Elephant Advocates Flock to Lafayette Park

A demonstration is scheduled to begin Friday at noon in downtown DC as part of the International March for Elephants, a global event designed to raise awareness of the repercussions of the ivory trade.

The march begins around noon outside Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro and will end at Lafayette Park around 1:30 p.m. with speakers beginning around 2 p.m. 

The demonstrators are expected to urge the U.S. government to take action on protecting wild elephants from extinction due to poaching and trade in ivory.

Speakers at Friday’s march in Washington include Born Free CEO Will Travers and conservationist Jim Nyamu.

Organizers of the march say elephant poaching is on the rise with an estimated 36,000 elephants slaughtered annually for their ivory. There is an international ban on trade in ivory.