When one thinks of an elephant or a rhinoceros, one immediately thinks of an exceptionally large and powerful animal that are above the greatest strengths of mankind. But the truth is that despite their strengths and their skills at surviving in the animal kingdom, animals including elephants and rhinos. These animals are vulnerable to the greed and cruelty of mankind. Mankind continues to drive these creatures towards extinction because of their relentless poaching. For over years, different organizations have come out in support of putting an end to animal poaching. But, there are still those persons who continue to hunt elephants and rhinos as the body parts of these animals are quite valuable. Poachers pose the greatest threat to these animals and their continued hunt for the animals will eventually rid the world of such important animals. The crime of poaching is a serious one that must end if the world wishes to save the population of many endangered speeches.
Poachers kill animals mainly for financial reasons and as a sporting activity. The act of poaching continues to plague the African territory as it serves as a primary commercial gain for poachers. In other words, poacher or hunters kill these animals because they can sell the parts and the hides of the animals illegally and earn huge financial rewards. This greed in people leaves one to question the humanity of mankind as they unthinkingly murder a part of God’s creation. It appears as though the need for material possessions continue to dominate the logical and human responses to the environment. Poachers only take the ivory tusks of the elephant and the large horns of the rhinos. The cruelty in the situation is that the bodies of the animals are not as important to the poachers and the remains are left to rot.
Arguably, the laws on animal poaching are merely formal papers produced by a set of legal “paper pushers” as poachers from around the world continue to arrive in large numbers to rid the continent of some of its prized possessions. The 1997 launch of the African Rhino Program revealed that there were almost 8,500 white rhinos and nearly 2,599 seriously endangered black rhinos in jungles of Africa. While the numbers of white and black rhinos have almost double since then, the Asian, the Sumatran and the Javan rhinos are still not safe from poachers. Teresa Telecky points out that Kenya’s ban on trophy hunting nearly 40 years ago, paved the way for other countries to ban the hunts against Africa’s “Big Five” which includes “African elephant, African lion, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros” (Telecky 1), but this has not stopped the hunts for these animals.
No one wants to live in constant fear and yet some people in the society feel that it is acceptable to leave these rhinos in constant fear as they hunt and terrorize these animals. Elephants also face the cruel hands of these greedy and selfish poachers who choose to play God with the elephants’ lives. Jessica Phelan argues that poachers kill thousands of animals each year (Phelan 1). The author further suggests that these poachers are criminals and hunters who are trying to make huge financial rewards, while there are those who kill these animals because of their impoverished state and their need to gain access to a meal or easy cash (Phelan 2). Trophy hunters continue to hunt these wild animals because of the thrill they may experience or because of some “silly” awards at a Safari club. These awards cannot be worth the death of these creatures that allows the African to earn from the arrival of tourists who will pay good money to see these animals alive. Poachers truly deprive everyone of their right to enjoy earth’s natural resources in so many ways. Regardless of the reasons for poaching, the extinction of these animals will only hurt the world natural resources and destroy the wildlife in the world.
There is a constant battle between those who support poaching and those who wish to protect the wildlife in the world. Michael Schwartz suggests that there are is the potentially painful defects in each of the arguments that have been put forward (Schwartz 2) as there are concerns that the extinction of the animals can have positive rewards for those who must live in fear of these animals and people who believe in protecting the historical features of the world. In order to appreciate these fallacies, one must become aware of the need to embrace the “dual sincerity from pro- and anti-trade proponents to save Africa’s beloved megafauna” (Schwartz 3). The truth is that despite the arguments for hunting and killing rhinos and elephants, it is clear that these acts are barbaric and illegal in a society that seeks to protect the natural order of life in the world.
Of course, the pro-traders of would embrace the laws that support their cruel acts and intentions, but it should not be like this as it would suggest that the world is slowly becomes a place where money is more important that life and love for even animals. How can we not love or appreciate even the largest animals when God created all things equal and expect us to love everything in His creation? Clearly, poachers and those who support poaching deviated from their love for creation and for God’s work as they defy all laws of nature. Arguably, these poachers have become so callous that they have forgotten the value of life and the need to persevere life.
Animals are similar in many ways to people as they also grief the loss of their loved ones in the same way that humans grieve. Many people have not been blessed with the opportunity to experience these creatures personally and this makes it easy for them to disregard the feelings and emotions of these animals. But according to Michael Schwarz, one cannot truly understand the emotions of animals unless one witnesses the grief of an elephant over the death of another elephant (Schwartz 6) and see the black rhinos gather in their herds to socialize after dark to truly appreciate and understand that similar to humans, animals have the emotional expression, self - awareness, and the ability to retain memories (Schwartz 6). But, most people do not really care much about these animals that live in the wild. In fact, they are more concerned with their selfish desires to earn financial and personal gains. According to Clifton B. Parker, poaching remains as a highly significant threat to the wildlife populations (Parker 6) and this threat also impacts the lives of a number of persons. If the practice continues there will not be much left as these animals a part of the natural food chain in Africa. Animals also experience the threat on their lives and of course, like humans who hide when they are threatened in any way, animals will migrate from the regions where they are being hunted. This means that people in the area that rely on elephants and rhinos for food will suffer.
In concluding, animals cannot speak out against the injustice that they face at the hands of poachers. As such it is important for organizations to come together and reinforce the bans that are currently in place for protecting the wildlife in these regions. These animals are important to the lively and food chain of the Africans and yet the whites and even some blacks continue to prove that the cycle of colonization never truly ended after all these years. The only difference is that animals now suffer at the hands of these selfish persons who do not realize that by killing these animals they are actually disturbing the cycle of life and disrupting the evolution of the species. At the rate that poachers kill animals there will be no future for animals in this world. In addition, the poachers will continue to rob the Africans of their heritage and chances of improving the economic state of the country. The world needs to really see the damages that are caused by these poachers and really put an end to poaching as the sport of hunting continues to destroy the continent of Africa and her people.
References
Parker, Clifton B., New U.S. policies can discourage trophy hunting, (2015) Stanford News,
Web 20 Apr 2016 <https://news.stanford.edu/2015/08/03/big-game-hunting-080315/>
Phelan, Jessica, 6 endangered animals poachers are hunting into extinction (2015) USA Today,
Web 20 Apr 2016 <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/07/31/globalpost-6-endangered-animals-poachers-hunting-into-extinction/30932385/>
Schwartz, Michael, Infighting over whether to trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn jeopardizes
both species, Voices, National Geographic, Web 20 Apr 2016 <http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/06/essay-infighting-over-whether-to-trade-in-elephant-ivory-and-rhino-horn-jeopardizes-both-species/>
Telecky, Teresa M., Hunting Is a Setback to Wildlife Conservation (2014), Earth Island Journal,
Web 20 Apr 2016 <http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/hunting_is_a_setback_to_wildlife_conservation/>
