They may make their homes on opposite sides of the world, but elephants and polar bears have one alarming thing in common: both species are in serious crisis.
For elephants, it comes as a result of their highly prized ivory. Twenty years after the ivory ban went into effect, two countries - Tanzania and Zambia - now want to re-open the ivory trade by selling their stockpiles.
Since the recent stockpile sales to Japan and China there has been a huge increase in poaching and in seizures of illegal ivory. Elephants in Senegal and Sierra Leone are already being wiped out.
IFAW believes ANY ivory trade leads to an increase in poaching as it provides a smokescreen for poachers to sell illegal ivory. This view is supported by the 23-country strong African Elephant Coalition, who need the European Union's support in their fight against poaching.
Polar bears are also hunted - both as trophies, and for the commercial trade in their skins. But that's not the only threat they face. Polar bears are also watching their icy habitat melt underneath their feet as the sea ice they live on continues to recede.
The next meeting of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is in March. The decisions made at that meeting could have a profound effect on the future of these species. Please help by sending an email to the EU Commissioner for the Environment.
