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Petitioning John Kasich, Marilyn Slaby, Marcia Fudge, Frank LaRose, Ohio State House, Ohio State Senate

Enact Legislation Outlawing Ivory and Rhino Horn Products in Ohio

The purpose of this petition is to enact legislation banning the import, in-state, and internet sale and distribution of raw and worked ivory and Rhinoceros horn products in the state of Ohio.

In 2014, President Obama issued an executive order banning ivory but the U.S. continues to be the largest consumer after China as it fails to include; the import, in-state, internet, and diplomatic immunity loopholes. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2014)     

With 96 Elephants killed daily for their tusks and 1200 Rhino killed annually in S. Africa alone, (National Geographic, 2014) it is predicted that both of these keystone species will become extinct within our lifetime. (iWorry.org, 2015)    

To understand the brutality of the killing, one must be aware of the methods – AK47’s, poisoned watermelons, cyanide dumped in watering holes (thereby killing entire ecosystems in the process), hacking off tusks or horns while the animal is still alive, paralysis darts so the species cannot move yet is fully cognizant of machetes slicing into its skulls, and poisoned darts leading to weeks and weeks of extreme suffering before a long, unspeakable death. (McAvey, 2015)

Elephants and Rhinos are “keystone species”, meaning they are a species upon which many others depend on and whose disappearance initiates significant changes in an ecosystem. This is also known as a “trophic cascade” because of the cascading effect that a change in the size of one population at the top of a food web has on the populations below it. (Turk and Bensel, 2014)

I ask you to join me in pushing Ohio Governor; John Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly to enact legislation banning the import, in-state, and internet sale and distribution of raw and worked ivory and Rhinoceros horn in the State of Ohio. 

Let's show the world that saving Elephants and Rhinos is a bipartisan effort.

Sincerely,

Christina LaMonica - #ivoryfreeOhio

 Reference

African Environmental Film Foundation. (2012, August 24). White Gold. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/68WBv7iZ33s

Atkin, Bloom, Bonta, Lara, Levine, Maienschein, McCarty, Pavley, Rendon, Williams. (2015, January 7). Assembly Bill No. 96. Retrieved from http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0051-0100/ab_96_bill_20150107_introduced.pdf

Howard, B.C. (2015, January 22). South Africa Sees Record Year for Rhino Poaching. Nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150122-rhino-poaching-south-africa-conservation-science/

iWorry.org. (2015). One Elephant is Killed every 15 Minutes.  iWorry.org. Retrieved from http://iworry.org/

McAvey, A. (2015). Ivory Free Vermont. Ivoryfreevermont.org. Retrieved from http://www.ivoryfreevermont.org/

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2014). USFWS Moves to Ban Commercial Elephant Ivory Trade. Fws.gov. Retrieved from http://www.fws.gov/international/travel-and-trade/ivory-ban-questions-and-answers.html

Turk, J., & Bensel, T. (2014). Contemporary environmental issues (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Photo Credit; WWF