Good News for Elephants at CITES CoP18, but Work Left to Do

In good news for African elephants at CIITES CoP18, countries voted successfully to tighten restrictions on the trade in wild baby elephants captured in Zimbabwe and Botswana and sent to foreign captive facilities, a major victory that will cut back significantly on the number of baby elephants sent to overseas zoos!

However, there is still work to do for elephant protection. Another Proposal, which would have granted maximum CITES protections (an Appendix I listing) for all elephants regardless of location, was also defeated, albeit by a narrow margin.