Despite international protests from concerned people across the globe, the sovereign nation of Zimbabwe seems to be moving forward with its plan to export an undetermined number of baby elephants to China, the United Arab Emirates, and France. These elephant toddlers were cruelly captured during a mass roundup that used helicopters in coordination with armed gunmen in ground teams, all of which was witnessed by horrified visitors to Hwange National Park.

Tragically, such export is considered legal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the international treaty that ostensibly sets the rules for such trade in live animals. According to CITES, classification of endangered species and a subsequent ban on their commercial trade falls under Appendix I of their charter, elephants however are classified in Appendix II and are therefore considered fair game. Technically, Appendix II classification means that a species is threatened and unrestricted trade in that species could be detrimental to their long term survivability, but CITES lacks any regulatory authority to determine what is detrimental or not and has no official legal capacity to regulate or oppose trade in any species that may be harmed by such trade.

CITES, it would seem, is a largely toothless entity with no ability to intervene or advocate on behalf of any animal, threatened or not. CITES does have a process in place in which nations may meet and agree to rules changes and to establish necessary authority, but these only happen every three years and the next one is not scheduled to occur until September 2016, far too late to be of any help to Zimbabwe’s infant elephants today.

You can read more about CITES and its lack of enforcement power here.

Please follow along with IDA in the days to come as we will provide action steps that you can take in order to have your voice heard. Please join us in bringing international pressure to bear in defense of Zimbabwe’s baby elephants.

If you have not signed out previous alert on this topic to Zimbabwe’s government, please do so here.