ACTION ALERT

UPDATE ON THE EFFORT TO STOP YOUR TAX DOLLARS FROM FUNDING IVORY SALES AND THE TROPHY HUNTING OF ELEPHANTS

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is using $28 million of your tax money to fund elephant trophy hunting programs in Africa! Through the CAMPFIRE program (Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources), wealthy hunters come to Africa to shoot elephants under the guise of returning revenues to local communities who are looking for a way to benefit from living with wildlife. Besides being a cruel cloak for trophy hunting, this program is not meeting its goal of helping local villagers. In a recent evaluation of CAMPFIRE, conducted by ULG Consultants, many holes were found in the program, including:

Perhaps even more disturbing is the role that CAMPFIRE and its subcontractors have played in reopening the ivory trade. Delegates from CAMPFIRE and the Zimbabwean government lobbied in the U.S. last year to weaken the Endangered Species Act and to remove the international ivory trade ban under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The money trail from this visit leads back to USAID. At the June 1997 CITES conference, CAMPFIRE representatives lobbied and distributed material in favor of a resumed ivory trade. They achieved their goal when CITES voted to open the trade in ivory for Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia.

The U.S. Senate has approved an amendment to the "Foreign Operations Spending Bill," introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), to prohibit USAID from directly funding trophy hunting and lobbying efforts. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has rejected a similar amendment that was introduced by Congressman Jon Fox (R-PA).

HOWEVER, THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER! We have a chance to ensure that the amendment language is agreed to when the conference committee meets to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

The Senate and House conferees have now been announced. IF YOU LIVE IN ONE OF THE STATES BELOW, PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATOR IMMEDIATELY AND ASK HIM OR HER TO SUPPORT THE SENATE LANGUAGE OF THE FOREIGN OPERATIONS SPENDING BILL THAT CUTS FUNDING FOR TROPHY HUNTING AND IVORY TRADING PROGRAMS.

You can call your Senator toll-free at 1-800-972-3524 (202-224-3121 in the D.C. area), or e-mail him or her at the address below.

IF YOU LIVE IN ONE OF THE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS BELOW, PLEASE CALL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS IMMEDIATELY AND ASK HIM OR HER TO SUPPORT THE SENATE LANGUAGE OF THE FOREIGN OPERATIONS SPENDING BILL THAT CUTS FUNDING FOR TROPHY HUNTING AND IVORY TRADING PROGRAMS.

You can call your Congressman or Congresswoman toll-free at 1-800-972-3524 (202-225-3121 in the D.C. area), or e-mail him or her at the address below.

Also, please send letters of thanks to Senator Boxer, Congressman Fox, and Congressman Miller, who fought hard for this amendment.

To find out who your elected officials are, or how they voted on this issue, contact Christine Wolf at The Fund for Animals (301-585-2591 or cwolf@fund.org).

Thank you for all of your hard work and activism. This is our last chance to cut U.S. funding for trophy hunting and ivory trading in Africa!

The Fund for Animals

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