Subject: THE ASIAN ELEPHANT

Belinda Wright
WILDLIFE PROTECTION SOCIETY OF INDIA

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PRESS CONFERENCE - New Delhi, 31 May, 1997

"A GOD IN DISTRESS"
Threats of Poaching and the Ivory Trade to the Asian Elephant in India

	The Asian Elephant Conservation Centre (AECC) at the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, and the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)
invites you to a conference to highlight the current plight of the elephant
in India.  The conference is a culmination of a two year study by AECC and
WPSI on poaching of Indian elephants and the ivory trade and will coincide
with the launch of a report - "A God in Distress; Threats of Poaching and
the Ivory Trade to the Asian Elephant in India".

	Worshipped as Ganesh by most people in India, used as a beast of burden by
others, killed for its ivory by many, the Indian elephant has never before
been in such peril as this report of a two-year investigative study will
reveal.  The historic lack of cognition of the connection between the
killing of wild tuskers and the trade in ivory are explored in this report.
The killing of elephants for meat in a few states of north-east India is
recorded for the first time.

	The authors of the report are Dr R Sukumar, Director of AECC, one of the
foremost wildlife scientists in India and the Chair of the IUCN/SSC Asian
Elephant Specialist Group, Mr Ashok Kumar, Vice President of the Wildlife
Protection Society of India and a pioneer in the study and control of
wildlife trade in India,  and Mr Vivek Menon, a conservation biologist who
spent the last two years studying this subject in depth in very trying field
conditions.  This study, which will continue for at least one more year, has
revealed substantial new information on the ivory trade and the poaching of
elephants in India.

	The international ramifications of this report are clear.  The Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES)
Conference of Parties due to take place in June in Zimbabwe has a proposal
by three African States to reopen the trade in African ivory.  If this
happens, will it open the flood gates of elephant poaching in Africa AND
Asia ?  Will the Indian tusker survive such an onslaught ?  How many tuskers
have died already in the last few months as a result of the issue now being
open to debate ? What is the notorious South Indian  insurgent, Veerappan,
up to ? What is the role of Nepal in the ivory trade ?  Are India's
conservation ethics still alive ?

The Wildlife Protection Society of India would like you to come to this
conference, even if it raises many more deeply disturbing issues.

Please see us at:		The Board Room, Ground Floor, Thapar House
				124 Janpath, New Delhi 110001
				on Saturday, 31 May, 1997, at 11.00 am


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Belinda Wright
WILDLIFE PROTECTION SOCIETY OF INDIA
Thapar House, 124 Janpath, New Delhi 110001
Tel: 	(+91.11)3320573  
Fax: 	(+91.11)3327729
Email:	blue@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in
        wpsi.wildlife@gems.vsnl.net.in