When you think about elephants, what words come to mind? Cute? Ginormous? Strong? Those are the words I think of! But has endangered or sometimes slaves ever come to mind? Not many people know about the truth about elephants and how they are treated, and that’s why not many people are helping! So please continue reading my article to know the truth about elephants, and how we can help them!! Because when a world comes together to save a specie, that specie becomes protected!

Remember Serena’s article about natural resources? Well, elephants are renewable resources too which is becoming scarce, among other things. According to UN data, the decline in the total population of elephants in Africa and Asia is alarming! Apart from Asia, the survival of this mighty animal in the African continent continues to be questionable. Maybe you’re wondering why? The truth is, elephants are endangered because of their massive demand for ivory. Ivory is the material that their tusks are made of. Their tusks are the front teeth that grow up to 18cm by year. All African elephants have tusks. The hunters cut off the elephants tusk for trade and without them, elephants die. This leads to their endangerment.

Long ago elephants used to roam freely across the LARGE wild paradises in Africa. However, as found in Bagheera’s website, in 1930, there were between 5 and 10 million African elephants. By 1979, there were 1.3 million. You may wonder why ivory (though its trade is mostly illegal) is very valuable to these poachers! This is because Ivory is more valuable than gold!! As the price for ivory soared, poachers (hunters) became more organized, using automatic weapons, motorized vehicles, and airplanes to chase and kill thousands of elephants.

The slave part of elephants saddens me the most. This is the part most people don’t realize. Circuses. I’m sure all of us knows what a circus is. It’s a traveling company of acrobats, trained animals, and clowns that gives performances, typically in a large tent, in a series of different places. In many circuses, there are…circus elephants. To train an elephant may be one of the hardest things in the world! But the trainers find their ways…and they are not pleasant. “Elephants are sometimes beaten, shocked, and whipped in order for them to perform repeatedly the routines of circus performance” (Jaynes). Can you imagine how those elephants must feel? They are literally treated like slaves! The little good news though is the fact that not all animal trainers are abusive; as some do care deeply for the animals in their trust.

Besides, as documented in animal rights site, elephants are also confined in very small spaces during the circus, giving them very little space to roam around. Remember, in the wild, elephants had more than 200 km2 and walked about 40km a day!! In the wild, elephants use mud to keep their bodies fresh, and to not get sunburns. In the circus, the elephants are usually chained out in the sun. No way for them to move!! Elephants eat fresh herbs, leaves, fruit, and aquatic plants in the wild, but at the circus, all they get is dry hay! Additionally, in the wild, the female elephant stays with her children, all her life and the male stays for 10 to 15 years. But in the circus, the elephants are separated at very young age from their families. And finally, in the wild, elephants can live to up to 70 years, but during an abnormal life at the circus, they live for 14. Imagine all that!

Yet, there are many things you can do to help all the endangered elephants!!

  • Don’t visit the circuses that have elephants or any types of animals
  • Inform yourself even more on this cause and inform others
  • Research a save elephants cause

Elephants are really innocent and wonderful creatures! They deserve to live and be wild! I found a great organization that helps elephants! It is Save the Elephants: http://savetheelephants.org/. You can donate there to help save elephants! So if you care, please help, because together we can help elephants repopulate!!

I would like to end my article with this MJ’s Earth Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU. I like it since elephants are also featured in the song. Enjoy!!

Animal Lover

Venus Wambura