Photo courtesy DSWT

Sign the Petition

The first thing you can do is sign our petition to add your name to the list of people worldwide who cannot imagine a world without elephants. By signing our online petition to Say No to the ivory trade, you will help us to show politicians attending the meeting of CITES in March 2013 how adamant we all are that they should vote against any movement to legalise the sales of ivory in any form.

Encourage others to sign the petition

We are aiming to secure 36,000 signatures in the six months between September 2012 and March 2013. You can help us by spreading the word to your friends and family. Engage with our social media campaigning and share the message to everyone you know, to raise awareness that the ivory trade is a bigger problem now than ever, and now is the time for us all to act together if we want to protect elephants. Time is running out.

Speak up for elephants

The most effective thing you can do to help bring an end to the ivory trade is to write to your country’s representative at CITES (www.CITES.org). National contacts and information can be found by clicking on the name of the relevant country at http://www.cites.org/cms/index.php/lang-en/component/cp/

Write to your country’s representatives to express your opinion that under no circumstances should sales of ivory be made legal (since legal sales of stockpiles always corresponds to a rise in poaching).

Never buy, sell or display ivory

Buying products made from ivory, or displaying ivory items, increases sale and demand for ivory products and continues to drive the trade. Disposing of existing ivory possessions in a way which ensures they will not go back into circulation, will help to stop the continuation of the ivory trade. Many people are unaware that ‘new’ illegal ivory is often passed off as ‘old’ ivory from stockpiles, so never buy or sell any ivory.

Spread the word

Many people are unaware of the severity of the threats facing the African Elephant. Talk to your friends and family to help raise awareness of the problem. Encouraging support for frontline conservation charities such as the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org) will help give elephants their best chance at surviving the current threats and flourishing in the wild in future.

Foster an elephant

The elephants rescued by the DSWT are reliant upon them for up to 10 years, before they choose to return to the wild. Each elephant requires a stockade, the care of specialist keepers who stay with the orphans 24 hours a day, milk formula every 3 hours and additional nutrients and medicines where necessary. The full cost of care for each elephant is approximately $500 USD each month averaged across all the age groups, with the youngest Nursery calves costing $800 USD to receive the very best care. You can foster a baby elephant to become part of the elephant’s extended human family, with your donation of $50 USD a year contributing much needed funds to the DSWT Orphans Project. Foster parents receive a personalised certificate, monthly email update of their elephant, photographs and more.

Donate

Donate as little or as much as you are able to today to help the DSWT carry out valuable anti-poaching work in Kenya, and help to care for the elephants already affected by poaching. http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/html/help.html

About the Campaign

At the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust we love elephants and we can’t imagine a world without them. But if we don’t all come together to stand up for elephants and add our voice to those fighting against the ivory trade, the African elephant species could be lost forever. As long as there is a market for ivory elephants will be cruelly killed for their teeth.

We want everyone who loves elephants to Say No to Ivory and stand up for elephants.

The DSWT iWorry campaign aims to raise awareness of the urgent need to stop all trade in ivory internationally, in order to protect the future of elephants.

Source: http://www.iworry.org/
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