I am thrilled to share with you that the bill to ban the ivory trade and protect African elephants just passed the state Senate! I’m so grateful for the unprecedented outpouring of support from you and thousands of CLCV members like you who called, wrote, and even visited their elected representatives in the state Capitol to demand they stand up for elephants and stop the illegal ivory trade in California.
The bill is now on its way to Governor Jerry Brown. We are very hopeful that the governor, like the state legislature, will stand up to powerful opponents like the National Rifle Association and ivory dealers in California and sign this bill into law. But hope isn’t enough — we need you one last time. Please contact the governor and ask him to sign AB 96 into law.
If you’ve been following the progress of this bill, you’ll recall the story we shared about a baby elephant named Losoito, who lived for only a few days after his family was killed by poachers for their tusks. Losoito’s tragic story motivated thousands of you to take action — an incredible 27,000 of you sent emails and called your lawmakers, and many of you donated what you could afford to help us get this bill to the governor’s desk.
Losoito’s story is a painfully stark reminder of the cruelty humans are capable of when driven by greed and profit. But the story I want all of us to be able to tell our children is about how Californians saw an unspeakable tragedy taking place all the way across the world — and then stood together and said “NO” to our state being one of the nation’s biggest markets for illegal ivory stolen from majestic African elephants.
Stand up for elephants — contact the governor today and ask him to sign AB 96 into law. As bill author Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins points out: “Ninety-six elephants are killed every day for their ivory — translating to 35,000 deaths each year. This species loss is unsustainable and African elephants are being poached at a higher rate than they are being born, which will result in their extinction.”
Sadly, the illegal market for ivory right here in California is the second-largest in the nation (after New York), and it’s funneling heaps of money from our state all the way to poachers in Africa. A stunning report from the Natural Resources Defense Council found up to 90% of the ivory for sale in Los Angeles and 80% in San Francisco is likely illegal under California law, meaning that the vast majority of ivory being sold in California comes from recently killed elephants. It’s time to end California’s role in the elephant slaughter and close the loophole in our state law by passing AB 96.
Thank you for everything you do to protect the world’s precious wildlife.
