thank you , Dr. Muul, for bringing more attention to this terrible problem. The future of the African elephant, and potentially the Asian elephant as well, is very clearly linked to the global trade in ivory, legal or illegal. for clarification, here are two important bits of information related to this issue; 1. Most of the elephants in Sri Lanka are "tuskless" - only about 10% if the elephants on the island have substantial ivory. It is not practical to remove ivory from elephants to supply the market. Obtaining ivory requires the demise of the elephant that once possessed it, and 2. During the CITES meeting in March 2013, and in response to the urging of a number of other countries around the world, Thailand promised to bring an end to the legal ivory trade in that country. However, they did not say when that would take place. It appears that ivory sales still continue in Thailand at this point in time. Continuing to put pressure on Thailand to discontinue the practice once and for all may help them close ivory sales down sooner rather than later.