Every year, tens of thousands of elephants are butchered for
their tusks despite a global ivory ban -- and Japan’s massive
domestic market remains one of the main drivers.
But we
have a once-in-a-generation chance to change that: Japan is fully
reviewing its ivory laws for the first time in 30
years!
Public pressure has already pushed Japanese
companies like Rakuten, Aeon, and Yahoo! Japan to ban ivory sales --
now’s our moment to make the government shut it down
altogether.
They’re drafting the laws now, and with
the global endangered species summit coming up in just weeks,
it’s our chance to put them in the spotlight. Add your name to
protect these gentle giants:
Tell Japan: shut down the ivory market, save elephant
lives.
Japan’s domestic ivory market is
massive -- and it’s all legal. On top of millions of antique ivory
items allowed in shops, the Government has an ‘official stockpile’
of more than 16,000 tusks and 80 tons of cut ivory pieces. That’s
thousands of elephants’ lives lost just for ivory sitting in
storage.
Every tusk and item sold legally increases
the risk that illegal ivory slips through -- investigation
after investigation has shown that the presence of ‘legal’ ivory in
Japan creates loopholes that fuel trafficking and
poaching.
But after years of small adjustments, Japanese
lawmakers are finally doing a full review. If they act
decisively, they could shut down one of the world’s largest legal
ivory markets -- and save thousands of elephants from
torture.
The time to act is now -- the review is almost complete, and
environment ministries from around the world will be meeting in just
weeks for their annual summit, putting Japan in the spotlight.
Add your name and share with animal lovers
everywhere:
Tell Japan: shut down the ivory market, save elephant
lives.
We know our pressure works --
just last year, we forced global tourism giant TUI to introduce a
ban on shark-fin transportation on their planes. If we focus our
attention on Japan today, we could win again -- and ensure elephants
will still be roaming the planet for generations to
come.
