The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P.,
Minister of Environment and Climate Change,
House of Commons, Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
via email: Steven.Guilbeault@parl.gc.ca
cc:
Hon. Mary NG, P.C., M.P., Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development – mary.ng@parl.gc.ca
Hon. Mélanie Joly, P.C., M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs – melanie.joly@parl.gc.ca
Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson, P.C. M.P., Minister of Energy and natural Resources – jonathan.wilkinson@parl.gc.ca
Christopher Thornley, High Commissioner for Canada to the Republic of Kenya – nairobi@international.gc.ca
July 12th, 2024
Dear Minister Guilbeault,
Elephanatics, a Vancouver based elephant advocacy organization and co-leader of the Ivory-Free-Canada campaign, thanks you and your team, again, for implementing regulations to end the trade of elephant ivory and rhino horn in Canada.
As you know, elephants are a highly endangered keystone species that are not only emotionally intelligent but central to maintaining vibrant local biodiversity and ecosystems. While the Canadian ivory ban is essential to their protection, the threats facing elephants are multiple and, unfortunately, ongoing.
Recently, a thirty-year moratorium protecting elephants along the Kenyan and Tanzanian border has ended with the killing of 5 large male tuskers. Elephants along this border travel historic migratory routes which are now endangering them.
These elephants, also known as “Super Tuskers”, are male elephants with at least one tusk weighing 100 pounds (45kg). It is believed that there are as few as 50 left in Africa. They are critically important for stability in elephant societies and their habitats and ecosystems.
Dr Joyce Poole, co-founder and Scientific Director of ElephantVoices, says, “Fifty years of research on Amboseli’s known individuals has shown that males between 35 and 55 years of age are the primary breeders. Hunters who claim that older males are “dead wood” are just plain ignorant of the science. Males who are given the chance to live to an old age produce a disproportionate number of offspring, passing their genes to the next generation. By killing large tusked males hunters are damaging elephant society, negatively impacting Amboseli’s rare gene pool for large tusks and taking a toll on its future tourism potential.”
Canada has played a leading role in the protection of wildlife and biodiversity and at COP15 participants agreed to the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, a historic global framework to safeguard nature and halt and reverse biodiversity loss, putting nature on a path to recovery by 2050.
COP15 focused on protecting nature and halting biodiversity loss around the world. The Government of Canada’s priority was to ensure the COP15 was a success for nature.
We are asking that Canada use its international influence, powers of collaboration and voice to advocate for the following:
- Review and amend current wildlife hunting regulations to protect critically important elephants by restricting hunts in areas where these tusker elephants roam.
- Implement a formal buffer zone near the Kenya- Tanzania border safeguarding the transboundary elephant population, recognizing their significant ecological economic and symbolic value.
- Enhance conservation efforts and promote ecotourism as sustainable alternatives that can support community development without sacrificing invaluable wildlife.
Elephant Voices, Big Life Foundation and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, released a statement appealing for “an end to elephant trophy hunting in the Enduimet Area of Tanzania”. We add our voice to the growing alarm over the hunting of these few remaining tuskers.
As we enter another summer of record breaking heat , storms, and wildfires, the global commitment to preserving our planet’s magnificent and indispensable ecosystems is more urgent than ever.
As elephants are a highly endangered species, we ask that you act with urgency to address this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Fran Duthie
President Elephanatics