Practicing Quoting

In this post, I practice quoting sources in a way that provides my reader with information and context to make the quote meaningful.  Here, I have two different quotes with opposing viewpoints in regards to hunting elephants for ivory.  Below the images of my highlighted quotes is my complete paragraph.

Key:
The yellow highlighted sections indicate signal phrases, leading into direct quotes.
The green highlighted sections indicate where I have established the authority of the speaker.
The blue highlighted sections indicate where I have altered the quote slightly to clarify something, or to truncate the quote.
The purple highlighted sections indicate context, where I have explained the quote and its relevance.

Most sources I found discussed the negative impacts of elephant poaching; multiple articles argued that current hunting rates were unsustainable, and elephants were in danger of going extinct.  Susan Lieberman, Vice President for  International Policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society, in Huffington Post declared a call to action: “We must all not be afraid to address greed and corruption, which are the underlying drivers of this crisis . . . Governments must go after the kingpins and organized crime networks that are profiting the most and driving the illegal trade.”  The controversy of ivory trade goes beyond just a conservation issue, since the funds from illegal ivory sales are supporting many organized crime and terrorist groups.  The high demand for ivory makes it possible for these groups to make substantial funds, which makes them an increasingly critical threat. 

However, the National Rifle Association, in favor of legal ivory trade, states almost the exact opposite argument.  The NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the sector in charge of lobbying for supportive legislature, claims, “Hunting [ivory] has, in fact, been hailed as a valuable tool of wildlife conservation in Africa because it contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the economic well-being of local communities.”  The NRA supports ivory trade because many weapons contain ivory.  Banishing ivory trade would in effect banish the trade of some weapons, which the NRA sees as a violation of rights.  Although it’s important to understand the pro-trade viewpoint, it’s hard to understand how both the NRA’s claim and Lieberman’s claim can be true, since they are so conflicting.  Hunting in other context could potentially aid local African economies, but since ivory mostly runs through the black market, it’s doubtful hunting elephants provides economic relief.