Chris Coons: “on a day that was sadly often marked by partisan differences, I thought I would take a moment near the end of this…”

“on a day that was sadly often marked by partisan differences, I thought I would take a moment near the end of this legislative day and simply remark on something where there has recently been some bipartisan progress, and I think it is worthy of some brief comment. Today is the third annual World Wildlife Day. This day was declared by the United Nations and will soon be celebrated in another place on this Capitol complex by a wide range of organizations from all over the United States and the world that are dedicated to preserving wildlife in places in the world where it is under distinct pressure. As I said, this is the third annual celebration of World Wildlife Day. It was first declared by the United Nations, and I want to briefly remark that a bipartisan delegation of this Senate recently went to Southern Africa. It was led by Senator Flake of Arizona, and he and Senator Cardin, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cochran, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and I had an opportunity to meet with leaders from four different countries. They are working tirelessly to try and contain an epidemic of poaching that has reached nearly catastrophic levels. Nearly 100 elephants are killed every day now so their ivory tusks can be sold on the black market at prices higher than heroin or gold.…”