YOU probably missed it, I know I did, World Elephant Day. Just as a matter of interest, 100 years ago there were about four million elephants in Africa and Asia, today there are about an eighth of that number, between 420 thousand and 658 thousand. Currently, about four elephants an hour are being poached for their ivory, the vast bulk of which is disappearing into China for geegaws and chopsticks.
The slaughter was eased for a while when CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) implemented a worldwide ban on ivory sales in 1989. It was not to last, however and in 1997, under pressure from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana, one-off sales of stockpiled ivory were allowed, mainly to Japan, and the poaching was back in full swing.
Then there are the rhino wars. So far this year 587 rhinos have been killed in South Africa alone, 362 of them in the Kruger National Park. And it is a war, the South African military is involved and men are dying, on both sides. Rhino horn is now more valuable than gold and it’s all headed for the traditional medicine trade in China and South East Asia, where a dusting of the stuff is supposed to cure anything from cancer to impotency.
South Africa is now pushing for an international legal trade in rhino horn – perhaps we should note what happened to ivory.
At this rate both the elephant and the rhino are doomed to extinction in our life times, in the wild anyway. I stress ‘in the wild’, because zoos and other captive breeding projects may be the only way out. With that in mind, news from Windhoek is that Namibia is shipping five elephants and 10 rhinos to Cuba for that country’s national zoo. This latest consignment brings to about 120 animals that Namibia has donated to Cuba, including black and white rhinos, cheetahs, leopards and lions. Well, at least they will be safe there, as I imagine Cuba has a short, sharp response to poachers.
But enough doom and gloom, let’s cheer up and hug a tree. I wrote about National Arbor Week recently, and well, when we built our house 10 years ago, they had to remove five indigenous trees to make space for it. Over the years we have planted many trees, almost all of them indigenous, and now our property is a virtual forest, with us looking down onto or through the canopy from The Hide. We now have about 40 species of trees, almost all indigenous.
Our sea view is currently bracketed in bright red, from an African flame tree (Spathodea campanulata or Nandi flame) on the left across to a coastal coral tree, an Erythrina caffra, to the right. Anyway, both trees are currently in flower and quite magnificent. The flame tree is actually an East African tree, but it planted itself and it’s beautiful, so against all advice to the contrary, it stays. Cheers!
Sources: Conservation Action Trust, Save the Elephants News Service, Department of Environmental Affairs.
