Jane Goodall and Leonardo DiCaprio Among Super Heroes to Help Elephants

An elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory — ivory that’s turned into status symbols, inserted into jewelry, and grounded into traditional Eastern medicine. Elephants are being poached at such a rapid rate that less than 500,000 are believed to roam in the wilds of Africa’s savannas.

Luckily, people are rising up against poachers and the illegal trade of ivory with China (the biggest importer of ivory), Hong Kong, and France participating in public ivory crushes in the past few months. The U.S. has also made huge positive steps toward criminalizing the ivory trade with its new proposed rules on halting the domestic sell and purchase of ivory. Now, a host of big-name animal advocates  — such as Jane Goodall, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Dave Matthews are joining the fight.

In a recent open letter published in the Washington Post, animal advocates, businesses, and organizations expressed their Support for the Obama administration’s proposed regulations to halt the ivory trade within U.S. borders.

“It is my hope that this strong move by President Obama will encourage other countries to do whatever it takes to end the demand for ivory products – from wild elephants – within their own borders,” said Jane Goodall, primatologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger Peace.

The U.S. will join a list of 30 countries who have already taken a stance against the illegal ivory trade and are standing up as heroes for endangered elephants. Let’s hope more nations will follow and, together, we can help save these gentle giants.

“Closing the door to the illegal ivory trade in the U.S. is an important step towards saving elephants,” said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, “and signals to the world that the continued existence of elephants must be valued above mere ivory trinkets.”

Image Source: Thomas Berg/Flickr