The Passion and the Pain

Avril…..for many years I have felt the same…...not only about wildlife, but even to the poor chickens that stand in cages laying eggs till they die…never seeing sunlight …squashed against each other….even while the one next to you rots away because it has died…..there is no excuse for harming an animal and I think the all the people who want furs, ivory, snake-skin boots or bags should wake up! It’s a sad world we live in Avril and I will most certainly visit the sites you have led us too. We revel in the beauty of art….not slaughter….but some people just don’t care what it costs to get that beauty to make them look big or richer or fancier…...to me it just makes them look like the instigator, as they send out the order for the goods, and also the accomplice to the murder of the animal.

Only watch this video if you have a strong stomach!

Who cares

Ohhhh Avril….I know this!!! Yes I know…i give so many time my money to the good Foundations to help!! I am for years living with minimum money…I have 5 chickens…the oldest is 11 years old!! They live in harmoney and peace…I have rescue many cats ( i have three left overs) and I have my doggy Cathy…never want animals pets in a cage…I learn my kids in the pets shore to look at the animals and ask them…do you really want a pet in a cage? and they understand me… All the little things in the world, friendship and love, are the survivors…believe me…one day we will survive with all the animals who have the love and attention from people like you Avril!!! thanks!! hugs…Ien

I have written to everyone on the list to ask them to appose the ivory trade. I wish I could put all the email addresses here but it does not fit. We can make a difference Avril….I’m sure we can. Thank you for being a good human being my friend xx

Just copy and paste these addresses for the Ivory trade.

ngoy_pascal@yahoo.fr;mike@hq.fcghana.com;conservationature@datatech.net.ml;wild.lfeg@yahoo.com;director@kws.org;kipngetich@kws.org;dwnp@gov.bw;mengxianlin@gmail.com;muna@epa.org.kw;risa.kasai@ge-japan.ch;wenforcement@rscn.org.jo;cmaquieira@minrel.gov.cl;dmzapata@minambiente.gov.co;joaquin.calvo@sinac.go.cr;seconap@conap.gob.gt;fishdiv@caribsurf.com;dpn-cites@minambiente.it;trevor.salmon@defra.gsi.gov.uk;oystein.storkersen@dirnat.no;virginia.poter@ec.gc.ca;martin.vargas@semarnat.gob.mx;kerry.smith@environment.gov.au;g.b.raaphorst@minlnv.nl;gamohammad@qatarenv.org.qa

Oh Avril, this was such a sad thing to read. There is little else that is more heartbreaking to me than the senseless slaughter of any animal for any reason… Animals are my heart and my joy… I don’t eat them, I don’t wear them, I rescue any that are in need, regardless of species, and I support animal charities as much as possible. I feel literally physically ill when I read of things like this. I just can’t fathom how a human can be so selfish as to think that some silly piece of carved rock is worth such a horrid price tag. Thank you for sharing your passion with others—I hope more people of like mind step forth and do the same. Education and fostering compassion and love are the only ways to stop practices like this.

I so hope one day we can live in peace with our fellow creatures and give them the care and respect they deserve.

By the way, I’d love to hear your snake stories. I have a few of those myself. :)

Dear Avril, killing for nothing…...if nothing means money! too ugly with no cure, i am a member in my area where i live, together with many places, hope and prey for successfully.

It is sick to think that some people have to drape the fur, of foxes, sea; pups, lynx, leopards, and man many other animals. Your pictures tell us that our selfishness know boundary, has no compassion just greed.
Most of the furs come from so called fur farms in china, where the animals are killed by stomping on their head, or smashing several times on concrete flooring, then the fur is stripped, often while they are still alive.

We can not just blame the people who are committing these despicable things, but also the consumer, the person who buys these things for vanity and ego

Thanks for bringing the subject to our mind and hopefully conscience

DO NOT BE SORRY OR APOLOGIZE for any thing you have said or shown here. It is beyond unbearable what they are doing to these magnificent, intelligent, gentle animals. Thank you for sharing this.

Hi Avril, with my travels into Africa I can tell you it doesnt stop at the elephants. I’ve been offered monkeys, told about how they steel eggs from African Grey nests, I’ve even brought a crocodile which I went and released into a river because they wanted to kill it. On my last trip to Angola I was even offered a rhino horn. In Africa there is no controll over guns wildlife etc etc, and if you have money anything can become legal. It doesnt stop at the slaughter, but when it comes to environmental policies money can quickly cover up an oilspill. Not only are the buyers of products like ivory responsible, but also the companies who enter Africa with their huge marketing drives. For example in Nigeria the average income is $10 a month or close to (and I might add its the 5th largest oil producing company in the world but thats another story). Then a cell phone company comes with a marketing drive and everyone who cant afford phones wants them, and they will do anything to get them. Poaching included. When I worked in Nigeria I worked in the River State, and there are literally rivers everywhere. When I had spare time I often walked in the jungle. It should have been teaming with monkeys etc, and I only once ever saw a bushbuck. There are rivers kilometers across which were once teaming with hippo and crocodile, and now you only ever hear stories about them. Africa’s greatest riches are its array of wildlife, and its biggest curse its minerals.

Will do, het sommer baaie stories. I’m filled with passion for Africa, but lets face it ther are things that happen here that the rest of the world dont realise. Even lots of us Africans. But will think of some stories. Can I put photos I didnt take on redbubble (obviuosly not for sale).

Thank you so much for sharing this! It’s an important issue and deserves all the attention and support it can possibly get. Thanks again!!

Powerful message, I really hope things will change for the better. Thanks for sharing Avril.

Hi Avril,

I received this today from the Uk Dept of Food and Rural Affairs,

Dear Sarah,

China’s Trading Partner Status For One-Off Ivory Sale

Thank you for your email of 3 September voicing your concerns about the ivory stockpile sale and China seeking approval to become a trading partner. I have been asked to reply.

The decision taken at the recent Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Standing Committee in Geneva was not a re-opening of any general trade in ivory, but a serious attempt to reduce the continuing poaching and illegal trade. The global ban on international trade in ivory imposed in 1989 remains firmly in place and the UK strongly supports this.

The decision taken relates to an earlier decision in 2002 by the Parties to CITES (160 countries at that time), to enable certain African countries with large populations of elephants to dispose of government-owned stockpiles in a one-off sale. The ivory stockpiles are a result of those countries collecting tusks from elephants that have died naturally in their parks and none of the ivory involved comes from illegal sources, or from poached elephants. The proceeds from the one-off sale are to be used directly for elephant conservation and related local community projects.

When approving the current one-off sale in principle, CITES Parties applied strict conditions that needed to be met before the sale could be authorised. Those conditions included the establishment of a monitoring system called MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) to establish baseline data on the level of poaching. This baseline was achieved and as a result approval was given at the Standing Committee meeting, just prior to the Convention’s 14th Conference of the Parties last year, for the one-off sale to take place. The effects of this one-off sale of ivory will be closely monitored by the MIKE programme and another monitoring system called ETIS (Elephant Trade Information System), which records illegal seizures of ivory around the world, and the results will inform CITES Parties on any future decisions on allowing further sales of this nature.

On 15 June 2007 it was agreed that no further proposals for sale of ivory stockpiles will be considered for a period of nine years following completion of this one-off sale. This will give plenty of time to monitor and assess the impacts on levels of elephant poaching and illegal trade before any further sales will be contemplated.
The purpose of the recent discussions in Geneva was to verify the ivory stocks in the four countries which have large stable or increasing populations of elephants, and to consider whether China could be approved as a trading partner to receive the one-off sale of agreed ivory stocks. Their approval means they join Japan, who had been approved last year by the CITES Standing Committee when the one-off sale was given the go-ahead.

There has been concern about China, in particular, being granted trading partner status. Whilst elephant numbers have clearly benefited from the ban on the international trade in ivory that was put in place in 1989, the illegal trade has unfortunately continued to occur all round the world. China, having historically been one of the largest markets for ivory, is inevitably one of the key destinations for illegal ivory. The tonnage involved in this one-off sale of legal ivory is significant and if it can go some way to satisfy the demand for ivory within the domestic markets of China and Japan over the next few years, the demand for illegal ivory will be reduced. We hope this will have a knock on effect on the levels of poaching of elephants. In particular we hope the sale will have as positive an effect as the last legal one-off sale in 1999 to Japan. That sale, according to Tom Milliken (Director of TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa and the ETIS programme), resulted in a decline in the illicit ivory trade. TRAFFIC is the paramount wildlife trade monitoring organisation, joint funded by WWF and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

At the recent meeting in Geneva, Standing Committee members had to assess whether China could demonstrate their ability to control the ivory stocks once they arrive, and in particular to prevent them from being re-exported. The CITES Secretariat has undertaken several missions to China since 2004 and now believes that China’s trade controls satisfy what is required under the Convention’s rules. Other missions to China by Germany, TRAFFIC, and WWF earlier this year, reinforced this perception.

Based on all the information available, and having ensured that a discussion about concerns took place, the UK (and Bulgaria who were both voting on behalf of the European Community), supported China’s application to be a trading partner for this one-off sale. Nevertheless, we recognise that China continues to be a major destination for illegal ivory and have urged China to continue to strengthen enforcement efforts to crack down on this.

The UK is looking to work directly with China on a range of wildlife crime enforcement issues through our Sustainable Development Dialogue (SDD) programme. In addition we will continue to support the CITES monitoring systems, MIKE and ETIS. As a member of the Standing Committee we will also be monitoring the use of the funds provided by the one-off sale for elephant conservation and local community projects.

You can be assured that the UK has no plans to support any re-opening of the international commercial trade in ivory.

Yours sincerely,

Liam Cresswell
Defra – Customer Contact Unit