Global march for éléphants, rhinos and tigers
Each year, poaching kills 35 000 elephants, over 1000 rhinos and over 100 tigers.
These numbers continue to rise... In Aftrica, elephants are being killed faster than they can reproduce: the rate that they are poached is (7,4%) on the continent which is greater than the natural rate of reproduction of (5-6%). An elephant dies every 15 minutes for its tusks. At this rate the species will disappear completely, in less than 5 years.
This booming illegal trade is fueled by a growing ivory trade and also for the bones of tigers and lions by the Chinese middle class but also the United States. Each year, 220 tons of elephant ivory is treated and carved in factories in Asia, especially China. But the problem is wider and has also political implications: numerous poachers are linked to financing terrorist operations, this illegal trade represents an exceptional financial windfall. In France in 2013, 18 of the largest seizures of ivory poached alone accounted for more than 416 tons, several million euros. More generally, wildlife trafficking is estimated at over $14 million per year worldwide.
Geraldine Jacquinot (volunteer wildlife conservation programs in Africa and Asia) Margaux Levasseur (veterinary student who intends to work with wildlife or in wildlife conservation) and Frederic Geffroy Founding President of the Association 'Planete Tiger' are organizing this great global march in Paris on Saturday October 4th from 3pm with more than 122 cities around the world to educate the public and governments to the programmed disappearance of these species and to strengthen the fight against the trade in wildlife products such as ivory and the bones of tigers and lions.
