Greetings fellow elephant lovers and supporters! Thank you for continuing to sign and share the #IvoryFreeCanada petition to end the import, domestic sale, and export of elephant ivory in Canada.

As we all know, this year has been difficult for many due to Covid and the ramifications we've all experienced from it in one form or another.  We hope this message finds you all healthy and staying safe. 

We recently sent another letter to the Canadian government urging them to act immediately to ban the trade of elephant ivory in Canada. With an election looming in the near future the time to act could not be more pressing. Our petition has garnered over 629,000 signatures and continues to climb. Canadian citizens are demanding action be taken to protect elephants from becoming extinct.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently updated its red list of threatened species to include the African elephant. (see attached article). It is now split into two different categories with the Savannah elephant classified as endangered and the forest elephant classified as critically endangered. It highlights a broad scale decline in African elephant numbers across the continent. The number of African forest elephants fell by more than 86% over a period of 31 years, while the population of African savanna elephants decreased by at least 60% over the last 50 years, according to the assessments. 

Losing elephants at an unprecedented rate perpetuates a loss of global biodiversity. Loss of biodiversity is the greatest threat today for our own survival. Biodiversity loss is also greatly affected by wildlife trafficking, wildlife markets, poaching, and hunting. Live animal markets are a major source of new viruses including ones that cause zoonotic diseases, such as Covid, that are transmitted between species. We are living today with the results of our actions due to the mistreatment of our environment through our continued commodification of wildlife and nature. Wildlife is being hunted and poached to extinction for fake medicine, trophies, pets, and exotic food. There is a finite number of elephants and other species available for exploitation. By closing the domestic trade of elephant ivory in Canada it would demonstrate that we are leaders on urgent issues that threaten the all-encompassing loss of biodiversity to our planet.

Recently, the UK tabled a raft of legislation to declare animals as sentient, halt most live exports, ban ivory and shark fin sales, and import of wild trophies from endangered species. They are leaders. Canada needs to emulate their actions and draft similar legislation into practice immediately.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) thirty-first meeting of the Animals Committee is taking place in May/June, 2021. There is a definite urgency to get this ban done.

We ask that you continue to advocate for elephants by sharing our petition and contact your local MP to support our work.

Sincerely,

Fran Duthie
President - Elephanatics
Elephanatics.org