Kenyan actress Lupita, leader of the global fight against the killing of elephants: "I learned that a live elephant is worth a million dollars to the economy while the hunter will only earn thousands of dollars."
Mahatma Gandhi said that "the greatness of a nation is judged by its treatment of its animals", so the African countries are in a bad place since the cruel trade in wild animals and their parts is common in many markets, even though public opinion in the West is starting to wake up.
Despite conservation and protection initiatives, the killing of wildlife continues in Africa. Wild animals and their organs constitute a major "export branch" in the trade, which is mainly managed by criminal organizations that join local forces to continue the business that causes mass destruction and the extinction of many species.
Conservation experts warn that "if there is no awakening from the degenerate slumber" within two decades many species will become extinct and disappear. According to an estimate by "Elephants Without Borders" ( Elephants Without Borders ). At the beginning of the XNUMXth century there were about three million elephants in Africa and today, due to wild poaching, their number has decreased to less than half a million.
On 26/5/15 the representative of the "Wildlife Conservation Society" reported Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)) because every year more than thirty thousand elephants are killed whose tusks are sold in the markets of the East, mainly in China, but the final carved products have an extensive market in the USA (the second largest market after China).
The elephants grab the headlines, but mercenaries of the criminal organizations also kill rhinoceroses, cheetahs, lions, tigers and a variety of other animals whose parts (bones, teeth, ungulates, skins, blood, internal organs, etc.) are sold in local markets, exported to China and used in traditional medicine and witchcraft.
The hunter has reached dimensions that have not been the same for decades, hunters in numbers that far exceed the reproductive capacity of the hunted and thus cause the extinction of populations. If no decisive actions are taken to stop the killing, within a few years species will disappear, many of which are "celebrities" and attract millions of viewers and tourists.
The picture is ominous and to prevent the disaster African leaders must act. They must cooperate to address the leaders of the countries where the large markets where the cruel trade in animals and animal parts from Africa is conducted, and demand the closing of the markets and the cessation of the illegal trade. The leading countries are China and the USA.
In order for such an appeal to come from African leaders, an inclusive and equal policy is needed, since as long as there are countries that open their doors to "sporting" hunters, as long as the World Bank supports "legal" hunters, it is difficult to separate a "legal" hunter from a wild one (recently the World Bank promised 700,000 dollars for the development of the "sporting" hunter in Mozambique.
That is, on the one hand, there are places where the bank supports conservation projects, and on the other hand, it releases sources for hunting initiatives. As long as there is no unequivocal activity and policy, it is difficult to achieve results, and when there are countries where the authorities do not act decisively against the wild hunter, it will be difficult for the leaders to come up with demands to close markets.
On 19/05/15, a shipment containing more than 1700 elephant tusks, 4 rhinoceros horns, and dozens of cheetah and tiger teeth was stopped in Singapore. A few days earlier, 47 Vietnamese who came from Mozambique were arrested in Kenya with rhino horns and lion teeth worth about one hundred thousand dollars. The conservationists know and are aware of the fact that these "seizures" are the tip of the iceberg of the cruel trade that indicates the magnitude of the problem.
In order to protest the killing and to push for more determined activity, they gathered in the Lewa Reserve (Lewa Wildlife Conservancy) in Kenya hundreds of athletes from over twenty countries ran a marathon for wildlife. On 30/06, the Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o was chosen to lead the global fight against the killing of elephants, when she met with businessmen and representatives of settlements she said: "I learned that a live elephant is worth a million dollars to the economy while the hunter will only earn thousands of dollars."
"I have learned that an elephant kept alive is worth a million dollars for the economy. But a poacher will only earn a few thousands for a few people,"
The key to success - changing Chinese culture
China is the main market for animals that are hunted in Africa, therefore one of the ways to eliminate the cruel trade is by changing traditional perceptions. From this approach, the organization created "Pan Africa" which is based in Kenya together with the "African Organization to Live" ( Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW Meeting with Chinese volunteers who live and work in Kenia and led them to the Nakuru Reserve. In the thicket of the reserve, the volunteers were busy locating and unloading traps. The volunteers collected, unloaded and destroyed dozens of traps, but among other things they also encountered three trapped zebras, two were released but the third one did not survive, the encounter shocked the Chinese and showed them the cruelty of traps.
The consumption of animal parts is based on "culture" and tradition rooted in all strata of the people. A change in attitude and "cultural" habits is possible since the Chinese people have abandoned traditional beliefs such as: slavery or binding women's feet, just as the Japanese changed their approach to ivory (in the XNUMXs) when they became more involved in the international community, so too is change in China possible.
Changing the attitude towards wild animal products is the direction in which the "African Livestock Organization" is leading together with those Chinese volunteers. And there are first signs of success. In May (2015) the Chinese authorities announced that they would begin a project to outlaw the ivory trade. The production, buying and selling of ivory products will be banned in order to fight the killing of elephants in Africa. As a demonstration of the seriousness of the intentions, the authorities confiscated and destroyed 650 kg of ivory products.
China's chief forester said: "We will monitor the trade and production of ivory products until a complete stop", according to conservation bodies this is a very important initiative and statement coming from China and as such it is a great success in the fight against poaching.
When in the background the US President's visit to Africa and when the US is the second largest market for African animals, both as "sport" hunters and as a market for products
After all, it is possible to demand and hope that the USA will also do more to stop the extinction.
According to sources in the White House, the president has signed the transformation of two trade regulations into laws that will strengthen the control over the wildlife trade. When the US takes the lead in stopping the cruel trade, it is hoped that China will join, so that the two superpowers will cease to be a negative factor that leads to the extinction of African wildlife.
Following the echoes evoked by the famous killing of the lion from Zimbabwe, it is worth mentioning that Cecil Rhodes, after whom the lion was named, was an adventurer, a mercenary who conquered a large area of land, ruled it and named it after him - Rhodesia, therefore it must be assumed that the residents of Rhodesia or Zimbabwe today are not exactly "excited" From the death of Cecil the Lion...
In previous lists I wrote and explained that because of the negative influence of man it is necessary to manage all reserves and most of the uninhabited areas. To manage means to practically take care of the balance and balance between the plants and animals in the field. When the area is inhabited, it is necessary to protect the animals and plants from the human inhabitants, but equally the inhabitants must be protected from the harm of wild animals, since if the pests are not eliminated there is a danger that the inhabitants will kill animals in an overwhelming manner.
The words are said mainly about elephants, buffaloes and hippopotamuses that prey on agricultural fields, baboons that destroy and steal from everyone who comes near, lions, tigers and cheetahs that prey on farm animals. There are countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and DRAP where compensation is paid for damage to agricultural fields to prevent the harassment of the farmers for a living, but sometimes removal means killing.
To the extent that in order to maintain equilibrium there is a need for "dilution", when the need arises to kill wild animals it is important that the residents are aware of the operation, killing will be carried out by professionals under the auspices, guidance and supervision of the authorities, when there is a possibility of making a financial profit from the killing the money must come for the residents and also used for nature conservation.
As I wrote in the previous list: "To realize conservation initiatives that are integrated with hunting. It is necessary to replace the emotional approach with a logical approach.'
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- Cecil the lion is not alone. Hunting large animals in Africa as a sport is a common practice and serves as a source of funding for governments (first article in the series)
- White Hunter, Black Silver
- "commercial" hunting
- super hunters
- Hunting ban - the results
