William deBuys writes:\u00a0 Last month China announced that it would ban ivory imports for a year, while it \u201cevaluates\u201d the effectiveness of the ban in reducing internal demand for ivory carvings on the current slaughter of approximately 100 African elephants per day. The promise, however, rings hollow following a report in November (hotly denied by China) that Chinese diplomats used President Xi Jinping\u2019s presidential plane to smuggle thousands of pounds of poached elephant tusks out of Tanzania.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has launched its own well-meaning but distinctly inadequate initiative to curb the trade. Even if you missed the roll-out of that policy, you probably know that current trends are leading us toward a planetary animal dystopia, a most un-Disneyesque world in which the great forests and savannahs of the planet will bid farewell to the species earlier generations referred to as their \u201croyalty.\u201d No more King of the Jungle, while Dorothy\u2019s \u201cLions and tigers and bears, oh my!\u201d will truly be over the rainbow. And that\u2019s just for starters.<\/p>\n
The even grimmer news that rarely makes the headlines is that the lesser subjects of that old royalty are vanishing, too. Though largely unacknowledged, the current war is far redder in tooth and claw than anything nature has to offer. It threatens not just charismatic species like elephants, gibbons, and rhinos, but countless others with permanent oblivion.\u00a0\u00a0 Illegal Traffic in Wildlife<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n William deBuys writes:\u00a0 Last month China announced that it would ban ivory imports for a year, while it \u201cevaluates\u201d the effectiveness of the ban in reducing internal demand for ivory carvings on the current slaughter of approximately 100 African elephants … Continue reading ![\"Illegal](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Illegal-Wildlife-Traffic.jpg\")
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