In the light of events in Geneva and the decision of the CITES to allow China to buy stock pile ivory from southern Africa, there is an urgent need to try and explain and educate as many people as possible (not only but mainly in the far east) about the implications and suffering off the elephants (and other species like rhinos) due to the ivory trade (and for that matter trading in all other animal parts) !

In today’s media age and China is the fastest growing market in the digital age, would they not have started to read or seen any of the many documentaries, books, field reports, studies and now blogs like wildlife direct to start to plant a seed off change in way of attitude to ivory and what it means to wildlife !

As we know too well Africa has so many issues they’re dealing with that any increase in demand for ivory supply will fuel the poaching activities, this should not be encouraged by the UN or anyone else.

I support your work in all the ways of spreading the word through education and other means and in this rate a road show heading east would be a good idea !

Thanks to Anna for bringing up this disastrous decision.

Joyce and Petter — Do you think it spells the end of African elephants? Is there any way we can fight back/protect the elephants? Do you have any suggestions for what we can do? Thanks.

Anna and Amy - you are passing by vital questions. We are extremely unhappy that CITES decided to let this happen. We totally agree that education is key. One question is how we can each begin to make inroads and have an impact. How might we market ElephantVoices website in China, for example? Many countries know that elephants are essential in attracting tourists, and thereby in poverty reduction and for economical growth, but it is also extremely important that people experience the benefits. But, China has only a few elephants so that argument doesn’t work there. We choose to be optimistic, but it is frightening, indeed.