Elephant Emergency!

Elephants have long been hunted just for their tusks which are made of ivory. People like ivory a lot. They use it for boxes and jewelry and doodads and piano keys and chopsticks. So many people want ivory that too many elephants were killed just for their tusks.

Elephants are wise and noble creatures. They have strong family units. Only adults have tusks – both males and females. When the adults are killed, the babies have no one to teach them elephant survival skills. Elephants deserve to keep their tusks.

President Obama put protection in place by banning ivory.

Donald Trump’s government wants to remove that ban which means that hunting for elephants just for their tusks will be legal again.

The Bill that wants to remove the ban is called The African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act (HR 226). But it’s not about conservation: it’s about ivory and hunting. If you’re interested, you can read about it here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/226?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr226%22%5D%7D&r=1

We are calling on KOTUS to send postcards and lots of them to these people:

The author of the bill: Don Young, Republican Representative, Alaska

Sen. Young is also the author of the bill that allows people to kill wolf cubs and hibernating bears and to shoot wildlife from planes. He is no friend of animals.

Tell him that you want elephants around when you grow up. Tell him to leave the animals alone Tell him how sad this makes you. Draw pictures. Mail your cards and letter so:

Representative Don Young

2314 Rayburn House Office Building

45 Independence Ave SW

Washington, DC 20515

You can call him, too, once you’ve cleared it with the folks: (202) 225-5765

Your Representatives. Use the Handy-Dandy MOCFinder to find out who your representative(s) is. Send them a postcard telling them why you want them to VOTE NO on 226. You can also send postcards to their local offices which you can look up on the internet.

Write a postcard to the UN Environment Programme. Tell them you want elephants around when you grow up. Ask them what you can do to help:

Erik Solheim, Executive Directior

United Nations Environment Programme United Nations Avenue, Gigiri PO Box 30552, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya

This will need an international stamp