My name is Ava Roden, and I’m a sixth grade student at Shelburne Community School. I believe that people should stop poaching elephants because it causes harm to the world. Not only is the ecosystem and food chain affected, but people are as well. Recently nearly 90 elephants were found dead, outside of a sanctuary in Botswana. This work; a classic job by the poachers. Not only were the elephants dead, they had been stripped of their ivory as well. Think about how the employees must feel. Seeing the animals that they care for killed right outside the sanctuary.

Why do poachers kill elephants? There is an illegal black market to sell ivory. Even though many wildlife rangers watch these beautiful beings everyday, many of them still end up getting poached. The most common weapon used is the AK-47. They shoot from above, usually from helicopters. On the ground, machetes, spears, and watermelons spiked with cyanide are most commonly used. The price of a gun ranges from state to state, but one ivory tusk can be worth up to $240, which is way more than a gun. In China, the worth of an ivory tusk is $2000! The worst thing is, people in China don’t even know that elephants are being poached for their ivory.

Overall, they estimate that 25,000 to 35,000 elephants are killed overall. But no one is held responsible for this! Less than 5% of these people have been prosecuted, and only 3 have been sent to jail. Many people think that elephants tusks can just fall out, or that they grow back like fingernails. But they don’t! Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Elephants are very much like humans. They can be gay, left handed, and they have the ability to grieve, with great memories. They have a bad reputation of stampeding and destroying, but they’re really just kind and peaceful creatures, and they need your help!

The goal of this petition is to save elephants, and raise awareness about the danger of poaching elephants.