Ivory trafficking must be stopped

Residents of New Haven County have the opportunity today to help protect the majestic animals whose precious tusks were the foundation for a prosperous industry right here in Connecticut.

Thousands of innocent elephants were slaughtered and their tusks were turned into piano keys, toiletries, letter openers, billiard balls — even toothpicks! The Deep River Historical Society acknowledges that just one company milled as many as 100,000 tusks before 1929.

Today, elephants are more endangered than ever, brutally massacred for their tusks. Profits from the sale of ivory often go directly to terrorist groups (see www.lastdaysofivory.com).

We must close the market for ivory in the United States, where traffickers have been finding customers. Recent federal legislation to halt the importation of ivory into the United States still leaves dangerous loopholes that allow sales within states.

Please contact your state representative and state senator today. Tell them that Connecticut has a special responsibility to join our neighbors in New York and New Jersey in becoming the next state to stop the sale of ivor y!

We can’t turn back the clock, but we certainly can give innocent elephants today the protection they deserve. — Sandra Marenholz

Cheshire Connecticut Votes for Animals