Sunday, May 13, 2018

For the love of elephants

Gabon landscape

The sentence that snapped me into consciousness of  the wild animal I feel most strongly about was: “Can you imagine a world without elephants?” 

That was years ago.  Of course, my answer to the question was a resounding “NO!  I don’t want to imagine such a thing! The world needs elephants!  Elephants must live!”  And so on. Then, learning that elephant extinction was a real possibility, as these giant, intelligent, family-oriented animals were being slaughtered en masse, for their tusks -- to make ivory trinkets for inhumane, greedy fools -- I was horrified by what was happening to elephants, and why. 

                                                        Save the Elephants image
And now, despite appeals to save the elephants from a wide diversity of people (a famous Asian basketball player, an American movie star and other celebrities, world-renowned elephant-protectors and their organizations. . . and everyday people who donate, write and march), elephants are still in great jeopardy.  

Why?  For me, the many possible reasons for elephants’ continued slaughter come down to one: human greed.  Despite responsibility to protect elephants or expressed good intentions or seeming moral strength, money wins out and elephants (continue to) die.   

This message is the central point of Mlima’s Tale, Lynn Nottage’s play running in NYC through June 3.  For me, it was brilliant, and depressing, theater.  Mlima is a famous “big tusker” in Kenya who, early in the play, is killed by poachers for his tusks.  Then follow the attempts by all involved to get away with the murder and make money on the tusks.

They do so.  Sickeningly. 
   
Satao
Throughout the play, all the characters’ interactions are accompanied by the ghost of Mlima, powerfully portrayed by one of the show’s four actors.  Not one person who encounters the tusks and the drive to smuggle them out of Kenya and sell them sounds the alarm.  Not one.  The tusks of the mighty elephant become “an exquisite ivory set in the penthouse of a rich connoisseur,” as the reviewer puts it, adding this killer point: “unconditional virtue is nonexistent within the international system of economic power that keeps the play’s world spinning.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/theater/mlimas-tale-review-lynn-nottage.html

As long as that remains true -- is human nature likely to change? -- elephants don’t stand a chance.  

The story of what’s happening to elephants can make misanthropes of those of us who believe reason and “humanity” will prevail.  Fools that we are.  And media stories about new ways to help save elephants can’t quite generate the optimism they may have fostered before.  The realization that most humans would rather make money than stop iconic, sentient beings from being slaughtered is overwhelming. . . and seems to be reinforced every day.

Hamilton
In spite of all that, I will continue to read, write and donate as I can because I can’t stand the idea of doing nothing for elephants.  The organization I trust is "Save the Elephants" (www.savetheelephants.org), founded by Dr. Iain Douglas Hamilton, a scientist considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on African elephants.  I’ve read about him for years and thought he was very impressive at a NYC demo a few years ago.  (To donate to Save the Elephants, click “Donate” then scroll down for the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), a San Francisco-based US partner to STE.)   

The sentence that most recently hit me hard was: “One elephant killed every 15 minutes.”  Mlima’s Tale continues.  Save the elephants.

Yao Ming with orphaned baby elephant


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2 comments:

  1. Thanks for that heartfelt cry for the elephants.

    ReplyDelete