Help Protect Jaguars from Illegal Logging

[Guest guest]

Defenders of Wildlife

 

 

 

Help Protect Jaguars from Illegal Logging

[for Americans]

 

Congress is poised to pass a trade agreement that would sanction the destruction of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest --and with it the jaguars and other wildlife that live there.

 

Please forward this message to others who are concerned with protecting endangered species and preventing extinction.

Peru can’t seem to see the forest for the trees… at least not when it comes to curbing the illegal logging of mahogany that threatens endangered jaguars and other wildlife. Fortunately, there’s something we can do to help. Please urge your Representative and Senators to vote against the Peru Free Trade Agreement until Peru gets serious about stopping illegal mahogany logging.

https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage & page=UserAction & id=623The Peru Free Trade Agreement would sanction the destruction of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest -- home to jaguars, long-haired spider monkeys, blue-headed macaws, giant river otters and other endangered species.The cause of the destruction: rampant, illegal logging of mahogany, an endangered tree species. The tree is considered so valuable that loggers stop at nothing to cut it down -- blazing roads into pristine rainforest in remote national parks for just three trees. And with the logging, comes hunting. Once in the forest, mahogany loggers kill jaguars for their skin and trap monkeys and birds for the pet trade.Send Congress and Peru a message: Free trade shouldn’t mean illegal trade.

https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage & page=UserAction & id=623Mahogany is protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). However, Peru has failed to comply with the treaty’s rules, exporting thousands of cubic meters of mahogany that is illegally and unsustainably harvested -- over 90% of it imported to the United States.The U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement now pending before Congress does nothing to require that the mahogany we import from Peru is legally or sustainably harvested. Please take action now -- Tell your Representative and Senators that you do not want to contribute to the destruction of the rainforest and urge them to vote “NO” to the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage & page=UserAction & id=623