Thailand. In 1989, a worldwide ban on the sale of elephant ivory was agreed to by 105 (out of 110) countries as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Although Thailand is part of the agreement, they have a unique law that allows for the sale of ivory from domesticated Asian elephants. Huh?
This law has been used to launder illegal African ivory thru Thailand. Today it is estimated 2,500 elephants are slaughtered a month worldwide for their tusks which is a status symbol in many Asian countries. Poaching is the biggest threat to African elephants while habitat encroachment is the biggest threat to Asian elephants.
Next week, Bangkok hosts the annual CITES meeting. Yesterday, a petition was delivered to the prime minister of Thailand from the World Wildlife Fund (it is free to join) calling on Thailand to ban the trade of all ivory in the country. The petition had over 500,000 signatures, including mine and Leo DiCaprio’s. Oh my.
How very cool to feel like I am making a difference. By the way, you may be wondering why the photo today looks different than the previous elephant photos. The elephant’s ears are much larger and she has tusks. Asian elephants have smaller ears and the females do not have tusks, unlike the African ones. So this is a photo of an African elephant I took while on safari in Botswana. An entirely different life experience just waiting to be shared!