Satao's Law presented to United States Congress

A new bill, in honour of Satao, a Kenyan ‘big tusker’ elephant recently killed by poachers, has been put before Congress in the US. It would give the US government the power to introduce trade sanctions against countries that do not do enough to tackle poaching and the trade in illegal wildlife.

The new bill being introduced by Peter DeFazio from Oregon will enable the government to impose greater sanctions that can currently be done under the CITES agreement. The US would be able to increase or widen trade sanctions unilateraly.

Under CITIES there is already the provision to put implement trade sanctions against countries in regard to international trading of species listed under the CITES agreement.

Whether the US government will take advantage of this new bill if passed, is debatable. The US has not yet been willing to impose sanctions on countries such as Iceland for its whaling activities.