Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Well satisfied with his purchases and feeling very elegant indeed, Babar now goes to the photographer to have his picture taken.”— Jean De Brunhoff, The Story of Babar
If you’ve read any of my Joe’s Book Club posts about books and libraries, you might know that I walked out of my first ever visit to a library with a small stack of book written by Jean De Brunhoff about Babar the Elephant. This, I guess is where my fascination with this amazing creators began.
On August 12, we honor one of Earth’s most magnificent creatures with World Elephant Day. Sadly, over the last decade, the number of elephants in the world has dropped by 62% and they could be mostly extinct by the end of the next decade. World Elephant Day is a day where organizations and individuals can rally together to give a voice to the issues threatening elephants.
Thanks to the sheer expanse of the African elephant’s natural environment as well as its size and threatening posture, it has largely managed to resist captivity and domestication. The Asian elephant, on the other hand, has lived alongside humans for over 4,000 years and is associated with a variety of cultural and spiritual customs. In Thailand, for example, elephants are a national icon with a national holiday dedicated to them and they can even receive a royal title from the king.
Despite all of the above, there is still a lot we don’t know about elephants. They have the biggest brain of any land animal, which makes them clever, conscious, social, and empathetic — qualities that we humans strive for in ourselves.
The desire for ivory in Asian markets has led to the slaughter of thousands of elephants. It is estimated that every day 100 African elephants are killed by poachers. World Elephant Day was created to raise awareness and create change to save these majestic creatures. Since its founding in 2012 by Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand along with over 100 elephant conservation organizations worldwide, World Elephant Day has reached millions of individuals who love elephants and want to do whatever they can dovto help.
Elephants are a keystone species for their environments since they promote healthy ecosystems and encourage biodiversity. We can save elephants by enforcing stronger local and international protection policies and legislation for wild elephants against poaching and the illegal trade of ivory, promoting better management of their natural habitats, educating people on the vital role of the elephant in ecosystems, improving the way elephants in captivity are treated, and, if necessary, reintroducing captive elephants into wildlife reserves to allow a natural replenishing of endangered populations. These are just some of the aims of various elephant conservation organizations around the world.
Elephants are running out of space and time. We have to work together to prevent senseless poaching and the trafficking of ivory, and establish protected natural sanctuaries in which elephants and other wildlife can thrive — before it’s too late and they’re all gone.