World Elephant Day is August 12, 2015.  Since the logo for this website is an elephant, you can surmise how much I love, admire and respect them.  As  an extremely proud and long time member of the Wildlife Conservation Society, I was thrilled to learn that recently President Obama introduced a proposal to ban ivory sales in the U.S.  Regrettably, the U.S. is the second-largest market for ivory in the world, behind China (and China has just instituted a one-year ban on ivory imports).  Once enacted, this ban will close loopholes that have allowed smugglers to disguise ivory from recently killed elephants and sell them as antiques in the U.S.  Hopefully, this will send a clear message that America is serious about shutting down the ivory trade and saving elephants.  President Obama’s proposed ban was largely the result of the work done by the members of the 96 Elephants Campaign, a movement to educate the world about the many dangers faced by elephants in their natural habitat.  It is estimated that 96 elephants are killed in Africa each day.

            Unfortunately, elephants, the largest land mammals in the world, are endangered.  As the human footprint has grown larger, elephant habitats have shrunk. They have been converted into farmland or deforested as industrial logging and mining spreads, and as roads and settlements encroach deeper into the forest.  Poachers kill elephants for their ivory and meat. They kill approximately 35,000 elephants annually to feed the global demand for ivory.  The poaching crisis does not exist in a vacuum.  The Executive Vice President of the Wildlife Conservation Society, John Calvelli, has said that U.S. lawmakers are beginning to understand how the poaching crisis is impacting not just wildlife, but security, diplomacy, development and conservation as well. The slaughter of the dwindling elephant herds in Africa grows worse by the year as organized criminals get rich from selling ivory in lucrative black markets around the world.  The number of African elephants have been reduced in less than a century from several million to an estimated 350,000 - 500,000.  It is possible that one subspecies, the African forest elephant, could become extinct in the next decade. 

            So on World Elephant Day, I am not asking anyone to forget about the crises faced by so many people.  We should all contribute what we can to any worthwhile and honest charity that aims to help the terminally ill, the aged, those who can no longer take care of themselves, our military, and especially our sick children.  All great causes deserving of our care, attention and money.  I am merely pointing out that these majestic animals are in serious trouble.  I am imploring us not to live in a world devoid of these beautiful creatures. 

            Elephants have a variety of wonderful traits.  They are gregarious and form small family groups.  Several interrelated family groups may inhabit an area and know each other well.  When they meet at watering holes and feeding places, they greet each other with affection (I can’t get my neighbors to do this).  They communicate with one another at distances of five or six miles.  Elephants are very attentive mothers, and because most elephant behavior has to be learned, they keep their offspring with them for many years.  Elephants possess a high level of intelligence, are very social, are part of a complex social structure and have complex social behavior.  They show concern for members of their families, take care of weak or injured members and grieve.  When a member of the herd dies, they cover the body with grass and dirt and stay near the site for several hours.  I would like us all to be aware of their beauty, as well as their possible extinction.  Hopefully we will be the generation that helped elephants propagate, and not the generation that allowed their extinction on our watch.  “Animals” who possess the traits that I mentioned should be cherished, as they are all too “human”.