Intelligence Community Targets Wildlife Trafficking
Ohio
Families can save Elephants and Rhinos
This drawing is one of thousands created by schoolchildren asking elected leaders to save Elephants and vote for an ivory ban. -Huffington Post
In 2014, The Toledo Zoo encouraged children to paint photos of Elephants showing their support for conservation, and Ivory Free Ohio is asking you to do the same. We need to educate the younger generations and make sure that Elephants and Rhinos have a bright future for years to come. Here is how you and your family can help save these iconic, keystone species from extinction:
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An Open Letter to the Cleveland Orchestra
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
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.
Petition to Outlaw Ivory and Rhino Horn Products in Ohio
Photo Courtesy of WWF
A Call to Action Outlawing Ivory and Rhino Horn in the State of Ohio
The purpose of this petition is to enact legislation banning the import, in-state, and Internet sale and distribution of raw and worked ivory and Rhinoceros horn products in the state of Ohio.
In 2014, President Barack Obama issued an executive order banning the import and export of ivory, yet the United States remains the largest consumer after China as the order fails to include; the import, in-state, Internet, and diplomatic loopholes. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2014)
Trafficking of illegal ivory is a transnational organized crime run by terrorists and radicalists whom threaten our national security, our wildlife, and our people. (IFAW, 2013) “There is no legislation in Ohio and this is what I am working to change.”
Ivory Free Ohio-IFOH 