Hawaii’s illegal ivory market is flourishing as nearly 100 elephants are killed each day, according to conservationists backing a proposed statewide ban on sales.

“One hundred thousand African elephants were killed for their tusks from 2010-2012 alone,” said actress Kristin Bauer van Straten, speaking as an ambassador for the International Fund for Animal Welfare at the state Capitol rotunda on Thursday, World Wildlife Day.

At a news conference, the IFAW, Humane Society of the United States, Natural Resources Defense Council and Wildlife Conservation Society released an investigative report on Hawaii’s extensive online trade in elephant ivory and other wildlife products.

Speaking as concerned individuals, musicians Henry Kapono and Boom Gaspar, and restaurant owner Lynn Fleetwood joined with local and national representatives of conservation groups to urge the passage of legislation that would ban the Hawaii trade in ivory and products from other wildlife, such as Hawaiian green sea turtles and monk seals.

Two bills before the state Legislature, House Bill 2502 and Senate Bill 2647, would ban all sales of elephant ivory in Hawaii, which is the third-largest ivory market in the U.S. after New York and California, both of which have recently passed ivory bans. Also banned would be products made with body parts of other wildlife species, such as rhinoceroses, walruses and whales.

The proposed legislation would eliminate a long-standing exception for African elephant ivory that entered the U.S. before 1989, when a law banning its importation was passed. Merchants can claim they are selling genuine “vintage” ivory, which is legal, but determining the true age of a piece is often impossible; and taking a sample for lab tests ruins the piece. That allows poaching to continue to be profitable, conservationists maintain.

“I strongly support this bill. Hawaiians are known for aloha, not destruction,” Kapono said, holding up one of several paintings by Kona artist Patricia Missler of dark pink dots, each representing one of the 96 elephants that are killed each day.

“I’ve ridden elephants, rode turtles when I used to go diving with friends on the Big Island as a kid. I know how gentle these animals are, gentle giants,” he said of the elephants. The killing of these creatures, he added, “is really sad and heartbreaking to me.”

Van Straten and other speakers emphasized the close kinship between Hawaii and Africa as homes to endangered wildlife and economies dependent on tourism, much of it attracted by their unique natural resources.

“If Africa loses its elephants and rhinos, and if Hawaii loses its whales and seals, the tourists aren’t coming here anymore,” van Straten said.

While visiting Kenya’s national wildlife parks, she said, her eyes were opened to the humanitarian crisis caused by poaching: Not only do local people lose their livelihoods, but park rangers also have been murdered trying to protect wildlife, Van Straten said.

Conducted during six days in December, the Hawaii investigation used techniques developed by law enforcement agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to examine websites where ivory and related wildlife products are sold.

More than 4,600 items, predominantly jewelry, worth more than $1.2 million, were found in a snapshot look at 47 online sellers based in Hawaii. Only one of the retailers offered any documentation regarding date and origin, “and even this failed to correspond to any individual item,” according to the report.

Also on Thursday, the environmental coalition released an investigative video of Hawaii’s undocumented ivory trade, which can be viewed at youtu.be/CLvNty_URUA.

A 2008 survey by the Humane Society determined that 11 percent of ivory items for sale in Hawaii were legal — that is, had not been smuggled in after the 1989 imposition of a ban on international ivory trade.

“The research clearly shows that Hawaii’s illegal ivory market is thriving, and now is the time to close it,” said Sara Marinello, executive director of government and community affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which oversees the Bronx Zoo in New York.