Letter to Prime Minister Cameron calling for ban on all UK ivory trade – Oct 2015
6 October 2015
Dear Prime Minister,
Our group Action for Elephants UK and the undersigned are writing to appeal to you to ban all trade in ivory in the UK, as promised in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto in 2010 and reiterated in its 2015 manifesto.
Action for Elephants UK is a grass-roots advocacy group dedicated to raising awareness and taking action on behalf of elephants both in the wild and captivity. In particular, we are working to end the elephant poaching crisis and ivory trade. Our group has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2013, reflecting the increasing public concern for the ongoing poaching crisis that is decimating elephants in the wild.
It is estimated that upwards of 35,000 elephants continue to be slaughtered for their ivory every year. At this rate of poaching, the two species of African elephants (savannah and forest) could disappear from the wild within a generation. The window of opportunity for saving them is rapidly shrinking. As you are aware, the most significant way that elephants can be saved from extinction is by ending consumer demand for ivory and closing down domestic ivory markets, everywhere.
At present a legal ivory trade exists in the UK. Within the EU, the UK is one of the largest markets for ivory; the UK sells significant amounts of ivory on online marketplaces. Any legal trade enables and encourages illegal trade in ivory, while continuing to perpetuate the cycle of supply and demand.
Further, it makes it more difficult to urge China to adopt an ivory ban if the UK and other western countries have failed to do the same.
In the 5 years since the Conservative Party committed to ending ivory trade in 2010, elephant numbers have crashed in what has become the worst poaching crisis ever. Between 2010 and 2012 over 100,000 elephants were brutally slaughtered for their ivory. Tanzania alone has lost 60% of its elephant population, and Mozambique around half. The trade is fuelled by organized criminal syndicates and widespread corruption, and terrorist groups are also involved in, and partly funded by, poaching and trafficking.
In 2014, the US government announced federal initiatives to ban ivory, and in July 2015 President Obama proposed new regulations that would virtually eliminate all ivory trade in the US. In February 2015, China imposed a 1-year ban on the import of carved ivory, and in May announced it would ‘take measures to strictly control its ivory trade until eventually halting commercial processing and the sale of ivory and its products’. Last month President Obama and Xi Jinping agreed to enact ‘nearly complete bans on ivory imports and exports’ and to ‘take steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory’.
Now is the time for the UK to join the global momentum and for the government to turn its promise to ban all ivory trade into long overdue action.
Prime Minister, on behalf of all concerned citizens in the UK, we respectfully appeal to you to honour your pledge and commit the UK to ending all domestic trade in ivory once and for all.
We thank you for your attention and consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Maria Mossman
And the undersigned
Damian Aspinall
Chairman, The Aspinall Foundation
Mike Baker
Chief Executive, World Animal Protection
Claire Bass
Executive Director, Humane Society International UK (HSI UK)
Sport Beattie
Game Rangers International
Sarah Blaine
CEO and Founder of Mahouts Elephant Foundation
Scott Blais
Co-founder, Global Sanctuary for Elephants
Richard Bonham
Co-founder & Director, Big Life Foundation
Rob Brandford
Director David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust iworry Campaign
and
Dame Daphne Sheldrick DBE
Chairman David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Carol Buckley
Founder, Elephant Aid International
Reute Butler
President, Friends of Conservation US
and Jorie Butler Kent
Founder and Chairman, Friends of Conservation
and
Amanda Bleasby
Operations Director, Friends of Conservation UK
Julie Callahan
March for Elephants, Santa Cruz, CA
Nicky Campbell
TV and radio presenter
Salisha Chandra
Founding member, Kenyans United Against Poaching – KUAPO Trust
Stefano & Liz Cheli
CEOs, Cheli & Peacock Safaris and the C&P Community Trust
Katherine Connor
Founder and CEO, Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary
Ian Craig
Director of Conservation, The Northern Rangelands Trust
Brian Davies
Network for Animals
Arend de Haas
Co-founder & Director, African Conservation Foundation
Iain Douglas-Hamilton OBE
Founder and CEO, Save the Elephants
Lee Durrell
Honorary Director, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Dr Keith Dutlow
Trustee and Director, AWARE Trust Zimbabwe
Dominic Dyer
CEO Badger Trust & Policy Advisor Born Free Foundation
Dr Kate Evans
Founder & Director, Elephants for Africa
Peter Fearnhead
CEO, African Parks
Sudarshani Fernando
Co-founder & Facilitator, Sentinels Against Wildlife Crime (SAWC)
Ricky Gervais
Writer and producer
Jane Goodall PhD DBE
Founder the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace
Max Graham
Founder & CEO, Space for Giants
Raabia Hawa
Executive Director, Ulinzi Africa Foundation& Founder of Walk With Rangers Initiative
Stephanie Hilbourne OBE
Chief Executive, The Wildlife Trusts
Liz Hosken
Director, The Gaia Foundation
Sujeewa Jasinghe
Co-founder & Director, Centre for Eco-cultural Studies (CES)
Stanley Johnson
Author and conservationist
Dr Trevor Jones
Southern Tanzania Elephant Project
Paula Kahumbu, OGW
Chief Executive Officer, Wildlife Direct
Max and Josh Kauderer
Founders, Elephant Highway
Alan Knight OBE
CEO, International Animal Rescue
Peter Knights
Executive Director, WildAid
Hussein Lalani
Ex-CEO, 99p
James Littlewood
Director, Natural History Society of Northumbria
Joanna Lumley OBE
Philip Mansbridge
Director, UK – International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
Struan McDougall
Founder and trustee, The CCG Trust
Virginia McKenna OBE Hon Dr Science
Founder, Born Free Foundation
and
Will Travers
President, Born Free Foundation
Kate Moore
Programmes Manager, Lilongwe Wildlife Trust
Dr Ciaran Mundy and Dominic Neate
Trustees, One World Wildlife
Ingrid E Newkirk
Founder, PETA
Graeme Oliver
Director, Poached Rhino
Asgar Pathan
Executive Director, Care for the Wild Kenya
Dr. Mark Pilgrim
Director General, Chester Zoo, former chair UK Elephant Welfare Group
Ian Redmond
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Mary Rice
Executive Director, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
Jo Roberts
CEO, The Wilderness Foundation
John Roberts
Director of Elephants, Golden Triangle Elephant Foundation
Jen Samuel
President, Elephants DC
Noor Santosian
Founder, Africa Nomads Conservation
John Sauven
Executive Director, Greenpeace UK
David Shepherd CBE
Founder and President of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation
The Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith
Bishop of St Albans
Craig Spencer
Founder and Executive Director, Black Mamba APU, Head Warden, Balule Nature Reserve
Patsy Stagman
Rhino Conservation Dubai
Ian Stevenson
CEO Conservation Lower Zambezi
Yvette Taylor
International Executive Director, Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization
Janet Thomas
Founder and Chairperson, Animal Aid Abroad Inc.
Jaime Unwin and Hannah Pollock
Co-Founders, Stand up for Nature
Stéphanie Vergniault
Chairman, SOS Elephants
Rory Young
Co-Founder, Chengeta Wildlife
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