Elephants on the Brink

Today, I wanted to discuss about what has been going on the other side of the globe and maybe a little bit of what is going on in the states with elephants. As a child I have loved elephants, they are truly fascinating creatures and have always been an interest of mine and someday I would like to study them! Everyone knows what elephants look like, you have seen them in zoos, circuses, and in some cases at your local fair grounds. In today’s world elephants are struggling and need our help. Poaching is running rampant in Africa, where elephants are slaughtered for just their tusks and then those same tucks are being sold in the far east in Asian countries like China, Vietnam, and Laos to name a few. According to far eastern culture, they claim that the properties found in elephant tusks can cure all of these diseases and it’s not just elephants that are targeted for this; this also includes rhinos, tigers, etc.

There are no positive effects of poaching of elephants. Elephants suffer so much psychological and physical damage. For instance, the leader of a herd of elephants is the matriarch. She is the oldest and wisest member of the group and knows where water sources are at and where the best food is located. She leads her sisters, daughters, and grandchildren to these areas and all the other members of the herd rely on her. When poachers take out that one important part of the herd, the herd is lost and for a couple of days, usually a daughter or sister ends up becoming the new matriarch but the psychological side-effects of witnessing a family member is drastic. Studies have shown that elephants that witness the death of member, their stress levels increase and with the death is by humans they become more and more aggressive towards humans. The other side of this is the physical damage, now there have been survivors of poaching attempts, usually tell-tale signs are perfect circular holes in the ears of elephants or bullet holes near their shoulders or even their foreheads
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Conservation groups have started to take action against the poaching of elephants. One group in particular that comes to my mind is the group called 96 elephants. The reason behind the name of 96 elephants is that this is an actual statistical number and that every day in Africa 96 elephants are killed each day for their ivory. This group has gone so far in protecting elephants and they have been very successful. For instance, within the last couple of years, Ivory trade with the U.S has been banned in a couple of states but just this year alone Ivory has been completely banned in the United States which is a really good thing for elephants.

Another instance that has occurred with saving elephants is that more and more people are starting to realize that elephants do not do well in captivity. Elephants are herd animals and require a lot of social contact, there have been some elephants in zoos around the U.S. and around the globe that are in an enclosure by themselves and without any social contact they develop a lot of psychological problems. In order to counteract this, zoos have been shipping their elephants to zoos and sanctuaries where they have a herd/family group that has been established, along with the space where the elephants can socialize in the space required for them to not have any problems at all. 

Now, in order to save elephants one thing needs to happen. People need to become more involved. Yes, we have banned ivory trade in the United States but poaching is still running rampant in Africa and Asia. The more people who are willing to save elephants, the better chance they have at surviving and having our future generations seeing these magnificent animals.

Articles

96 Elephants

Photos

Elephant Matriarch Herd

Sanctuary Elephants