Save the Elephants Too!

As you well know by now, the title of my blog does not just support the conservation of tigers, but all endangered species. Therefore, I decided to focus this blog on elephant conservation, especially since I just talked about overexploitation, which is currently threatening these magnificent creatures.
     Back in the fall, I received my October edition of the National Geographic magazine- what I read on the cover of this magazine stopped me in tracks and completely shocked me: "25,000 elephants were killed last year." As I opened to the article about this situation, I was horrified by the pictures of slaughtered elephants and piles of tusks that littered the pages of the magazine.To be honest, I was under the impression that elephant populations were not being severely threatened; I knew that they were hunted for their tusks, but I thought that was all under control... It turns out that elephant poaching is still a pressing issue to this day. In fact, Bryan Christy, the author of the article "Ivory Worship" for the National Geographic magazine, informs readers that "elephant poaching levels are currently at their worst in a decade," and that "seizures of illegal ivory are at their highest level in years" (38). So elephant poaching is not at all an issue of the past. It is current, it is happening now, and it needs to stop.
     You may be wondering why people are hunting elephants to the brink of extinction. Poachers want one thing and one thing only: the ivory tusks. These tusks are used to make religious objects, particularly in places like the Philippines (Christy 38). A priest interviewed by Christy claimed that ivory was the "material of choice" to make religious objects out of (Christy 39). Coming from our culture, it may be difficult to understand why some Filipinos believe their religious objects must be made out of ivory. After all, I myself am a Catholic just like the people wanting ivory religious objects, but I do not think that religious objects must be made out of ivory in order to be sacred. It is tough to change one's cultural beliefs, but I believe that if they came to understand how immensely the elephants are being harmed by poachers, perhaps they would be moved to choose an alternative material.

     It is important to remember that ivory is not only desired for religious objects but also for a more direct reason: money. Think about it. If ivory is in such high demand to make and sell carvings, imagine how much money one could make if he got his hands on a few pounds of ivory tusks. This motive however, does not justify the killing of thousands of elephants. The "Ivory Worship" article goes on to state that during the 1980s, an estimated 600,000 elephants were killed in Africa, which is believed to be about half of the elephants that populated Africa (Christy 46). That's absolutely shocking.
     What's worse is that many people are so driven by the money ivory brings in that they don't even care about the fact that elephant populations are being destroyed. Christy reveals that "in 1997 Zimbabwe's president declared that elephants must pay for their room and board with their ivory" (55). Once again I must emphasize that humans are the cause of this issue- we are under the impression that because we have the ability to kill off species and tear down forests and build homes wherever we want and pollute the earth, we can and we should. The elephants deserve to live on this earth just as much as we do, and they are an integral link in the chain of nature. Because we have so many abilities as humans, it is our job to protect the voiceless; we should never take our responsibilities and our abilities for granted.
     So now that you know just a fraction of what is happening with elephant poaching, you can read more about it and spread the word to others. I have several friends who dub the elephant as their favorite animal, so I'm sure you do as well. This means that people will be driven to help preserve these beautiful animals that they adore so much; but they cannot do so without being educated on the issue. The next step is to donate (unless of course you go to college and major in conservation or ecology or biology to go out into the field and help protect elephants directly- that's awesome too!), but it is important to give to a reliable foundation. I personally recommend the International Elephant Foundation or the World Wildlife Fund. I understand that it is frustrating to feel like donating is the only thing you can ever do, but it really does help. The World Wildlife Fund uses the majority of their proceeds for research and conservation work out in the field. Your donation does make a difference. Furthermore, you can even "adopt an elephant" through the WWF, which means that this foundation will reward you with a stuffed animal and picture of the animal you adopt, so you get a gift in return for giving! Never feel like there is nothing you can do in such pressing situations like this. Each of us has the potential to protect elephants, be it directly by doing conservation work or indirectly with donations and spreading the word; every effort counts.

Peace. Love. Save the Tigers (and the elephants too).


Reference:

Christy, Bryan. “Ivory Worship.” National Geographic Oct. 2012: 28-61. Print.