BUYER BEWARE
80% of all ivory is taken from elephants that are illegally
hunted and killed‑and 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 "dolphin‑safe," 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) 788‑3666.