Wildlife trafficking is an escalating global crisis, with thousands of rhinoceroses and elephants slaughtered every year for their horns and ivory tusks. Trade in illegal ivory has more than doubled since 2007 and tripled since 1998 [1]. If we don't take action now, these iconic species could be pushed to extinction within our lifetime [2].

The U.S. market has historically been one of the world's largest ivory markets [3]. While the U.S. has federal protections in place to stop illegal trade of endangered species between the U.S. and foreign countries and between states, they have less jurisdiction over trade within states. That's a big problem because a significant amount of trade actually happens at storefront sales within the state. In fact, as much as one-third of ivory for sale (including antiques) across the U.S. may be illegal [4].

Massachusetts lawmakers have introduced a bill to crack down on these illegal sales of ivory and rhino horn, with exemptions for legal products with a small amount of ivory/horn (Senate Bill S.496) [6]. If it passes, Massachusetts would be the seventh state to have these increased protections, imposing heavy fines on traffickers within the state and creating a fund with that money to promote conservation, and in turn adding to the global momentum to protect elephants and rhinos [5].

This is especially important because Massachusetts has an illegal ivory problem. In July 2017, authorities charged the leader of an ivory smuggling ring in Concord, MA who led a conspiracy to illegally smuggle over $700,000 worth of goods made from rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral. [7]. Without stricter laws against this illegal activity at the state-level, the wildlife trafficking crisis will only escalate. This bill will likely be considered this fall.

You have the power to make this bill a reality by writing to the Massachusetts Senate and demanding this bill be made a priority.

CITATIONS

[1]. IUCN, UNEP, CITES, & Traffic. (2013, May). Elephants in the Dust: The African Elephant Crisis. Retrieved from https://cites.org/sites/default/files/common/resources/pub/Elephants\_in\_the\_dust.pdf

[2]. IUCN. Loxodonta africana. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/12392/0

[3] IUCN. Diceros bicornis. Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6557/0

[4]. Strauss, M. (2015, September 26). Who Buys Ivory? You'd Be Surprised. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150812-elephant-ivory-demand-wildlife-trafficking-china-world/

[5]. Stiles, D., & Martin, E. (2009, June). The USA's ivory markets—how much a threat to elephants? Pachyderm, (45), 67-76. Retrieved from http://danstiles.org/publications/ivory/18.USA.pdf

[6]. Bill S.450 190th (Current). Retrieved from https://malegislature.gov

/Bills/190/SD457

[7] Associated Press. (2017, July 24). Chinese National Charged With Leading Ivory Smuggling Ring. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-07-24/chinese-national-charged-with-leading-ivory-smuggling-ring