The team in Vic Falls have been working with dear this little jumbo for a couple of weeks now. She is the dearest little girl, and still in need of high care.
All help is needed. Take a look at this dear little jumbo
‘WHEN THE BUYING STOPS…. SO WILL THE KILLING.’ HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
My granddaughter, who is six years old asked me why I get so upset with people selling ‘elephants teeth’ as she calls them. I sat her down and told her that sometimes an elephant’s tusk will break off, and that is acceptable, but there are people who kill these big majestic creatures for their tusks: and that is unacceptable. She asked why they would do that and I told her that they do it for money. With little worry lines creasing between her eyes, she looked long and hard at me, ‘why don’t they get a job like you and grampie, and mummy and daddy?’ Good question, and too complicated to explain to a six year old. However, it did get me thinking. How ignorant or misinformed are people about ivory tusks?
After a bit of delving, I found out that 40% of the ivory market is going into China. I wondered if Chinese people were aware of the dreadful atrocities committed to satisfy their need for trinkets and jewelry. Xiang ya means ivory tusks or ‘elephants teeth’, a lovely roll off your tongue word and depending on the context in which it is used, it can be a word that means a death sentence for an elephant. After a survey conducted in 2007, 70% of Chinese people taking part in the poll claimed that they had no idea that elephants were slaughtered for their xiang ya. The IFAW embarked on a graphic advertising campaign to raise awareness on what happens to the elephants…in order for them, the consumers to buy the product. A retired NBA star and Chinese icon, Yao Ming, in conjunction with WildAid, Save the Elephants, African Wildlife Foundation and the Yao Ming Foundation has been taking an active part in promoting this awareness, trying to deter the hunger for ivory. Have a look at his video link.. his twelve day fact finding mission in Kenya and South Africa.
Yao Ming is a large voice. I decided that every little voice, no matter how small, also counts. My granddaughter tells me that I need to tell all her friends about what is happening to the elephants…and that she thinks I can make a difference, and that is what I plan to do.
DO NOT TAKE ELEPHANTS FOR GRANTED
My first recollection of seeing a herd of elephants was on my 5th birthday. They were large and grey and not at all like the ‘Dumbo’ images that I had in my head. My yellow haired doll with her unblinking blue eyes proved to keep my interest more than the elephants.
Looking back, I had not appreciated the freedom of space, the warm breeze caressing my hair and the warmth of the wooden slats toasting my bum and bare legs. There I was, sitting on the floor of a viewing platform overlooking a water hole in the heart of the Hwange Game Reserve. The sleeping water reflected the gold trimmed clouds scudding happily across the painted sky. Noisy doves policed the trees, their melodious calls filling the late afternoon. Small midges floated and whirled around my face… it was perfect, and yet I kept playing with my doll.
The peaceful afternoon erupted with trumpeting bellows as a small herd of elephants bathed in a warm bronzed glow emerged from the deep shadows in the bush. I did not watch for more than a few minutes as they did a lumbering shuffle, kicking up clouds of dust making for the water hole. Enormous, grey and stately: and they were just…there. I did not have any idea on how privileged I was.
Now I have grown and so has my passion for these majestic and gentle giants. I will never take them for granted again. I have joined this fight against poaching to spread awareness of their plight, and to make sure our children’s children will be able to see them in the wild.
I would dearly love to be on the ground… but I am not. I am only doing what I can from afar… but I do do various trips back to Africa through all the different links I have found on the internet, and tonight I am going to take you back to Hwange…help spread the word.. these elephants need friends.
The Presidential Elephant Conservation Project – Hwange
AMAZING ELEPHANTS ARE IN NEED OF OUR HELP
These amazing gentle giants are being poached at an alarming rate. An estimated 40 000 African elephants are poached every year ……… that amounts to 1 being killed every 15 minutes. This is a tragic and disturbing statistic: one that I find very difficult to get my head around.
These majestic, intelligent, sentient beings need all the help they can get. Is an ivory trinket worth the life of one of these magnificent animals? Please click here and read about their incredible dedication and work with the elephant orphans.. left behind.
Hwange Presidential Herd
Hooray, high fives for these amazing people….where would our wild life be with out them? Read about them below and visit this initiative run by Sharon Pincott on this face book page .
‘ANOTHER LIFE SAVED. While recently in Bulawayo (300kms away) trying to get 4×4 and computer equipment fixed, I received a phonecall from Forgie Wilson, who is employed by the Painted Dog Conservation Project . The Anti-Poaching Unit had located an elephant – still alive – trapped in a wire snare so thick that not even this strong approximately-5-year-old boy could break the cable to escape. With Greg Rasmussen, from this same project, not available (who you might recall I previously organised to hold extra darting drugs for elephant and other snare removals), Forgie rang for assistance from Brent Staplekamp from the Lion Research project, who raced to assist once again. The elephant was quickly darted and released, having likely been trapped in the snare for some days already. There was one blessing to the thick wire; it hadn’t sliced his leg open like thinner wire would have (but did indeed mean that he couldn’t escape and would have died in this snare, had he not been found). His family was nowhere to be seen – with the destruction around him certain proof of how awful his ordeal must have been. I can only hope that he has by now reunited with his family, whoever he might have been. Although I work alone with the Presidential Elephants, the involvement of other projects with their own Anti-Poaching efforts is of great comfort. The battle to save lives is ongoing – as are the battles for some sanity when it comes to ongoing issues that negatively affect the Presidential Elephants and their land areas. I still have confidence that Minister Kasukuwere will continue to actively help to make things better…’
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