Tusk Tusk or Deplorable Acts Against Elephants : Poaching or Cruelty

Have We Failed Our African Elephants? : Grim News as the Great Elephant Census Reveals Less Than 350,000 African Savanna Elephants Remain in the Wild Due to POACHING

Worse Than Expected Numbers of Savanna & Forest Elephants Left in the Wild

Project: the Great Elephant Census

Place: The continent of Africa

Purpose: To count all of the Africa’s elephants (African Savanna Elephants & African Forest Elephants) by Air over the course of 2 years

People: The team was comprised of scientists (90) & crew members (268)

Pronouncement: Grim, much worse than expected

 

To think that it hasn’t been that many years ago (10-20 ) that the mighty African Savanna elephant maintained quite a presence in the wild, just going about their lives with their elephant herds; just being elephants.

 

African Elephant Mama & Baby     Image: CC Pixabay

 

But more recently one ecologist, Mike Chase, who spoke with Cable Network News, shared his concern that the “ecosystems” they surveyed were so depleted of elephants (elephants now number in the “few hundreds or tens of elephants” rather than the “many thousands” which were “historically” recorded) that it left him feeling incredibly dismayed.

In his interview, when asked if he was “optimistic or pessimistic about the future of Africa’s elephants,” Chase explained that considering the Great Elephant Census findings (and the study included the tracking a few of the elephants by GPS) he definitely felt that “we are failing elephants”. Poachers are continuing to kill our elephants for their ivory. Poachers are continuing to wipe our elephants out.

The diminutive forest elephant has been reduced by “a staggering 65% between 2002 & 2013” and these elephants have always lived in a seemingly protected environment under the lush foliage of their tropical habitat.

 

African Forest Elephant photo by Peter H. Wrege Creative Commons

 

Yet poachers still find them and hunt them down. And for what purpose are they killing our elephants? To fuel the demand for ivory across Asia and throughout China. Blood ivory. These humans have our elephants’ blood on their hands.

Estimates are that “to come back to the population (numbers) it was before 2002, based on their (a forest elephant’s) natality rates, it could take nearly a century to recover.” This from Peter Wrege of Cornell University, who was on the team of another study (of African Elephants) by Wildlife Conservation Society in New York.

For the forest elephant’s reproduction cycle is “every five or six years” compared to the three to four year cycle for their cousins, the African Savanna elephant. And with the female African Forest elephant; they only begin their birthing years from the age of 23, “a decade later,” which again makes them lag behind their “Savanna counterparts”.

To make matters worse, poaching is more rampant in the states of the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo, areas inhabited by African Forest Elephants and impoverished people. These are “poor countries that suffer from bad governance and conflict.” (A United Nations’ meeting will soon place in Johannesburg. Officials will make a decision as to whether or not some African countries, such as Zimbabwe and Namibia, will be allowed to “open up the ivory trade” and to effectively decimate the remaining elephants that struggle to survive.)

 

 

The Devastating Effects of Poaching.    Image: Elephant Poaching Drawing / copyright by Madpony Creative Commons Google

 

If one looks at the 2011 statistics of the slaughter of our African elephants (30,000 elephants died that year) one can see that those numbers have gone down. And while this news may be encouraging we must ask ourselves this; have we waited too long to save these elephants? Have we failed our African elephants? Unfortunately, we may not find out before all of our elephants on this planet are gone.

 

African Savanna Elephant : Have we waited too long to save our African elephants?        Image: CC Pixabay

 

 

Images Creative Commons: Pixabay Featured African Savanna Elephant greeting; Pixabay Elephant Mama & BabyAfrican Forest elephant ; CC Google copyright by Madpony Drawing of elephant poaching ; Pixabay The African Savanna Elephant : Does it Have To End This Way?

References:

The Daily Mail “ Revealed: Just 350,000 African Elephants are Left in the Savannah as Poaching Decimates a THIRD of the Population

Great Elephant Census

iworry.org

 

African Savanna Elephants Greeting      Image: CC Pixabay

3 thoughts on “Have We Failed Our African Elephants? : Grim News as the Great Elephant Census Reveals Less Than 350,000 African Savanna Elephants Remain in the Wild Due to POACHING

  1. yes. i have to say -YES- to that question.
    not you .. but all (most) who have not been facing the fact that we WILL lose elephants..lions.;rhinos.. somany more.. to EXTINCTION! EXTINCTION..!!
    we should ave been..and need to still-…as it is not yet too late… to donate to rangers who protect..and fight poachers and other killers wo WILL NOT STOP!!

    there are way too few rangers,,
    and.. many rangers die! die..protecting. and figting, but it must become ALL fighting! and we need to raise money from allof us wo care..to stop this now!

    we need many more people fighting… and they do not need to be as “high quality trained” as rangers.. because the reason for such training is needed almost totally due to there not being many of them.
    poachers are evil… they will kill many til extinct! without caring at all!
    if we who care do not…FINALLY ACCEPT THIS… and fight them…
    and i mean..shoot to kill.
    YES! To stop them from KILLING…it will take shooting to kill. -what do you think?

    WHEN?

    WHEN WILL OTHER SPECIES BESIDES HUMANS MATTER ENOUGH
    TO ….FIGHT FOR !?


    BUT…WE ALSO KNOW THAT IF WE LOSE EVEN ONE SPECIES..

    YES! …IT WILL BE ON…ALL OF OUR HEADS. WHEN THEY ALL ARE GONE.. WHAT WILL WE FEEL? ? MUST I EVEN ASK!??

    WE ARE NOT DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE.

    WE NEED TO FIGHT FOR LAWS TO GIVE ALL SPECIES RIGHTS TO BE FREE. ..AND TO BE FREE TO LIVE THEIR OWN LIVES. ….ISN’T THAT…WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. ? MY GOD. …HOW CAN WE STAND THE KILLING AND IMMENSE SUFFERING ANY LONGER????:


    I HOPE HUMANS HAVE LEARNED ENOUGH THROUGH THE AGES TO STAND BY ALL LIFE!
    WE ARE LOSING THE EARTH AS WELL.
    MANY SPECIES UNDERSTAND THE GREATEST PROBLEMS BETTER THAN WE HUMANS DO.

    WE NEED TO ….SHARE THIS WORLD.
    AND …EVEN LEARN TO COMMUNICATE..JUST ENOUGH — WHILE ALSO NEVER –NEVER—NEVER! TAKING ANY SPECIES FREEDOM AWAY.
    YES…IT IS POSSIBLE! IT IS POSSIBLE..AND WE NEED TO ACT..NOW. NOT TOMORROW.

    I ASK EACH OF YOU..
    I ASK ALL OF US
    TO COME TOGETHER
    AND FIGHT…. BECAUSE IF WE DO NOT…
    NOT ONLY WILL WE LOSE MANY SPECIES
    TO EXTINCTION!!!!!!!
    BUT WE WILL SOON LOSE OUR OWN ABILITY TO SURVIVE TOGETHER WILL OUR OWN KIND..AND… TO SURVIVE – IN GENERAL.

    I AM SPEAKING NOT WITH ANGER.. BUT WITH SRONG WORDS BECAUSE I NEED YOU TO HEAR ME…..ONCE AND FOR ALL!

    WE MUST STARTNOW.
    FUNDS RAISED..AND MANY WILL FIGHT.

    YES. THERE ARE MANY MANY MANY MORE OF US WHO CARE
    THAN THOSE WHO HATE AND KILL OUT OF EVIL .
    AND YES… WE MUST START…NOW.

    I BEG OF YOU TO HEAR ME…AND NOT SEE ME AS ONE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE….
    BECAUSE YOU’D BE ….SO WRONG.
    I…SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING.. -AND IT HAS GOTTEN TO WHERE IT JUST .MAY..BE ..TOO LATE …
    FOR MANY ..YES.. FOR …MANY WE HELP…BUT..DONOT ..REALLY DO ENOUGH TO REALLY MAKE CANGE BEFORE EXTINCTION BECOMES RAMPANT!

    SO… DO WE RESIGN AND QUIT..OR DO WE FIGHT?

    PLEASE….. HEAR ME.

    I LOVE ALL … AND ALL OF US ALIVE DESERVE TO LIVE FREE!

  2. Please….
    WE CAN NOT LET THEM …DIE TO EXTINCTION!
    ..I hopeyou allwillread and take my words…very seriously. ….
    we need to come together. .. PLEASE!

  3. Pingback: “ Unless We Act Now Skin Could Become the New Ivory ”: UK Charity Elephant Family Sends Out Urgent Message That Asian Elephants are Now Being Killed For Their Skin | Elephant Spoken Here

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *