To show gratitude and that we are moving forward on making fight against poaching a national priority.
President Obama just made a lot of friends in the wildlife community.
In a major speech today during his state visit to Tanzania, he announced a new executive order. Obama pledged to assist governments around the world in anti-wildlife trafficking activities. He also is taking action here at home to elevate this issue to the top levels of the U.S. Government and to enhance U.S. regulations to better protect elephants, rhinos, and other species from illegal trade.
Please take a minute to thank the White House for this historic action!
Elephants, rhinos, and hundreds of other threatened and endangered animals face an enormous and growing menace from the illegal trade of exotic animals. Record numbers of elephants were killed in 2011 and 2012 for their ivory.
Poaching fuels a multi-billion dollar global industry that is now the fourth-largest illegal activity on the planet - bigger than diamonds or gold, bigger than small-arms dealing, human-organ trafficking or art theft. Making matters worse, this crisis is increasingly driven by organized crime and terrorist groups. They've taken a militarized approach to animal slaughter and have also murdered hundreds of park rangers over the last decade
http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/news/africa-president-obama-strikes-back-against-poaching-epidemic?ms=UONDR130714005&cid=701F0000000QmUc
