Senator Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) has called for Illinois to protect more species, and House Bill 395 backs her push as it bans selling products made of parts from endangered animals like sharks, giraffes, sea turtles, lions and more.
House Bill 395 was distributed to the Senate Commerce Committee recently, and also prohibits selling items made from pangolins, tigers, and great apes.
The bill recently passed in the House with backing from both political sides.
“Each of them has their place on this planet, and killing these beautiful creatures is horribly cruel. Shark fins are in high demand; poachers simply cut off their fins then drop them back in the ocean, where they will drown because they can no longer swim. We can’t condone such brutality," Sen. Linda Holmes wrote in a Facebook post. "Illinois should not support the poaching and trafficking of at-risk animal species.”
As of late, there less than 7,100 cheetahs left in the wild, according to Word Wildlife Day, and a quarter of shark and rays are at risk of extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature says. In addition, from 2006 to 2015, the U.S. brought in roughly 40,000 giraffe products, according to the International Humane Society, and six of seven sea turtle species are facing extinction, the World Wildlife Fund says. At the same time, African lion populations have continued to decrease since 1993, according to pnas.org.
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