Remarks by Sara Marinello

Executive Director for Government and Community Affairs

Wildlife Conservation Society

NYDEC Ivory Event

Thursday, July 27, 2017

I am Sara Marinello, Executive Director for Government and Community Affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

WCS is headquartered at the Bronx Zoo and we run four zoos and an aquarium in New York City reaching almost 4 million visitors annually.  In addition we protect wildlife and wild places in 60 countries and all the world’s oceans.

Four years ago, we announced our 96 Elephants campaign – named for the number of elephants being killed each day in Africa by poachers. Our field conservationists were on the front lines of this slaughter and the news was grim – elephants were being wiped out and something needed to be done.

The goal of the 96 Elephants campaign was simple: stop the killing, stop the trafficking and stop the demand for elephant ivory.

Since then, through partnerships with like-minded governments and NGOs, a global movement has emerged to end the ivory trade.  Nations have committed to closing ivory markets, poaching rings have been smashed, and in some cases – where there’s good on-the-ground enforcement – elephant populations have been safeguarded.

One of the key strategies was to close down domestic commercial ivory markets, and the U.S. took a leadership role.  And so did New York.  And we were so proud to be part the effort that resulted in Governor Cuomo’s enactment of New York State’s ivory ban in 2014. 

Today, we are equally proud to stand with DEC and congratulate them along with Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance on their strong enforcement and adjudication efforts.  I know their message is simple: they are telling ivory poachers and traffickers around the world that they will be put out of business. 

And in a few days, we will drive that point home even further when we come together again to crush this ivory in Central Park on Thursday, August 3rd at 10:30 am.

Since 1989, 22 countries and territories have destroyed more than 270 metric tons of confiscated ivory. This shows once again, that this is nothing short of a global movement.

The event on Thursday is being organized by DEC and WCS with support from Tiffany & Co. as well as partnering organizations: African Wildlife Foundation, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, The Humane Society of the United States, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Geographic, Save Animals Facing Extinction, United States Wildlife Trafficking Alliance, and WildAid. And special thanks to Emerald Equipment Systems for donating the crusher. Many of these organizations have been in the trenches with us from the beginning of this battle to save elephants – through global anti-poaching, anti-trafficking and demand reduction efforts as well as together advancing strong commercial ivory trade bans here in the U.S. and in other key ivory consumer countries of the past few years.

Events like this are bittersweet.  They show our resolve to stop this needless slaughter, but they are also a tangible reminder that this threat is real and elephants are continuing to die needlessly.

So on behalf on the Wildlife Conservation Society and our crush partnering organizations: THANK YOU DEC!

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