African elephants can now only rarely be taken from the wild and sent to faraway zoos
International leaders have instituted a near-complete ban on capturing and exporting live elephants from certain African countries.
GenevaYesterday at the 18th triennial meeting of an international wildlife trade treaty, countries approved a proposal that limits the export of wild African elephants. It says that elephants from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa can only be exported to African countries where elephants live or used to live. There’s one exception: Export may be allowed if a country can prove that there’s a real conservation benefit to sending an elephant elsewhere.
The proposal proved to be one of the most contentious topics of the entire two-week meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), in which 182 countries and the European Union gathered to discuss trade regulations. (Learn more: Read
