Did you know that elephant skin is still legal in the United States? Shockingly, elephant skin imports are booming here, paving the way for poachers to ruthlessly slaughter elephants for their hide.

In recent years, the U.S. has experienced a huge increase in elephant skin imports from Zimbabwe and South Africa. In 2014, just 275 skins were imported into the country. But by 2016, that number jumped to 2,079 whole elephant skins.

While elephants are still primarily poached for ivory rather than leather, recent international ivory crackdowns could easily spur elephant killers to simply shift their focus from tusks to skin.

Elephants endure excruciating deaths by poachers; many are attacked with poison arrows, and take an agonizing 15 to 20 minutes to die. The animals may be attacked by helicopters, grenades and chainsaws -- all so poachers may sell off their parts.

This skin is used to make boots, wallets, belts, and even suitcases. All this elephant skin supposedly comes from “legal” sources like game reserves, but buyers can never be completely certain that their elephant skin was obtained legally and not from poachers. And killing an elephant in any manner, "legal" or not, is simply inhumane.

Elephants are intelligent creatures who must be protected, not killed for profit. Sign this petition to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban elephant skin and all other body parts from being imported into the country.