BUYER BEWARE

 

80% of all ivory is taken from elephants that are illegally hunted and killedand 30% of it is bought by Americans.

 

BACKGROUND

 

This is a short page on a huge subject. Today, a staggering 10% of all species of life on Earth are endangered. In the quest for more profits, we're even threatening cherished creatures like elephants and dolphins. As a consumer, your purchases are your power. Use it to protect wildlife.

 

DID YOU KNOW

 

Ten years ago, there were 1.5 million elephants in Africa. Today -- largely because they're being slaughtered for ivory -- there are only 750,000. The elephant may become extinct by the year 2000.

 

More than 6.5 million dolphins have needlessly been killed by tuna fisherman. Using circular "purse seine" nets up to 3/4 miles long, some fishermen have surrounded an entire school of tuna, drawn the net closed at the bottom and pulled it aboard. Anything caught in the nets has died. Dolphins, which travel with yellowfin tuna, have been hauled in and slaughtered en masse.

 

SIMPLE THINGS TO DO

 

Don't buy ivory~not for any reason, under any circumstances; don't buy tortoiseshell, coral, reptile skins, cat pelts, or other prod. ucts from endangered animals or plants.

 

Check to make sure the tuna you buy is labelled "dolphin,safe" ‑‑or doret buy it. And write to Congress to support a bill that will require tuna to be labeled "dolphinsafe," or "dolphin,unsafe," so consumers will have a choice to "vote" for protecting dolphins.

 

SOURCES

Contact these groups to find out what else you can do:

World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th St. NW, Washington, D.C.

20037.

 

Center for Marine Conservation, 1725 DeSales St. NW,

Washington, D.C. 20036.

0 Earth Island Institute Dolphin Project, 300 Broadway #28, San

Francisco, CA 94133. (415) 7883666.