PAWS Needs Your Help
to Save Wild Elephants and Rhinos!
Please Attend the March 10 Hearing in Sacramento on
Bill to Ban Sales of Ivory and Rhino Horn
Elephants and rhinos are being poached at alarming rates - an average of 96 elephants are killed each day in Africa, and more than 1,000 rhinos out of a remaining 29,000 in the wild were poached in South Africa alone in 2014. These animals are being gunned down and poisoned so their tusks or horns can be sold as expensive trinkets and symbols of social status.
Unless action is taken now, these iconic species are headed toward extinction.
PAWS is working to pass AB 96, the California bill co-authored by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Senator Ricardo Lara, that would ban the sale of rhino horns and ivory, with some exceptions. Though the state has prohibited the sale of ivory since 1977, a loophole rendered the law unenforceable. AB 96 will close that loophole and allow the Department of Fish and Wildlife to enforce the law, with violators subject to criminal and civil penalties. Read the bill here.
California is the second largest market for the sale of illegal ivory in the United States, and these sales are estimated to have doubled over the past eight years. The states of New York and New Jersey have already passed legislation to protect elephants and rhinos. Now it's time for California to take action.
How you can help
-
Join PAWS at the first hearing for AB 96, which will take place on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, before the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.
Please note that the hearing time has been moved from 1:30 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. The hearing will take place in Room 4202 of the State Capitol, at 10th and L Streets in Sacramento.
- Call your Assembly member and urge him or her to support AB 96, and to become a co-sponsor of the bill. Follow up your call with an email. Click here to locate your Assembly member. Follow the link to find your Assembly member's contact information, including phone number. You can send a message via an on-line contact form. If your Assembly member sits on the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, it is especially important that you make a phone call prior to the meeting on March 10. Click here to see a list of committee members.
- Share this email with others. Ask your friends, colleagues and family members to make a call or send an email today!
Please remember: Calls and emails should come from constituents only (e.g., people who live and vote in their districts). If you do not live in California and you would like to introduce a bill in your state, please contact Catherine Doyle at the email below.
Thank you for taking action to protect wild elephants and rhinos!
For more information, please contact PAWS' Director of Science, Research and Advocacy Catherine Doyle at [address removed].
