Bill Description:
Prohibits people from importing, selling, offering for sale, purchasing, bartering, or possessing with intent to sell any ivory or rhinoceros horn. Ivory is defined as tooth or tusk composed of ivory from any animal.[teaserbreak]
Click here to download a fact sheet about this bill.
Background:
African elephants are in danger due to the high price of ivory and consumer demand. An average of 96 elephants are slaughtered daily by poachers, and over 100,000 have been killed in the past 3 years. Read more about the horrific ivory trade here.
Meanwhile, rhinos are killed for their horns, which are believed to have medicinal powers in parts of Asia. This market is fueling the slaughter of more than 1,000 rhinos per year. Only 25,000 black and white rhinos remain across all of Africa, and they could become extinct in the wild in as little as 12 years.
The U.S. is the second largest ivory market in the world, after China, and is also a significant destination for rhino horn. Massachusetts plays a role in this market. Legislation banning the trade in these products will reduce the demand, and therefore reduce the killing.
Read the full text here for the Senate version and here for the House version.