We highly recommend all of you being elephant advocates to read the linked article. It is a sobering description of what CITES (cites.org) is about, the framework for what Secretary-General John Scanlon and his staff in the Secretariat is focusing on on behalf of its 180 member states. It is often tempting to hammer #CITES for not doing anything in cases where the interest and welfare of elephants clearly is compromised. The sad fact is that CITES (through its Secretariat) has a very limited mandate when it comes to anything involving animal welfare. CITES is basically a trade organisation not allowed to be other than a lame duck in cases upsetting people around the world caring for elephants and other animals. While a way forward could be to change CITES’ mandate, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that that won’t happen over night. #ElephantVoices believe it is very necessary, though. We welcome your comments and views, and will forward constructive suggestions to Mr. Scanlon. And just to add - we have not given up on convincing the Zimbabwean Government that they have much more to lose than to gain if they move forward with their destructive practise of capturing and exporting elephants.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 00:54:00 +0000
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