Elephants

EIA has been at the forefront of the global battle to halt the blood ivory trade for over 25 years. In 1989, EIA’s groundbreaking exposé revealed rampant elephant poaching and a booming global ivory trade, perpetrated by a network of criminals and corrupt officials in Africa and in importing nations. Our work provided key evidence that prompted the global community in 1989 to implement a ban on international trade in elephant ivory. Following the implementation of the ban, elephant populations in Africa began to recover from serious decline.

In 1999 and 2008, the 1989 ivory ban was seriously weakened by two legal international sales of ivory, one to Japan and a second to Japan and China. These market-stimulating sales, coupled with the changing economic and political situation in Asia, including the growth of China’s middle class, led us to the crisis that we face today. Learn more about our work to stop Japan's ivory trade here.

Africa’s elephants are once again in crisis due to the explosive demand for ivory. African elephants are undeniably in the midst of another poaching crisis—tens of thousands of elephants are be slaughtered annually in a killing spree fueled by the global demand for ivory.

Internationally, we champion a full and complete ban on all international trade in ivory, with no exceptions. We campaign for elephant range states and ivory consumer nations like Japan to ban existing legal domestic ivory trade and crack down on poachers and organized criminals by enacting and enforcing tough laws and regulations. To complement this work, we have campaigned to pressure major ivory retailers, like Yahoo! Japan and Rakuten in Japan, to ban ivory product sales. At home in the United States, we support the government’s efforts to combat wildlife trafficking.

Elephants are the heart and soul of EIA’s wildlife campaign and protecting these majestic, iconic, and ecologically important species from the dangers of trade is at the top of EIA’s agenda.