter of the law. We also have to make sure that law enforcement agents get the tools and funding they need to keep illegal imports from slipping into the black market.  


Additionally, the rule limits trophy hunters to importing “only” two dead elephants (per hunter) annually. IFAW lobbied hard to close this loophole even further and we will continue to press the issue, especially as new studies call the conventional wisdom on trophy hunting further into question. However, even this represents an improvement, as there had been no numeric limit on trophy imports at all prior to the change.


The third element I mentioned above – diplomatic follow-through – is just as important as what we do here at home. Other major ivory-consuming countries like China and Vietnam have begun to steer their ivory laws in the right direction; US/China negotiations have already resulted in a pledge from President Xi Jinping to shut down the Chinese ivory market, although tangible progress has been slow in coming and it remains vital that the US continue to set an example.


It is heartening that the rules were released just before top envoys meet for the US/China Strategic & Economic Dialogue, and it also showcases strong leadership in the build-up to a major meeting of the parties to CITES, the international treaty that governs wildlife trade, in September. Ominously, Zimbabwe and Namibia have recently begun lobbying for permission to sell their stockpiled ivory, a move that, if allowed, could spur yet another wave of poaching.


IFAW has been deeply involved in this process from the beginning, participating in far-reaching conversations with other stakeholders outside the conservation and animal welfare community, including musical instrument makers, ivory retailers, auctioneers, and more. Our members were among the more than one million Americans who urged the White House to get these new rules on the books, and your consistent support has helped us fight back against efforts to weaken them in the process.


Hyperbolic scare-mongering from groups like Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association has stoked some Congressional efforts to stop USFWS from doing its job, so we will have to keep a close watch out for more attacks in the future.


Fortunately we have also seen a groundswell of support for state laws banning ivory sales coast to coast, which help to reinforce the federal rules and shut down loopholes that the Fish & Wildlife Service can’t reach. So far, Hawaii, California, Washington, New York and New Jersey have all passed legislation or ballot initiatives to restrict intrastate ivory trade, and more efforts are underway in Massachusetts, Oregon and elsewhere.


Every piece of ivory comes from a dead elephant. If the new federal and state laws prevent even one elephant from being killed for its tusks—and they certainly will do much more than that—they will have been worth fighting for.


U.S. to Enact Near-Total Ivory Ban.
elephant_by_william_warby
Target: Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior
Goal: Praise the completion of a near-total ivory ban in the U.S. that will combat trafficking and help conservation.
The U.S. government has announced a near-total ban on the commercial trade of African elephant ivory, and these new regulations will make a huge difference in restricting illegal wildlife trafficking. Numerous activists and wildlife conservationists spoke out in support of the law when it was initially proposed, and a petition published on ForceChange urged animal lovers to participate during the public comment stage. Now, with the new regulations set to take effect in July, we can hope to see the ivory trade significantly diminished.
Poachers kill approximately 30,000 elephants a year in order to keep up with the international demand for ivory, according to National Geographic. Studies have shown that the U.S. is one of the largest consumers, second only to China. The announcement of the new ivory ban fulfills the U.S. government’s side of an agreement with China that each nation will restrict its domestic ivory trade, as well as marking a significant step in President Obama’s 2013 Executive Order on Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
The new regulations will substantially limit imports, exports and sales of elephant ivory across state lines. Trophy imports will also be limited to two per year, whereas hunters are currently able to import an unlimited amount. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, these new rules will help law enforcement to easily recognize attempts to trade illegal ivory under the guise of a legal product. This near-total ban marks a monumental victory in the fight to protect elephants from extinction. Sign the petition below to applaud the U.S. government for taking action to fight against elephant poaching and illegal wildlife trade.
Dear Secretary Jewell,
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced a near-total ivory ban that will soon take effect in the U.S. These new regulations will make a significant difference in restricting illegal wildlife trafficking by limiting imports, exports and sales of elephant ivory across state lines. Furthermore, the ban will help law enforcement to differentiate between legal and illegal ivory products.
An estimated 30,000 elephants are killed by poachers each year in order to keep up with the international demand for ivory, and the U.S. is one of the largest consumers. The new ivory ban will not only fulfill the U.S. government’s agreement with China to restrict domestic ivory trade, it will also build upon efforts put in place by the Obama administration’s Executive Order on Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
We, the undersigned, would like to applaud your efforts to fight the illegal wildlife trade and combat elephant poaching. Thank you for taking action to protect elephant populations from the devastating impact of the ivory trade.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: William Warby
Ambo's Rescue.

Release of rescued orangutans Desi and Susi.
Olsekki, Siangiki and Enkikwe move to Ithumba......more excitement was yet to come for after Mutara and Olare’s herd, who had accompanied them back to the stockades, moved away from the compound into the bush, Olare refused to leave, lying down in the stockade compound as if in protest at having to go because it was bed time for the dependent orphans!...read more: www.sheldrickwidlifetrust.org and at www.facebook.com/thedswt.