Washington, D.C. — Today, on World Wildlife Day (March 3), elephant ivory seizure figures for the year to date represent an estimated 1,470 elephants brutally killed.[teaserbreak]
According to Born Free’s monitoring of reports beginning at the start of 2012, an estimated 141,712 elephants have been tragically killed for their ivory, as the illegal and systemic trade sweeps through the savannahs, forests, and plains of Africa and Asia.
This year’s World Wildlife Day, organized by the United Nations, is focusing on the plight of African and Asian elephants under the theme, “The future of elephants is in our hands.”
Adam M. Roberts, CEO of Born Free USA and Born Free Foundation, said: “The levels of elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade remain shockingly high today, as prospective poachers and profiteers continue slaughtering elephants in the hope that a legal ivory trade will once again be opened. World Wildlife Day presents a perfect opportunity for government leaders globally to declare a permanent and unequivocal end to all trade in elephant ivory.”
Born Free helped ensure the first international ivory ban in 1989. Since then, the organization has campaigned tirelessly against attempts to reopen international trade in ivory, as well as to bring an end to all domestic and legal trade. Born Free also tracks poaching incidents, exposes illegal ivory smuggling, supports enforcement efforts to clamp down on ivory traffickers, and, as Co-Chair of the Species Survival Network’s Elephant Working Group, works to increase protection for live elephants from trade.
In addition to the illegal ivory trade, Asian elephants in particular also face the serious threat of conflict with people through competition for shared resources, leading to injuries, tragic deaths, and orphans on both sides. Human population increases and settlement in elephant habitat can lead to habitat loss, degradation, or fragmentation, which only aggravate this competition and erode pristine areas previously offering safe haven to elephants. Ill-conceived and inappropriately located infrastructure developments fail to consider the needs of wild animals such as elephants, and can have profound impacts on wildlife both in the immediate vicinity and on far roaming species, such as African elephants.
Born Free is promoting World Wildlife Day on social media and encouraging wildlife lovers everywhere to show their support by helping to spread the message and by wearing Born Free ribbons and wristbands.
Bloody Ivory website: http://www.bloodyivory.org
World Wildlife Day website: http://www.wildlifeday.org
The Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife charity devoted to compassionate conservation and animal welfare. Born Free takes action worldwide to protect threatened species and stop individual animal suffering. Born Free believes wildlife belongs in the wild and works to phase out zoos. We rescue animals from lives of misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime care. Born Free protects lions, elephants, tigers, gorillas, wolves, polar bears, dolphins, marine turtles, and many more species in their natural habitats, working with local communities to help people and wildlife live together without conflict. Our high-profile campaigns change public attitudes, persuade decision-makers, and get results. Every year, Born Free helps hundreds of thousands of animals worldwide. For more information about Born Free, please visit www.bornfree.org.uk.
Born Free USA is a global leader in animal welfare and wildlife conservation. Through litigation, legislation, and public education, Born Free USA leads vital campaigns against animals in entertainment, exotic “pets,” trapping and fur, and the destructive international wildlife trade. Born Free USA brings to America the message of “compassionate conservation”: the vision of the U.K.-based Born Free Foundation, established in 1984 by Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, stars of the iconic film Born Free, along with their son, Will Travers. Born Free’s mission is to end suffering of wild animals in captivity, conserve threatened and endangered species, and encourage compassionate conservation globally. More at www.bornfreeusa.org, www.twitter.com/bornfreeusa, and www.facebook.com/bornfreeusa.
Media Contact: Rodi Rosensweig, 203/270-8929, TheRodiCompany@gmail.com