THERE IS STILL TIME
TO STOP THIS VILE TRADE

This might be the first time you’ve heard about the skin trade – this needs to change – we need to spread the word.

While we continue to tackle the live trade in baby elephants, the increase in trade for elephant skin continues to add to the myriad threats facing these animals. A threat with the potential to create enormous ripple effects on an already endangered wild Asian elephant population of less than 50,000.

In 2016, at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), we let international decision-makers know what is going on in their countries and made the case for protection. While our recommendations were adopted the trade continues. And, as legal ivory markets close, a different trade once again threatens the survival of Asia’s elephants.

Our new report SKINNED: The growing appetite for Asian elephants – published on April 24, 2018 – exposes the rise in poaching to feed this developing form of transnational wildlife crime, and those who are trading, promoting and profiting from elephant skin products. Following the trade chain from the forests of Myanmar into China, the report highlights worrying evidence indicating that skin products are being licensed for pharmaceutical use.

Our intention is not to apportion blame but to turn the spotlight onto the escalation of this crime and to call for the collaboration of governments, civil society and the wider public to tackle the issue before it threatens the survival of Asia’s elephants.