(Be Warned: Graphic Images Below which will Hopefully be Disturbing)
I don't believe there's anyone that isn't amazed by incredible elephants. Except possibly those that only see dollar signs when they see one of these majestic beasts with long, valuable tusks. Even very young ones are slaughtered for the relatively little money the killer in the bush actually receives. These evil, greedy people are not only unimpressed by elephants, they are also comfortable shooting them, and then literally cutting their faces or heads off with a chainsaw, sometimes while they're still alive, only to retrieve the prized tusks in order to sell on the black market. I believe that those that can do horrible things to children, and also to defenseless animals, are of the same ilk - pure evil, without compassion or remorse, and they see the world and everything in it as being here only to satisfy their twisted, and sick desires, and lusts.
Image: Courtesy of National Geographic
In 1979 there where approximately 1.2 million African elephants. Today, about two-thirds have been killed by poachers. Unless the poaching is stopped, African elephants could actually be extinct within 15 years!! To say this is caused by greed would be accurate, to some extent. However, the demand for ivory (known also as 'White Gold'), comes from those with plenty of money. With them, it's about having the ivory as a status symbol, to flaunt their 'worth.' To me, I see only poor, pathetic individuals that are lost, searching for a way to give their life meaning, to make it seem to be 'worth' something. They've gotten all the money that they were sure would bring them happiness, yet it didn't. Surely having a $300,000, masterfully-engraved elephant tusk would do the trick. I suspect these miserable souls could NEVER be happy, or content, however.
Video: Courtesy of 'Trending Now' - YouTube ChannelChina, where most of this ivory ends up, has announced it will ban the sale of ivory by the end of 2017. However, with so much ivory in China, as well as in other places on it's way to China, and being stored, I have a feeling that the announced ban may only drive the price, and demand for ivory even higher. There is much that is sold legally in China, but it's extremely easy to skirt the system and flood the market with poached ivory as well. Hopefully however, this disgusting trade can be severely limited, if not totally eradicated immediately.
Elephants are extremely intelligent, family-oriented, affectionate, have fantastic memories, and can usually live peacefully with mankind, unless provoked or hunted. Their family structure is oftentimes even tighter, and more loving than that of humans. Like humans, they'll often revisit the sites where loved ones have died, or have been killed, and obviously morn. It's said that if man could live like elephants, there would be no wars.
I believe that with every elephant that is killed, and that we allow to be killed, it moves us closer to a point that we don't want to be. A place where there is little compassion or empathy for anyone, or anything, and we value nothing. If we can't value these incredible, beautiful, irreplaceable creatures, what will we value?
Although this short article was only about elephants; rhinos, and many other amazing, and endangered species are destroyed for no reason!! This has to change.
Please, if you can, help - Save the Elephants
A documentary worth watching below. Also, if you have Netflix, The Ivory Game is an excellent documentary.