I was outraged to learn that Yahoo is profiting off of the sale of ivory by allowing ivory to be sold on its online network. Yahoo Japan is making huge profits by selling illegal ivory online. The global company Yahoo is separate from Yahoo Japan, however being its second largest shareholder, it has a huge say on Yahoo Japan’s policy. The illegal sale of ivory is a huge and bloody business. A pair of tusks from a single male elephant can weigh over 250 pounds. Each pound can be sold for up to $1500 on the black market. China and the United States are the world’s largest markets for ivory products. Ivory is considered a luxury cultural item in China. The main ivory products produced to meet demand are… trinkets. Here are just a few elephant facts to see if we can perhaps justify the massive demand for ivory trinkets:
- Elephants are glorious, grand, and majestic. OK – that is my opinion, not necessarily a fact!
- They are the largest animals to walk the surface of our planet. The largest elephant on record weighed
24 000 lbs! - Elephants are highly intelligent, self-aware, and sentient beings. They have incredible memories. They are family-oriented and show compassion by “hugging” and caressing each other.
- They love to play. And to communicate, elephants purr like cats!
- Elephants use their tusks to defend themselves, dig for water, and lift objects.
- Elephants cry and grieve. When passing a place where a loved one has died, an elephant will stop and remain silently still up to several minutes. The elephant will gently touch the bones of the deceased with its trunk and feet…
So… Have we justified slaughtering these magnificent and sensitive animals only to savagely extract their tusks and carve them into trinkets? The answer is a clear and indisputable NO.
Elephants are endangered. About 100 elephants are being slaughtered every day. THEY ARE STILL ALIVE while the tusks are being savagely hacked out from their heads. Unimaginable… They suffer excruciating pain and family members are exposed to and are aware of all the terror. Killing the alphas, which have the largest tusks, disrupts the herd’s entire social structure and creates many traumatized orphans. Habitat destruction and climate change are also contributing to the plight of elephants. Experts predict that elephants could be extinct from the wild in 10 or 20 years. We just CANNOT allow that to happen.
After public pressure, Google and Amazon have refused to sell ivory on their networks. So let’s put the pressure on Yahoo to do the same. Click here to sign a quick petition to tell Yahoo that we will not stand idly by while they contribute to the bloody ivory trade. Together, let’s protect our elephants – now.
Thank you for reading and for signing.
Update from Avaaz.org: “Our campaign is working!! Massive media on our petition forced Yahoo to publicly ask Yahoo Japan to review its ivory policy. But that’s not enough — only a total Yahoo sales ban will protect elephants. Let’s keep the pressure on — sign and share with everyone.”
(Sources: http://www.happyelephantcontest.com/fun-facts/; http://techtrendske.co.ke/conservationists-petition-yahoo-to-stop-selling-elephant-ivory-online/; http://theweek.com/articles/449437/tragic-price-ivory; https://www.thedodo.com/community/Elegirl/the-truth-about-tusks-648225506.html )
