Target: Barack Obama, President of the United States
Goal: Thank President Obama for finalizing the commercial trade of ivory in the United States.
Ivory may look and sound beautiful, but beauty should never come at the expense of an animal’s life. Too many elephants have been hunted and killed for such a minor part of their body; it has been a huge topic of public service announcements and news stories for the past several years, the species has been hunted to near-extinction. It’s ironic how the world’s largest creature was so vulnerable to even the smallest human being, thanks to the weapons used to end the creature’s life.
Last year was a major turning point in which both President Obama of the United States and President Xi Jinping of China proposed a ban on the commercial sale and trade of ivory. When the ban was proposed in 2015, the Fisheries and Wildlife services received over a million comments in support of this. Petitions, such as this one on ForceChange, were circulated in hopes of pushing the ban through.
It was a resounding success. Not only has the ivory ban in China continued unabated, but this year, the ban has been finalized in the United States. Ivory can no longer be sold or traded with few exceptions (the animal died of old age, the ivory was imported before the African elephant was listed as endangered). While the elephant is still endangered, thanks to this ban, they can no longer be hunted to extinction and will hopefully have a chance to strengthen their numbers over the next several years. This is also good news for the rhinoceros, another animal in danger of being removed from the face of the Earth due to the ivory trade.
Sign this petition to thank President Obama for helping to stop the wholesale slaughter of animals for their tusks.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear President Obama,
Thanks to you, the elephant will be safe from poachers. The ban on ivory sale and trade is one of the best things that can be done for this planet and this species, as well as for the rhinoceros. The combined efforts of yourself and of President Xi Jinping, plus the latest finalization of the ban, will hopefully soon help the elephant off of the endangered species list.
Thank you for supporting and authorizing this ban. No creature should die for the sake of such a small part of their body, and it’s wonderful that you’re encouraging people to realize this.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Geoff Hall
