CRISIS: Elephants and polar bears need your help!
20 years after the ivory ban, elephants are in crisis again with two countries wanting to re-open the ivory trade by selling their stockpiles.
IFAW believes ANY ivory trade leads to an increase in poaching as it provides a smokescreen for poachers to sell illegal ivory. This view is supported by the 23-country strong African Elephant Coalition. They need the EU’s support in their fight against poaching. Recent stockpile sales to Japan and China resulted in a huge increase in seizures of illegal ivory and poaching. Elephants in Senegal and Sierra Leone are already being wiped out. The only solution is a total ban on ivory sales if we want any chance of saving this magnificent species.
Polar bears are watching their icy habitat melt underneath their feet, yet still face the threat of trophy hunting and commercial trade in their skins.
The EU has the power to save the elephants and polar bears by taking a strong stance at the next CITES (Convention on Trade in Endangered Species) meeting in March. A vote for a total ivory ban is vital if we are to save the elephant, and polar bears need protection from hunting and commercial trade.
Haiti Emergency Relief Response
IFAW’s animal relief responders in Haiti continue to work long days with the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) to provide immediate veterinary care, vaccinations, and food to both companion and farm animals.
The team have found and cared for many injured and undernourished animals, and vaccinated and treated them for fleas and other conditions.
Please click here to learn more about IFAW’s efforts in Haiti
Hunt monitor footage can be used as evidence despite claims by hunters
IFAW is deeply troubled to see that the pro-hunt lobby, the Countryside Alliance, is actively misleading its supporters by claiming on its website that hunt monitor footage needs approval under the Regulation of Investigating Powers Act (RIPA).
The Crown Prosecution Service has issued clarification stating that, contrary to this claim, evidence obtained by hunt monitors acting independently does not need authorisation under RIPA and is legal and admissible in a court of law.
The hunters are also desperately trying to claim that monitors gathering potential evidence of them breaking the law is a breach of their human rights. Again this is not the case. It is worth remembering that the European Court of Human Rights recently issued a judgment on the Hunting Act which concluded that ‘the bans had been designed to eliminate the hunting and killing of animals for sport in a manner causing suffering and being morally objectionable’.
IFAW monitors will not be deterred by this pro-hunt spin and will continue to peacefully and lawfully gather evidence of breaches of the Hunting Act.
