Around the world, hundreds of millions of wild animals are abducted, slaughtered and tortured for profit.  

This week representatives from 185 countries, signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for the 20th Conference of Parties (CoP). These government representatives will make life or death decisions about wildlife, including elephants, rhinos, sharks, reptiles, big cats and many others. 

The legal and illegal in wildlife trade includes any activity related to capturing, poaching, importing, exporting or laundering of live or dead animals or their body parts, or other flora and fauna. Trade now reaches unsustainable levels. The illegal wildlife trade is generally ranked as the 4^th largest transnational crime globally, after the trafficking of drugs, humans and weapons. 

Whilst accurately depicting the levels of trade is difficult due to the sheer scale of the industry, the impacts on species and whole ecosystems is detrimental.Poaching and the illegal trade decimate wildlife populations, with the legal trade complicating enforcement, incentivizing poaching and even increasing demand. Despite purported claims, trophy hunting is not conservation. True conservation is protecting animals in the wild and allowing them to live their natural lives.  

Please ACT NOW ahead of CITES CoP. Urge your elected representative, or member of parliament or congress to press for more support for wildlife protection at CoP20. We have a template letter you can use here or write your own. Find your local representative here. 

SUPPORT proposals to: 

• Increase measures to protect great apes. Thousands of these endangered creatures are killed every year.  
• Increase protections for sharks and rays. The species continue to be threatened by over-exploitation for parts, primarily fins, as well as gill plates and liver oil. 
• Increase protections for songbird species. Increasing demand for these species as part of the songbird trade is decimating populations. 
• Increase protections for sloths. High demand for sloths as exotic pets and for tourist trade has led to increased illegal capture which is impacting wild populations. 

OPPOSE proposals to: 

• Remove protections for elephants and rhinos to allow trade in their horns, and trophy hunting.  
• Remove protections for giraffes, whose numbers are declining, due to human exploitation, habitat loss, and trade. 
• Remove protections for peregrine falcons. The species continues to face threats from illegal trade for the falconry market where removing controls would dismantle the safeguards that have enabled species recovery in many regions. 

Please help them and contact your government representative today. 

Thank you for speaking out for the animals. To support our campaigns for wildlife, donate here. 

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