The people of Thailand are saying "No more!" to the illegal ivory trade. World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Thailand has created a campaign to raise awareness to make people think before buying a product made of ivory - a business that encourages poaching of elephants.
According to WWF, ivory demand is at an all-time high, so the campaign asks, "Imagine a life without elephants." To illustrate the loss, people are asked to publicly remove the Thai letter that represents elephants -"Chor Chang" (ช) - from their names. The Thai word for elephant is "Chang," which starts with the Thai letter "Chor."
Thousands of people, including celebrities and artists have taken a picture of their name without "Chor Chang" and posted to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with the hashtage #wwfthailand.
If you are an English-speaker and want to join the campaign, visit this site. You can translate your name into Thai. If your name has a "Chor Chang," it will be removed and you can share the image online. You can even upload a background photo to personalize your crusade.
Approximately 30,000 elephants in Africa are killed each year to keep up with the demand for ivory. Thailand hosts the largest unregulated ivory market, according to WWF, with a 94-percent increase in retail merchants selling ivory. The amount of ivory on sale has tripled since 2013.
"Thailand's two largest news outlets, Nation TV and Thairath TV, and their reporters have joined WWF and removed 'Chor Chang' from the names of their new anchors, TV program titles and social media posts," WWF wrote. "This is equivalent to CBS or CNN removing the 'C' from their name on air."
The Thai government could face trade sanctions unless changes are made by March 31.
