LET OUR ELEPHANTS LIVE!!!

The African elephants are the largest animals on land. They are gray in color and have a height of about 11ft tall. A mature male could weigh up to 6000 kg while a mature female could weigh about 4000 kg. Elephants also have tusks which are used for grasping objects, breathing, smelling, drinking water, lifting objects such as tree branches as well as sound production. Their large gray ears and wrinkled skin act as a cooling mechanism. They have 26teeth. 12 premolars and 12 molars and the two tusks themselves. One adult tusk weighs about 79kg for males and 20kg for females. These graceful animals move in large herds called parades.

Elephants in the Wild

Although elephants are way bigger than human beings, it is clear that we are more similar than we thought. For instance, did you know that these animals mourn their dead just like you and me? To top it all up, they shed tears to express their emotions of sadness when one of their own dies. They also give the deceased a good send off by burying them under dust or even covering them with branches and leaves whichever is available at the time. Elephants also pay homage to the dead by caressing their bones. Their memory capacity is very high as they tend to remember things that actually happened many years back. They are loving to each other and always stick by each other during hard and good times. In short, they are a typical extended family!

A weeping elephant

As graceful and as beautiful as these animals could be, they are facing a great challenge from the poachers who kill them for their tusks and sell them in the black market in Asia. This is such a great threat as these barbaric selfish acts could lead to their extinction! Very many countries have started seeing the effects of poaching and have moved a step further to create awareness against poaching. In 2013 for instance, more than 20,000 African elephants were killed by poachers for their tusks which was such a great loss to Africa and the whole world at large.

An elephant and its calf

The World elephants day was formed on August 12^th ,2012 to bring plight to the Asian and African elephants. Kenya as a country has been on the forefront to stop poaching of elephants since July 1989 when the then, President Daniel Moi ignited a pile of 12tonnes elephants’ tusks to send a strong message to the poachers that elephants with ivory are worth more than ivory without elephants. President Mwai Kibaki continued with the legacy when he burned 335 ivory tusks and  41,000 minklets at the Tsavo West National Park. On 3^rd March 2015, President Kenyatta set fire on 15tonnes of elephant  ivory tusks during a ceremony at the Nairobi National Park. Recently  on April 30^th, he also led in the setting up on fire of 105 tones of tusks piled up in pyramids. Many have argued that since Kenya is a poor country, the Ivory burned was worth more than three trillion, then Kenya should have sold it and acquired the money to develop the country. They forget that it’s like killing another human being in order to benefit from what he/she has left behind. Others went ahead to say the black market in Asia will hike the prices of Ivory leading to more poaching. Does it mean that if elephants never existed, that all these people would not have found another alternative of making a living  instead of taking away  innocent lives to create  “dead” objects? In my opinion, destroying of ivory is such a courageous act and other countries who have not joined the campaign against poaching should make an effort in doing so.

President Kenyatta getting ready to light the Ivory!

Other countries that have also taken measures in destroying the ivory include Gabon headed by President Ali Bongo Ondimba through fire. The United States of America has also engaged in the fight by crushing of the ivory which had been confiscated. In total, 14 African countries have also carried out ivory destruction and the fight is still on, stronger than it started. I do not understand why any individual would take pleasure in killing such huge animals just for two tusks without knowing the effects that it causes to the environment. They forget for, instance, that these animals help in  dissemination of seeds of all kinds from their waste.

The first lady Margaret Kenyatta lighting the Ivory

 

Let me ask you this question. Have you seen the way women  and their kids play and share so many moments? How happy do they look? They play with each other, kiss, hug and generally, their worlds revolve around each other. If circumstances separate them such as death, then there is pain, grief and depression. Tears and sadness never  seem to end and life for them seems like the end. It’s the same way poachers are destroying the lives of young elephants by killing their parents and leaving them in sadness and lasting tears. I don’t wish such kind of pain to anyone. Elephant calves go through depression when their mothers are killed. They could cry for days and refuse to eat just like humans.


Ivory on fire

 

The late Mother Teresa once said that if you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out and to keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it. The same way if we all  want to eradicate poaching, then we have to keep talking about it and the effects it has to the decreasing numbers of elephants in the wild. Punishments that equal to murder should also be subjected to the poachers and their accomplices. The game wardens should also perform their duties to the best of their abilities to avoid compromising the lives of these elephants. I don’t wish for a scenario where the generations to come will only know that elephants existed through documentaries, pictures and books. I want them to see the elephants roam in the savanna gracefully just like many of us have done.
I BELIEVE THAT AN ELEPHANT ALIVE WITH TUSKS IS WORTH MORE THAN IVORY WITHOUT ELEPHANTS. DO YOU???