No April Fools - Your Voice Needed before April 1

This is no April Fool’s joke - your voice is needed by April 1! The US Fish and Wildlife Service is considering lifting the elephant trophy hunting ban! The Dodo reports on 5 reasons why this ban must NOT be lifted:

1. The wildlife crisis that prompted the bans is still underway, and the governments of Tanzania and Zimbabwe have failed to stop corruption.

2. The currently available data on Zimbabwe elephant populations can’t be trusted.

3. The ban sends a strong message to other nations that may seek to model themselves after Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

4. Elephants are worth far more alive than they are as dead “trophies.”

5. Elephants are intelligent, gentle, emotionally complex creatures — not trophies!

We’d like to add a sixth reason:

6. It is our duty as human beings to protect all life. We had no choice as to our birth in this universe. But now that we are here, we have the responsibility to care for it.

The article continues stating that if hunting lobbyists are the only ones speaking out about the ban, they might be successful in getting what they want. That’s why it’s important that all of us who desire a long and healthy future for wild elephants need to speak out and support the USFWS in extending these essential “trophy” import bans from Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

ADDING YOUR VOICE IS EASY.

Just send an email to the US Fish and Wildlife Service by writing to [email protected] and express your support for elephants by calling for the continuation of the “trophy” hunting import ban. You can also reach out to the Service on Facebook and Twitter. Please get your message out before April 1, 2015.

Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventure, and for hides and furs is a phenomena which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging is such acts of brutality.
- The Dalai Lama