Tuesday, August 14, 2012

International Elephant Day

As a blog dedicated to the love and respect of animals, I thought I should let everyone know that today is the day dedicated to the love and support of these large, beautiful and endangered animals. .In 1979 there were an estimated 1.3 million African elephants. Today, only 470,000- less than half of that- remain, some authorities even estimate the number to be considerably lower. Elephants are being killed for a number of reasons, some highly publicised, and others- not so much.

Elephants, we know, are facing poaching for their tusks which are used to make ivory. This barabric pratice involves the elephant being killed for less than 2% of its full body- it is extreemely wasteful and extremely cruel. The loss of more than half a million elephants in a decade was due primarily to killing for ivory. The ivory trade- which is most popular in Asia, and from which most of the ivory is obtained from Africa- is responsible for the deaths of thousands of elephants anually.



I was shocked today to learn of another reason why elephants are being killed these days- for their meat.
In January, Two wild elephants were found slaughtered in a national park in western Thailand, alerting authorities to the new practice of consuming elephant meat
"The poachers took away the elephants' sex organs and trunks ... for human consumption," Damrong Phidet, director-general of Thailand's wildlife agency, told The Associated Press. Some meat was to be consumed without cooking, like "elephant sashimi," he said
Elephant Sashimi- it just sounds so absurd- why? Is what I wondered, why would anyone want to eat an elephant? Well, according to the article on Daily News, some Asian cultures believe that eating the elephants sexual organs boosts ones libido or sexual prowess.
Well, this just makes me sick to my stomach, honestly killing an endangered animal and therefore speeding up the road to extinction all for a libido enhancer?  Try some vanilla candles, or maybe some figs? Just please, leave the elephants out of it.

And don't buy ivory either.

Live and let Live,
SmileAloud

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