Ivory ban proponents are feeling the heat from those who would protect their right to own and sell legal ivory on both the federal and state levels.
If recent developments are indicative, the actions of those fighting to protect their right to sell their legal ivory are having the desired effect.
However, much work remains to be done.
According to Rob Mitchell of the Elephant Protection Association, ivory ban proponents have been scrambling to torpedo pending Congressional bills that would stop a nationwide ivory ban. “In the past few weeks, the Wildlife Conservation Society [WCS] has e-mailed its members praising the the New Jersey ivory ban while soliciting contributions to fight back the bills pending in Congress to stop a federal domestic ivory ban,” Mitchell writes.
New Jersey’s ban is especially heinous as it bans not only elephant ivory but fossil ivories as well. Like New Jersey, New York has instituted a state ivory ban that exceeds the restrictions recommended by U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
According to Mitchell, John Calvelli of the WCS said, “I can’t overstate what a threat this is. These bills could be attached to any larger piece of legislation and swiftly passed at any time.” Meanwhile, the WCS is calling on its members to urge their lawmakers to halt any and all efforts to stop ivory bans on both the federal and state levels.
Mitchell indicated the WCS is disseminating false stories to trigger public hysteria about the possibility of elephant extinction in attempts to snuff out rational discourse on how to both protect elephants and Americans’ right to sell their legal ivory. He added that the WCS is “an organization with over $210 million in annual revenue and over $750 million in assets” that “continues to lead the publicity campaign drawing misleading relationships between legal ivory in the United States and poaching in Africa.”
For information on how you can help protect both the elephant and the rights of Americans to sell their legal ivory, visit elephantprotection.org.
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