An Open Letter to the Cleveland Orchestra

Ivory Free Ohio

Photo Credit; WWF

Dear Cleveland Orchestra,

My name is Christina LaMonica, and I am the Founder of Ivory Free Ohio, a grassroots organization dedicated to outlawing all intra-state sales of Ivory, Rhino Horn, and Trophy Hunting products in our state without exemption. We’ve never met in person, but we’ve communicated via telephone and emails regarding our movement and your continued support.

As you are aware, we’ve worked diligently with Senator Frank LaRose and his staff, educating them on the adverse effects of the Ivory trade while creating legislation that protects our national security and helps Africa’s keystone species from extinction.

Using an ax, machete, and chainsaw, poachers hack the faces of Elephants and Rhinos while they are still alive.  Photo Credit; The Tsavo Trust

The United States is the largest consumer of Ivory and Rhino Horn products- 2nd to China. One Elephant is slaughtered every 15 minutes. That’s four an hour, 96 a day, 672 a week, 2,880 a month, and 34,560 a year. And in the time it took you and your constituents (Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Museum of Art) to hijack our Ivory Bill, over 25,000 Elephants have been killed for their Ivory tusks.

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Be Ivory Free

By; Christina LaMonica

Christina LaMonica at the Third Annual International March for Elephants in Washington, D.C.

Ivory Free Ohio Founder; Christina LaMonica, delivers White House Speech.  Photo Courtesy; Phil McAuliffe

I had the wonderful opportunity of unveiling “Ivory Free Ohio” to a National and International audience at the Third Annual International March for Elephants and Rhinos in Washington, D.C. The March was sponsored by Elephants D.C. and iWorry, an organization launched by Actress Kristin Davis; Patron and Ambassador to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya.

I was invited as a guest speaker, together with; New Jersey Assemblyman; Raj Mukherji, who succeeded in an outright ban of Ivory and Rhino Horn products in his state with Senator Raymond J. Lesniak. Pennsylvania Representative; Madeleine Dean who introduced HB 1537, and Premier Conseiller; Rod Rembendambya on behalf of His Excellency Michael Moussa-Adamo with the Embassy of Gabon in Washington, D.C., just to name a few.

As Founder of Ivory Free Ohio: a grassroots initiative committed to ending the trade of Ivory, Rhino Horn, and Trophy Hunting Products, my speech was framed around cultivating the courage to create change within our communities, educating ourselves and others on environmental policy, and bridging the gap of communication with State and Federal Legislators on how the trade of these products funds terrorism, threatens our national security, and our keystone species.

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Sudan, the Last Male Northern White Rhino, Dies in Kenya

The 45-year-old Sudan, the sole remaining male of the rare subspecies of white rhino, died in Kenya. By CAMILLA SCHICK on Publish Date March 20, 2018. Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters.

Trump Administration Quietly Decides — Again — To Allow Elephant Trophy Imports

By; Colin Dwyer

Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/06/591209422/trump-administration-quietly-decides-again-to-allow-elephant-trophy-imports

Exclusive: Trump Slams Elephant Hunting For Trophies, Skeptical Fees Go For Conservation

In an interview with Piers Morgan set to air Sunday, Trump calls the initial U.S. decision to lift a ban on trophy imports “terrible.”

By Yashar Ali

In an interview with Piers Morgan set to air Sunday night in the U.K., President Donald Trump used the word “terrible” to describe the initial decision last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to overturn an Obama era ban on the import of elephant trophies.

Trump also says he does not believe the substantial fees that hunters pay to hunt elephants and other species actually go toward conservation efforts, as is often claimed, and instead are pocketed by government officials in other countries.

Trump confirms that the ban on importing elephant trophies from the African nations of Zimbabwe and Zambia will remain in place. That was not clear after he initially put the ban reversal on hold, pending further study.

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China Shuts Down Its Legal Ivory Trade

Two years after a joint pledge with the United States to ban the domestic trade in Ivory, all of China’s government-licensed carving factories and Ivory retailers are about to close.

China is one of the world’s biggest consumers of ivory products. By the end of 2017, it will have imposed a near-complete ban on buying and selling ivory.
PHOTOGRAPH BY CAMERON SPENCER, GETTY IMAGES

By; Rachael Bale

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/wildlife-watch-china-ivory-ban-goes-into-effect/

For Now, Trump Keeps Ban on Import of Elephant Trophies

 

For Now, Trump Keeps Ban on Import of Elephant Trophies