GREAT INFO FROM MY FRIEND MELISSA GROO ON HOW TO GET INVOLVED AND HELP ELEPHANTS....PLEASE READ AND SHARE. People have asked me what they can do to help elephants, who are suffering so terribly in some parts of Africa from rampant poaching, particularly in central Africa. I want to give some ideas here. There is of course the organization I work for, Save the Elephants. They have set up the Elephant Crisis Fund, along with the Wildlife Conservation Network, that everyone can support. Or you can support STEs work directly. Photographer Nick Brandts Big Life Foundation is helping in East Africa with anti-poaching operations. I think International Fund for Animal Welfare and Born Free do important work too on the anti-poaching front. There are individuals and the organizations they have started to help catch poachers and smugglers on the ground that people should be aware of: Ofir Drori, of the Last Great Ape, and Charlotte Houpline, of WARA, are working in the heart of central Africa and west Africa, respectively, to apprehend poachers and see they are penalized as much as possible. Nir Kalron, of Maisha Consulting Ltd., who was interviewed in this recent NPR piece/article npr.org/2014/05/09/310259368/former-commando-turns-conservationist-to-save-elephants-of-dzanga-bai, is working on fighting poaching in the Central African Republic and particularly my beloved Dzanga Bai, commando style. Friend these people on FB, follow their organizations pages, contribute to their cause if you can. In terms of education of people in China, where the demand for ivory is so huge, Yufang Gao is traveling through the country with two African colleagues, giving talks, and visiting ivory markets. This piece is crucial. Also check out 香港護象行動 Hong Kong for Elephants, which is trying to curb demand in Hong Kong and China. On the information sharing side, Paula Kahumbu is head of Hands Off Our Elephants, and she does more singlehandedly to spread the word than almost anyone. Friend her and follow her Hands Off page. She has just put up a letter template people can use to write the First Lady of Kenya about the poaching crisis there,urging her to change Kenyan laws so that these killings are treated as crimes not offenses. And then, if you really want to know of every news story that comes out on elephants in the wild and whats going on, you can subscribe to my news service, sponsored by Save the Elephants. (Though Ill warn you there are a lot of news stories, and they are for the most part terribly grim). Go to their web site to find out how (click on E-News on the main page at savetheelephants.org). For those wanting to go to Africa on safari, go with an outfit that does something for conservation: educating you, funneling some of your money directly to efforts, etc.I know I have overlooked/neglected to mention many other people and orgs that do so much each and every day, and I apologize. I have to go catch a plane now. please feel free to add other ideas below. Thank you for reading and thank you for caring. Please share this post with others.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:48:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015