Signatures: 2,347
Goal: 10,000
Deadline: 9-18-2003

The reports from Africa and Asia are absolutely terrifying. Ivory poachers are killing an average of one elephant EVERY DAY... and unless we take immediate action, the killings will increase at the end of November.

The vast majority of African and Asian countries are fighting to save elephants, but a powerful minority in southern Africa wants to reopen the trade in elephant ivory.

Their proposal will be accepted or rejected at the November meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Santiago, Chile.

The mere suggestion of a renewed ivory trade has already spawned a wave of elephant killings across Asia and Africa, so if these proposals succeed, elephant herds will be decimated.

IT IS NOT TOO LATE to stop the slaughter. We urgently need you to take action, tell your friends and family about this campaign. We need a massive show of support, so please do it right now. At this point every minute counts for the elephants.

The battle to save Africa and Asia’s last remaining elephant herds could be decided in the next few weeks. Now more than ever, please lend a hand by signing the petition below!

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Number	Date	Prefix	Name	City	The ivory trade makes no sense becasue...
2,351	2:17 pm PST, Nov 10		Anonymous	s.a
2,350	7:48 am PDT, Oct 25	Ms.	Teri Johnson	Cookeville
2,349	2:41 pm PDT, Oct 24	Ms.	Love Animals Too	Warwick
2,348	11:48 am PDT, Oct 24	Mr.	chris beal	Louth
2,347	11:17 am PDT, Oct 24	Ms.	Carole Wesley	England
2,346	6:01 pm PDT, Sep 22		Dandelion Goodwin	Old Orchard Beach
2,345	7:04 am PDT, Sep 21	Mrs.	Dina Fink	Germantown	Please help save these gorgeous giants. Let's allow the future generations to see and feel their true beauty on our earth. Thank you, Dina Fink
2,344	6:53 pm PDT, Sep 20	Mrs.	gail harris	damascus	Killing ANY animal for something to put on your table or wear around your neck, is there anything worse than that!
2,343	5:39 pm PDT, Sep 20	Ms.	Natalie Harris	Gaithersburg	it is unnecessary and it is driving the elephant population near to extinct in some countries.
2,342	1:42 pm PDT, Aug 21	Ms.	Laura Shirley	Aurora	To kill a species because of ridiculously selfish and vain wants of some people. This is completely unacceptable and needs to be stopped NOW! I don't want to speak to my future children and grandchildren about what an incredible creature these animals were. It's up to the people of this planet to speak for those that can't speak for themselves!
2,341	3:02 pm PDT, Jul 31	Ms.	concerned citizen	manzanita
2,340	2:06 pm PDT, Jul 19	Ms.	Angie Whiteman	Jersey
2,339	2:32 pm PDT, Jul 8	Ms.	Tessa Phillips	Calgary
2,338	9:35 pm PDT, Jun 4		sandrine lepine	00	le commerce de l'ivoire doit cesser,il ne sert à aucun vrai besoin. PROTEGER LES ELEPHANTS, ET QU'ILS RESTE LIBRE.
2,337	8:42 am PDT, May 21		Anonymous	lexington
2,336	12:59 pm PDT, Apr 30		Anonymous	Olympia	it increases poaching and therefore reduces tourism because of the violence involved. Africa can make more money from tourism than from Ivory.
2,335	12:13 pm PDT, Apr 4		Gerald Friend	Van Nuys
2,334	11:34 pm PST, Feb 19	Ms.	Jeramie Dreyfuss	Ketchum
2,333	8:21 am PST, Feb 17	Mr.	Joseph Wilson	Hometown
2,332	6:16 am PST, Jan 31	Ms.	Anonymous	Cape Town	these creatures are innocent. They haven't done anything to us!!!! These people are heartless...please help this cause
2,331	1:28 pm PST, Jan 28		John Perrott	New Braunfels	Or give them MORE habitat, like see the Care2 petition site www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-mozamiques-elephant-coast to create an additional 4000 Sq Mi of the Mozambique Elephant Coast Wildlife and Botanical National Park that would ajoin Kruger National Park to save the 5000 currently sentenced to death Kruger National Park elephants.
2,330	10:46 am PST, Nov 5		Marisa Sebastian	V	It´s sickening to allow the murdering of these majestic and highly sociable animals just to adorn vain and selfish individuals or their homes!! We have NO RIGHT to do this! BAN IT COMPLETELY NOW!!
2,329	8:08 am PDT, Aug 18	Ms.	Srishti Kapoor	Mumbai
2,328	1:26 pm PDT, Jul 21		greta malkotzoglou	Athens
2,327	11:10 am PDT, Jul 10		Laurel Watson	Maricopa
2,326	4:41 pm PDT, Jul 6	Ms.	Bonnie McNamee	Petaluma
2,325	9:19 am PDT, Jun 25		Jessica Van Dyke	West Des Moines
2,324	2:01 pm PDT, Jun 23		Frankie Clarke	liverpool	Why should we? What gives us the right to kill theses fabulous, LIVING animals?
2,323	7:12 am PDT, Jun 21	Dr.	marion cortes	Englewood
2,322	7:35 pm PDT, Jun 16		Blake Jansens	Gold Coast	What gives us the right to slaughter these magnificent creatures.We are trying to protect and preserve this fragile world, and by lifting these laws we are not moving forward, but only backwards. When will we learn that possestions are not everthing. LEAVE THESE GIANTS ALONE!
2,321	7:25 am PDT, May 14	Ms.	Emily Travis	Somerset	if it continues there won't be any ivory to trade any more so why not stop now with a choice, & save an animal's exsistance rather than later when this beautiful animal is exstint & there is no more ivory because there are no elephants for it to "grow" on.
2,320	10:33 pm PDT, May 11		Tierschuetzern Katerini	Katerini
2,319	6:03 am PDT, Apr 25		Anonymous	Denver
2,318	12:57 pm PDT, Apr 12	Ms.	Laurel Watson	Maricopa
2,317	8:51 am PDT, Apr 4		Anonymous	Wauconda
2,316	4:03 pm PDT, Apr 3	Mr.	Anonymous	Espanola	It will eventually cause Elephants to vanish from our planet.
2,315	12:28 pm PDT, Apr 1	Mr.	Dietmar Langhammer	Geretsried	since i live elephants are my favourite pets. Would like to live in their country to have one in its own region. Thats the fact about me. But the fact about many humans is, that they hunt elephants for money reasons. Just for fears about "their" farms, or more bad because the like hunting. Now we live far away from the stonetime, and need not to hunt. Hunting for fun is cruelty to us, because we are nature, too. Stopp killing elephants!
2,314	12:07 pm PDT, Mar 30		barb southworth	cambridge
2,313	11:17 am PDT, Mar 30	Ms.	Nancy Lion-Storm	Livermore	Humans share the planet with a handful of equally intelligent, sentient species that should be accorded the same rights as homo sapiens. I am signing this petition because scientists have recorded enough video evidence to prove that elephants have culture and society. They are thinking, self-aware creatures, that teach their young (pass down learned lessons), and mourn and memorize their dead. Surely this all proves that elephants should be treated with rights equal to that of humans.
2,312	3:53 am PDT, Mar 17	Ms.	Emmy Undem	Vienna	Poaching is a disgusting crime not only against wildlife but against future generations of human beings who will be deprived of the amazing and beautiful animals we take for granted today.
2,311	4:19 pm PDT, Mar 13	Ms.	Anonymous	Westminster	the ends do not justify the means. These wonderful animals should not be slaughtered for ornimental purposes.
2,310	4:59 pm PST, Feb 25		Yliana Rojas	Calgary	Elephants and their Habitats should be protected
2,309	9:28 am PST, Feb 25		Ria Smit	Amsterdam
2,308	7:16 am PST, Feb 15		Elizabeth Burlock	Mitchell
2,307	7:37 am PST, Feb 12	Ms.	Anonymous	delaplane
2,306	11:23 am PST, Feb 10		Anonymous	Glendale	"the destruction and fragmentation" of their habitats has put elephants on the endangered species list.
2,305	9:33 am PST, Feb 8		Robert JL Thompson	Portland	Global Warming is a bigger risk to elephants than poachers. We need to begin irrigating Amboseli Park, nurture the wetlands and create large shade structures for the elephants and other wildlife. It is no longer a safe place and must be stewarded as if it were a large zoo exhibit.
2,304	7:23 pm PST, Jan 25		Jude Price	Adelaide	All ivory is is "dentine" or tooth material - that the aquisition of a few pounds of Ivory means the death of an entire elephant, and the devestating impact on the family of the elephant and unkown consequences for the environment. If you have to "own" something - sponsor a live orphan elephant at Daphne Sheldricks Elephant orphanage. We are the stewards of this planet and from here its looking very bleak indeed for the future of wildlife, people and environemnt. Please, take responsibility and stand up for the future.
2,303	10:12 am PST, Jan 24		Karen Gray	Indianapolis
2,302	10:33 pm PST, Jan 23		Kaye Brown	Adelaide
2,301	10:11 pm PST, Jan 23		Karrie Kern	San Antonio

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Protecting Elephants and their Habitats

Dear Ambassador:

I am extremely concerned about the South African Government's intentions to resume trade in ivory later this year.

History has clearly shown that the trade in ivory cannot be controlled. In the period 1981 to 1989, the African elephant population decreased from approximately 1.2 million animals to 650,000, this decrease largely due to the illegal ivory trade. By 1998, approximately 80% of traded ivory originated from illegal sources.

I respectfully request that you bring ,my deep concern to the attention of the South African Government and recommend that South Africa reconsider its position and withdraw its proposal on the following grounds:

The trade in ivory cannot be controlled.
The sale of stockpiled ivory will encourage illegal trade, poaching and further stockpiling.
Many African and Asian elephant range states do not have adequate enforcement measures in place to prevent poaching, which is impacting negatively on elephant populations in certain parts of their range.

Many African elephant range states do not have the capacity to implement reliable monitoring systems (MIKE) to monitor the effects of CITES decisions on elephant poaching and illegal trade.

Not all elephant range states support the southern African proposals (e.g. Kenya, India, Mali).

Poaching does not only affect the African savannah elephant but also the African forest elephant (now considered a separate species) as well as the Asian elephant (numbers much lower than the African elephant species).

Little is known about the threats of the trade in elephant meat for the commercial bushmeat trade but evidence suggests that this trade is relevant in certain parts of the African elephant's range.

There is substantial uncertainty regarding the effects of the political turmoil in Zimbabwe on Zimbabwean elephant populations.

Elephant range has decreased dramatically due to habitat fragmentation and human encroachment.

A large percentage of the African elephant population is confined to small, pocketed areas where they are easy targets for poachers.

There is also uncertainty around the potential negative effects of drought on elephant populations in many African elephant range states - while it is known that in certain parts of their range, African elephant populations are being affected.

In the light of the prevailing uncertainty, a precautionary approach should be adopted when the Southern African ivory proposals are considered.

Note: This Protecting Elephants and their Habitats petition was submitted by Int'l Fund for Animal Welfare&Leonardo DiCaprio. ThePetitionSite.com is a free service provided to help concerned citizens rally support for issues they believe in. The opinions expressed by this petition do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of ThePetitionSite.com or Care2.com. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition nor any newsletter offers (except those from Care2.com) by Care2.com, Inc, ThePetitionSite.com, or our sponsors. If you believe this system is being abused, please contact customer support.

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