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And to fulfill our obligations to ourselves, our family, nation
A natural world of the Creater
The words say we are to awaken, stand up, be counted
For you are being recognized in the spirit world.
The feeling you get when you hold your life in your hands
But your life is like little broken bits of glass
You feel the pieces slipping through your fingers
And you know there is nothing you can do to stop them
You squeeze your hands together tighter and tighter --
The glass only cuts deeper and deeper
But you can't stop
The feeling won't allow you; you can't let go of life --
Even this broken one.
The elephant, a very gentle creature, is distinguished by its high level of intelligence, interesting behavior, methods of communication and complex social structure.
Elephants seem to be fascinated with the tusks and bones of dead elephants, fondling and examining them. The myth that they carry them to secret "elephant burial grounds," however, has no factual base.
Elephants are very social, frequently touching and caressing one another and entwining their trunks.
Elephants demonstrate concern for members of their families they take care of weak or injured members and appear to grieve over a dead companion.
The word "elephant" comes from the Greek word elephas, meaning ivory, in reference to the animal's prominent tusks, which are actually elongated incisor teeth. Excepting tusks, elephants have only four molar teeth. These teeth are replaced as they are worn away, up to six times throughout an elephant's life.
Elephants live in the hot climates of Africa and Asia. To help protect themselves from the heat, elephants have large ears, with prominent veins, that they can flap to cool their blood. They must stay near water, not only for drinking, but also for bathing and cooling. In addition to mud baths, elephants also take dust baths to try to keep cool and deter insect attacks.
Elephants are herbivores, or plant-eaters. They feed on grasses, fruits, leaves, branches, bark, and twigs. Because of their large size and because as much as 60 percent of what they eat passes through without being digested, elephants spend about 16 hours a day foraging for nearly 350 pounds of food. In addition, they drink about 18 gallons of water each day.
Elephants are very social animals. They live in small herds composed of a group of females, or cows, and their young (calves) which are led by an older, experienced cow called the matriach. The herd works together to take care of the calves and to signal the others of danger. When a member of the herd dies, the other elephants may cover it with twigs and leaves and mourn their loss by staying at the gravesite for hours. Some males, or bulls, form bachelor herds, joining the females only to mate, while other bulls are loners.
The elephant's lifespan is up to 60 years. Elephants do not mate until they are about 15 years old, and usually give birth every 4 years. After 22 months of pregnancy, a single calf is born weighing about 250 pounds and standing almost 3 feet tall. While the calf will begin eating vegetation within a few months, it continues to nurse on its mother's milk until it is at least 2 years old.
While calves may fall prey to lions or hyenas, adult elephants have no natural predators except man. Not only have elephants been slaughtered for their ivory tusks, but their populations have declined significantly because of habitat destruction and fragmentation.
While Asian and African elephants have a lot in common, each species looks a bit different and each faces different threats to its survival.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the African elephant is listed as a threatened species and the Asian elephant is listed as an endangered species. "Endangered" means a species is considered in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and "threatened" means a species is considered in danger of becoming endangered. This protection prohibits elephant parts and products from being imported into the United States except under certain conditions.
In addition, elephants are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an agreement among more than 120 nations to eliminate illegal trade in animals and plants, such as elephants, and their parts and associated products. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the federal agency responsible for the U.S. government's compliance with the CITES treaty.
The African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 prohibits the import of raw or worked ivory into the U.S., with certain exceptions. It also set up a grant program to fund elephant conservation efforts.
In June 1989, the U.S. government imposed a ban on commercial importation of African elephant ivory into the country. This led to a commercial ivory trade ban being adopted by all CITES member nations later in 1989.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also supports elephant conservation efforts in other countries through funding and technical assistance that includes resource management, research, and education.
"Panic stricken, the elephant calves rush around in the clouds of dust, the smell of death driving them crazy. The terrible screams of fear and pain mix with the sound of gunfire. Bullets thud into flesh and smash bone. And then suddenly the noise is over and silence hangs over the carnage. They stand there bewildered, frightened, not understanding why their mothers, their families are lying on the ground in pools of blood, dead and dying. They only know that violent death has cast its heavy mantle over their close-knit family, and that the shouting humans who have materialized out of the bush are clambering over the dead bodies of their families, chainsaws roaring into action..."
Some of the little elephants press up against their mothers' lifeless forms, hoping for the familiar, caring response. Nothing. One flees in panic. The others wander around in a stupor. What will become of these orphans? If the human killers were part of a killing team working for 'conservation' then the calves will be captured for sale to other game reserves, or shipped to foreign countries to spend the rest of their lives in circuses, zoo's of safari parks. If the killers were poachers then the calves will most likely be left to starve to death or be killed by lions or hyenas.
What you've just read isn't horror fiction - it is the reality which stalks the surviving elephants of Africa every day. Where 12 years ago, 1.3 million elephants pressed their footprints into the soil of Africa, today less than 600 000 survive. Each year for the past dacade, somewhere between 60 000 and 90 000 elephants have been massacred, mostly by poachers but also by "cullers" practicing so-called "enlightened wildlife management".
WHY ? WHY THE KILLING, WHY SO LITTLE COMPASSION?
THE ANSWER....IVORY!
It's that simple. The ivory bangles, earrings, ornaments, chess pieces, billiard balls, honkos (personalized Japanese signature seals) and other trivial items are what it's all about. It is because of the consumer demand for ivory that elephants are being killed in Africa every day, year in and year out.
THE INTERNATIONAL BAN
Introduced at the 1989 Conference of the Parties to the CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FLORA AND FAUNA (CITES) and upheld at subsequent CITES conferences, the main purpose of the ivory ban was to neutralize the illegal ivory trade which was being sustained through the ruthless, relentless poaching of elephants in their tens of thousands each year.
Since implementation of the ban, brought about by placing the African elephants on CITES Appendix 1, and as a result of hard-hitting anti-ivory public awareness campaigns, there has been a dramatic decrease in demand for ivory in the USA and Europe. On the international market, ivory prices have plummeted and elephant poaching has slowed down across much of east, central and western Africa.
OPPOSITION TO THE BAN
Opposing the ban most emphatically are five southern African countries : South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswan and Malawi. These countries conduct large scale culling program which cost the lives of thousands of elephants each year. In the Kruger National Park over 15,000 elephants have been culled since the 1970's. Profits from the sale of culled ivory as well as elephant meat and hides are huge and these countries are not happy having to abide by a CITES ruling which denies them the opportunity of "managing" their elephant populations as a form of "cash on the hoof." They want exemption from the ban in order to be able to sell "their" ivory and hides on the international market.
Efforts to obtain such an exemption were defeated at each CITES conference since the ban with the result that some of these countries have signed an agreement to set up an ivory marketing center (Southern African Center for Ivory Marketing - SAIM ) located in Botswana. They plan to market their ivory legally to non-CITE members of which more than 50 exist, including Taiwan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
More information on CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - The world's forum for protecting endangered species) can be found HERE.
Let people at home know that there are only 30,000 Asian elephants left on the planet.
Do not support elephant poachers by buying ivory or skin products. If you own ivory already don't glamorize it by wearing it.
Demand causes of death to these innocent creatures.
Check the merchandise of your local stores. If ivory or other elephant body products are for sale, contact the store management to let them know that you oppose the sale of these items and, until removed, will not use this store again.
Call your local zoo and ask if they are involved in any overseas elephant conservation projects. They may have "elephant days" and other such schemes. You may even get to help out as a volunteer. Co-operation is the best way for the elephant's survival.
Send letters to the editor of your local newspapers describing the plight of the elephant and how we can all assist in their survival.
Help save endangered elephants! Send a free e-mail to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Director of International Affairs Marshall Jones and ask him to increase the agency’s support for elephant conservation efforts in Africa and Asia and work to implement an international system to monitor the illegal killing of elephants.
Write to the Chief Executive Officer, National Parks Board, calling for a moratorium on elephant culling in the Kruger National Park ... Dr GA Robinson, Chief Ex. Officer National Parks Board, P.O. Box 787, Pretoria 0001 (Fax: (12) 3430907).
http://www.helpelephants.org
