With respect to the frightening escalation in poaching of both elephant and rhino, I would like to petition the African Union to form an Anti Poaching Rapid Response Task Force composed of AU members with a cross border mandate to combat this situation. In South Africa alone, rhinos are being poached at a number of over 1 per day, and across the continent, annual losses of elephant and rhino to increasingly sophisticated and professional poaching syndicates will ensure that very soon, perhaps a couple of years, some range state countries will no longer have viable populations. 

Such a Task Force, modeled on an FBI style organisation would not only share and distribute intelligence, but have the mandate to act as a police force throughout Africa, 

and thus act as a deterrent for such poaching syndicates and operations.

SC61 of CITES in Geneva this past week made a public call to build a US$ 100m fund over the next 3 years to "enhance law enforcement capacity and secure the long-term survival of African elephant populations"... Such a fund would assist the formation of such a Task Force.

www.safaritalk.net highlights wildlife conservation, environmental protection and community initiatives throughout Sub Saharan Africa, as well as promoting responsible Safari tourism. Live since 2006, I founded, fund and run Safaritalk from home without financial recompense or kick backs from the Safari industry. I look forward to a reply at your earliest possible convenience, 

Yours faithfully, Matthew Wilkinson - www.safaritalk.net.

Dear signatories, if leaving comments, please make them respectful, whilst expressing your feelings on this matter. Likewise, please note that this petition has nothing to do with trophy hunting, and is not advocating the killing of poachers on the ground. It is about how the African Union, working as an intergrated whole, can provide a united defense against the plunder of the continent's wildlife heritage.

Thankyou, Matt Wilkinson.