CITES: Over 40 years old and long in the tooth
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CITES 2013 – Bangkok
At its signature 40 years ago, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, was visionary; a fact highlighted by speeches at Bangkok during the opening of its 16 plenary session. Today, it’s falling behind. CITES is disconnected from chemical and radioactive contamination of wildlife, climate change, political chaos and population changes that increase the speed of the extinction of biodiversity.
Save the old ladies!
The decision to put to death two Asian elephants from the Golden Head Zoo (zoo de la Tête d’Or) in Lyon, France, would be tainted with illegality and cruelty.
Cruelty
Each year, thousands of elephants are put to death in Africa and Asia as a result of illegal ivory trade and the regression of their natural habitats. The execution of these two elephants, aged 42 and 43, can be added to that number. These elephants have reached a very respectable age for the elephantine species; only a small number of specimens in the wild have in this period the chance to grow as old.
