DC -- Natl Postal Museum -- Exhibit (Case): Why is This Elephant in This Room?:
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SIPMEL_151210_001.JPG: Why is this Elephant in this room?
Because fewer and fewer are in the wild...
SIPMEL_151210_006.JPG: Saving Vanishing Species:
Sold at a premium over the postage rate, semipostal stamps generate funds donated to charity. The Save Vanishing Species First-Class Semipostal stamp features a Siberian tiger, but proceeds also support the protection and conservation of African and Asian elephants.
The stamp's 60 cent price includes 49 cent postage and an 11 center donation to the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Multinational Species Conservation fund.
Since 2011, more than 26 million Save Vanishing Species stamps have been sold, raising $3 million. In addition to tigers and elephants, conservation projects also benefit great apes, rhinoceros, and sea turtles. The stamp will be on sale until 2018.
SIPMEL_151210_027.JPG: Every day, close to 75 African elephants are killed for ivory (their tusks). Poachers also target male Asian elephants, and the numbers killed are getting higher. Demand comes from around the globe, including here in the United States where we have the world's second largest market for ivory and other trafficked products.
Elephants are already at risk from global climate change and habitat loss; the increase in poaching worsens the threat to species survival. If the market for ivory isn't stopped, we swill very soon live in a world without wild elephants.
SIPMEL_151210_030.JPG: Wildlife trafficking (the illegal trade in wildlife, including elephants) is everyone's problem, and we can all be part of the solution. Start the conversation: share what you learn about the global threat from wildlife trafficking. Ending the demand is the best action we can take to protect many of Earth's most remarkable species.
A small amount of the US Fish and Wildlife Service's repository of six tons of seized elephant ivory.
SIPMEL_151210_033.JPG: What else can you do? Be aware of what you buy. If you buy exotic pets (fish, mammals, reptiles and other animals that are not considered domestic) or products made from animals -- here or abroad -- make sure what you buy is legal and taken from animals with sustainable populations.
SIPMEL_151210_039.JPG: Elephants and Ivory:
African Elephants on Stamps:
African elephants once numbered in the tens of millions, but by 1990 uncontrolled hunting and shrinking habitats reduced the number in the wild to perhaps fewer than 500,000.
SIPMEL_151210_055.JPG: The Ivory Trade:
European, Asian, and American demand for elephant ivory created an export market in the 19th and 20th centuries, leading to large-scale slaughter.
SIPMEL_151210_057.JPG: 1/2 cent Native Man and Ivory Tusks, Mozambique, 1918
SIPMEL_151210_060.JPG: 75 cent Men Carrying Ivory Tusk, Liberia, 1923
SIPMEL_151210_066.JPG: 300 franc Ivory Carver, Guinea, 1965
SIPMEL_151210_070.JPG: Ivory Objects:
Fine ivory goods and ornaments were sought-after luxury items, valued as status symbols and indicators of wealth.
SIPMEL_151210_073.JPG: 25+ 10 centime Ivory Flute Player, France, 1967
SIPMEL_151210_080.JPG: 2 dollar Qing Dynasty Dragon Boat Ivory Carving, Republic of China, 1983
SIPMEL_151210_084.JPG: The Fight Against Poaching:
The international ivory trade was banned in 1990, but illegal poaching continues. These stamps highlight ongoing protection and anti-poaching efforts.
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2015 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000.
I retired from the US Census Bureau in god-forsaken Suitland, Maryland on my 58th birthday in May. Yee ha!
Trips this year:
a quick trip to Florida.
two Civil War Trust conferences (Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA), and
my 10th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles).
Ego Strokes: Carolyn Cerbin used a Kevin Costner photo in her USA Today article. Miss DC pictures were used a few times in the Washington Post.
Number of photos taken this year: just over 550,000.
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