Elephants facing apocalypse

Dear friends, Dozens of heavily-armed hunters rode into a national park in Cameroon, butchered over 600 majestic elephants, then hacked off their faces for their tusks. Poachers have annihilated half of central Africa's last elephants. And no one's been able to stop them. Until now! Brave investigators have gone undercover in poaching rings in ten African countries, and already more than 2,000 traffickers have been jailed!  It's awe-inspiring stuff, and it's won awards, but many funders are wary of going head-to-head with organised crime. We may be the best community to scale this extraordinary operation, fast. Four elephants are killed an hour -- it's a race against time before we lose these gentle giants forever. But if we each give now, this team can expand to more countries, lock up more kingpins and complicit officials -- and we can ramp up campaigning to protect these beautiful creatures and all of our vulnerable natural world. No other effort is having this rate of success! Chip in now:   I'LL DONATE R$8 I'LL DONATE R$15 I'LL DONATE R$30 I'LL DONATE R$60 I'LL DONATE R$120 OTHER AMOUNT This carnage is happening across the continent. Paid-for-hire poachers track elephants, leopards, apes, and all kinds of endangered creatures, then bigwigs bring in helicopters and heavy weapons to hunt them down and butcher them for their skins and tusks. This is a 19-billion-dollar business run by international mafias, and they're getting away with it by bribing everyone in sight. But now the courageous Eco-Activists for Governance and Law Enforcement (EAGLE) network is taking them on at each step of the criminal chain -- infiltrating the gangs undercover, working with police to supervise arrests, and making sure the bosses are jailed. Their unprecedented success has won them acclaim from Interpol, WWF and the Duke of Edinburgh, but so far these heroes work on a tiny budget, powered primarily by a deep love for these animals. If we all donate a small amount, here's what we could do: Help train and sustain dozens of undercover investigators to infiltrate the most wanted networks in more countries and get their chiefs behind bars; Support investigations of complicit officials and politicians who enable the bloody trade; Investigate and expose companies and governments profiting from selling ivory and other wildlife products; and Run massive campaigns to protect the natural world and preserve our delicate web of life. Few of us would be prepared to put our lives on the line to save our fellow species from human ruthlessness and immeasurable greed. Now, we can support these wildlife warriors who are doing just that. Let's put the power of our community behind them -- click to donate now:  I'LL DONATE R$8 I'LL DONATE R$15 I'LL DONATE R$30 I'LL DONATE R$60 I'LL DONATE R$120 OTHER AMOUNT Our community has always supported brave frontline activists to do dangerous but crucial work -- from Syria's citizen journalists to volunteers fighting Ebola. We back the most brilliant ideas that can have the most impact -- especially if no one else will. Let's get behind these heroes now, so Africa's beautiful savannahs and forests can be filled again with thriving populations of wildlife, just as they should be. With hope and determination,  Alice, Alex, Iain, Patricia, Spyro, Joseph, Nataliya, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team More information: Ivory Coast Arrests Six in Ring That Smuggled Parts of Elephants, Leopards and Pangolins (New York Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/world/africa/ivory-coast-elephants-leopards-pangolins-smuggling.html Lion and hippo teeth seized in Senegal's biggest ivory haul (Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/article/us-senegal-wildlife/lion-and-hippo-teeth-seized-in-senegals-biggest-ivory-haul-idUSKCN1B427V How Saving One Chimp Led to a New Kind of Anti-Poaching Group (National Geographic) https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/ofir-drori-wildlife-corruption-laga/ Organised crime sets sights on wildlife (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26153516  African Conservation Group With Unusual Mission: Enforcement (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/science/african-conservation-group-with-unusual-mission-enforcement.html Elephant population halved in Cameroon killing spree (IFAW) http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/news/elephant-population-halved-cameroon-killing-spree-graphic-images  African elephants could be extinct 'within a decade' (Telegraph)  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africa/articles/African-elephants-could-be-extinct-within-a-decade/

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