— FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —
Title: Global March for Elephants and Rhinos in Vancouver on Oct 4th, 2014
The ‘Global Mach for Elephants and Rhinos’ (GMFER) is taking place in downtown Vancouver for the first time on October 4th (1:00 – 3:00 p.m.) on the north side of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Vancouver is joining 127 other cities worldwide including Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Victoria, Montreal, Ottawa and Sudbury in Canada.
The GMFER hopes to raise awareness about the current unsustainable killing of elephants and rhino for their valuable tusks and horns. The GMFER was initiated in 2013 by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya.
The illegal wildlife trade is a global problem estimated at USD $20 Billion per annum. Poaching of elephant tusks and rhino horn has been linked to regional instability, organized crime and terrorist networks in Africa.
Elephant tusks are mainly being purchased in China for carvings while rhino horn has been linked to medicinal use in some Asian countries.
A recent study has shown that 100,000 elephants were killed between 2010-2012 and remaining populations are now under threat of extinction.
HRH Duke of Cambridge has said about rhinos: “There are two thousand critically endangered species on the verge of being lost forever. It’s time to choose a side – between the endangered animals and the criminals who kill them for money. I am calling on people all around the world to tell us: whose side are you on?”
The GMFER event will call on governments to publicly destroy their stockpiles of illegal wildlife products, to show “zero tolerance for illegal trading”.
Dr. Jane Goodall has endorsed the GMFER: “We must join forces everywhere to stop the slaughter of elephants and rhinos. They feel pain, they know suffering. We must stop people from buying ivory.”
“Individuals, and society as a whole, can choose to shun ivory, rhino horn, lion and tiger bones as commodities,” say event organizers, “but we need governments to play their part as well, by increasing penalties for bribery, corruption and trafficking offenses.”
In support of the GMFER event, Joanna Lumley, OBE and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, says: “If we stand by and watch the brutal extinction of rhino and elephant, the stain of shame on our human consciousness will never be forgiven or forgotten.”
“Endangered leads to Extinction. We must stop the demand for Ivory and Rhino tusks.
Check the products you buy and read your labels carefully, especially Chinese herbal products.
It’s our responsibility to stop what mankind has started,” says Paul Rodgers, well-known singer-songwriter and owner of Willows Animal Sanctuary in Aberdeenshire, who is also in support of the GMFER event.
Invited speakers at this year’s Vancouver event are:
Jake Wall, is a PhD student in the University of British Columbia’s geography department, works for the conservation group Save the Elephants, where he has helped outfit almost 100 of the mammals with GPS satellite-tracking collars. Read more here.
Rosemary Conder, Chief Development Officer for the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA).
Rosemary went to Asia in 2011 as a volunteer to help rescued elephants who endured lifetimes of abuse. The experience showed her the horror these gentle giants face and the impact tourism is having on them. Elephants have become her friends and teachers. The trip in 2011 to one elephant rescue project became the first of six. Find out more here.
For full details on the Vancouver march click here.
The GMFER will take place rain or shine.
Vancouver Contacts:
Tessa VanderKop (Organizer): tvanderkop@gmail.com
Fran Duthie (Elephanatics Vancouver): elephanaticsinfo@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/654585494606635/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/condofire #GMFER #March4ElesandRhinos
Global Contacts:
Email: March4ElesAndRhinos@gmail.com
Website: http://www.March4ElephantsAndRhinos.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/March4Elephants
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EleRhinoMarch
Condofire 