Airport ivory trade sign

A WWF sign I saw at the Seattle airport while transferring planes on my way to Anchorage. The small type says tens of thousands of elephants are killed each year. Is this right? I can believe a few thousand, but tens of thousands? Also considering the very high cost of airport displays like this, I question the stewardship of how WWF spends their funds. Is this the best use of conservation dollars?

Does anyone have a rough idea of how much placing an ad like this would cost the charity? I believe sometimes charities are given free advertising space too.

Also, I think a major international airport is an ideal place to have an advert about wildlife trafficking. I imagine it's probably more effective than the dozens of adverts for charities on TV that must cost a fortune if the charities actually have to pay for them all.

Was this advert in a prominent place that would be readily seen and noticed, AD? With lots of people sitting around waiting and being bored for hours in airports, it strikes me as the kind of place where people would actually read and take notice of adverts.

An average of 96 every day or 35,000 per yearto be exact and the US one of major markets (in fact I am pretty sure we are the largest). Port cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and New York are the largest markets so having displays like this make a lot of sense. Many times American tourists buy trinkets oversees not realizing the they are made from ivory (which was likely illegally harvested by poachers). This awareness campaign by the WCS is called 96 Elephants and their website is a great resource.
96Elephants.org and Wildlife Conservation Society