Inglorious Killing Of Elephants – Ivory Trading
Making Today’s Dinosaurs Extinct
So many news, big news actually, that rocked the world very recently. There’s this Boston Marathon bombings done by young siblings with no clear link to any terrorist organizations, which killed 3 and injured hundreds of people, with one of the two suspects killed and the other successfully arrested.
There’s the collapsed garment manufacturing building in Bangladesh which killed thousands of its workers, stirred and shocked the world at how poor Bangladeshis were abused and taken for granted by big textile companies.
There’s that recent arrest of another siblings, believed to be working hand in hand in kidnapping and keeping its victims in one venue for 10 long years in Cleveland Ohio, USA. With the very courageous escape, families of the victims and the people around the world who learned the news, cried with tears of joy and happiness. No one was expecting this fateful turn of events but every one is very thankful knowing that the 3 who went missing, and believed to be dead, are now here and very much alive.
And another I consider big news, is about the continuos rampant killings of elephants in the Central African Republic. Christiane Amanpour on her CNN program briefly showed how this inglorious elephant killing continues. One of her guests is a National Geographic crime investigator. In his documentary compiled for National Geographic, China is the main reason for all of these as it is importing the biggest amount of elephant ivory tusks.
This to me is a different kind of disheartening news which I think, should be given an equal strong attention in finding a strong solution to stopping it, if not regulating it. US has banned ivory trading.
Last month of April, I received an email from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization, campaigning for support to transfer the old, lone and dying elephant in Manila Zoo to Thailand, to at least experience the remainder of her life with an herd of elephants. Mali the elephant, has been in Manila Zoo for more than 3 decades now.
I for one, signified the support of Mali’s transfer although that campaign needed less help if compared to that of the case of elephant killings in Central African Republic. I would call on organizations such as PETA and other wildlife protection organizations to act and give more focus on the latter. To note, WWF has been on its serious campaign for years now.
While browsing the net, I’ve learned that Thailand too, is under the watch list of illegal Ivory Trading. Fortunately though, Mali does not have ivory.
What’s With Elephant Ivory?
Elephant ivory trade which is mostly illegal, is the ultimate cause of the continues decrease of elephant population. In Africa alone, “in 1979, elephant population was estimated to be around 1.3 million but by 1989 only 600,000 remained. Around 75,000 African elephants were killed for the ivory trade annually, which is worth around 1 billion dollars.”
These elephant ivories were brought to Asia, Europe and North America and traded as souvenirs, ornaments among others which are sold as valuable items. Today, China is considered to be the biggest importer of ivory, by both legal and illegal way of trading. With a population of over 1.5 billion, surely this problem will soon be at its worst when not acted upon.
Despite all those other big tragic incidents mentioned above, I personally express my support to any move like what PETA have initiated for Mali the elephant in Manila zoo, to again stop, if not regulate this kind of trade. This is yet another kind of environmental concern that should not be set aside because of other big news that happened in the world recently.
How I wish for the children of my children and the generations to come, to see this wonderful gigantic creatures continue frolicking in Africa’s remaining forests or zoos everywhere in the world.
Let the elephants live!