1 elephant is killed by poachers every 20 minutes. Every day. For food? No For science? No. For human survival needs No. These mighty creatures on this Earth, living innocently posing zero threat to humankind, are killed for ornamental trinkets and  jewelry. A small carving for your home's entry hall. 1 elephant every 20 minutes is slaughtered for their tusks. (Rhinos as well.) I can't even wrap my head and heart around the shame this sheds on humans. Upon a recent safari I took through Arusha Tanzania, across the Serengeti Desert I had an entirely new relationship with these glorious creatures while learning first-hand from my tracking guides how the poaching is killing Tanzania's economy (losing $25 million a year), how their are brutal anti-poaching groups who entangle in deadly fights with the poachers....yes even human lives are decimated by the China-led push for procure tusks for ivory cosmetic and ornamental markets.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elephant-poaching-costs-african-tourism-25m-each-year-far-more-preventative-measures-1589253

What the Hell? If Ivory could cure cancer, solve hunger, provide clean drinking water there would be some merit to killing one of this Earth's most magnificent and peaceful creatures. The background to the ivory trade:

http://nationalgeographic.org/media/history-ivory-trade/

Sure. We fish. We hunt. We raise animals for stock and survival needs. We farm stone crabs and sever ONE of their claws, leaving the animals alive to grow another. There is some humanity-based efforts shown here. We slaughter millions of chickens to eat our nuggets. One could compare hunting for elk's antlers to mount on your stone hearth to poaching elephants, BUT we gain other survival-based products from hunting game. Poaching is pure evil.

What was interesting about the safari I was on was how many elephants I saw. Fascinating to see so many herds, families, babies roaming across my path, (literally), each and every day. Then, learning these were such a small sample size comparatively to just 10 years ago. Do the math: 1 elephant every 20 minutes is extinguished each day. As well, the elephants in my sight were in a protected area. (One that is requires armed forces to defend from gangs of poachers.)

Sadness.

Walk OnElephants are a family.  Elephants are majestic, and are a committed family. Taking care of the younger ones as a small village would.

Save the elephants. A link to look into helping out:

http://savetheelephants.org/project/anti-poaching/

Dreams of Dumbo