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Sio64 — Elephant
#animals #elephant #extinct
Published: 2016-02-24 22:01:14 +0000 UTC; Views: 4119; Favourites: 197; Downloads: 8
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I don't usually post stuff like this, but I follow a lot of conservation and wildlife protection groups on facebook and the following statistics frighten me.African elephant population:
1900 : 10,000,000
1980: 1,300,000
2015: 400,000
It's entirely possible if not certain that if things don't change elephants will go extinct in OUR lifetime. This is mostly due to poaching, as there is a lot of deluded belief about elephant tusk and rhino horn that funds the black market. A lot of people don't even realize Rhino horn is made of keratin. Same stuff your fingernails are made of! The rangers do a very job of trying to keep the animals safe, but without funding and awareness there isn't a lot to be done to help. I will also post this to the CR facebook so if you feel like helping, share it and spread the word. Follow some conservation groups on Facebook, find out what's really going on, because this isn't a threat that elephants alone are facing, and I don't fancy having to explain to my children/grandchildren what a elephant was like and why there aren't any around anymore.
And to any smart alek who would say "We have some in zoos so they won't go extinct" I would ask why on earth you would let things get to that dire point in the first place.
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Comments: 31
I can't believe hoe earthbreaking and powerful this is!
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What kind of parent gets their son a stuffed elephant with a bow? Seriously, are you trying to get this kids ass kicked....
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I can't really describe how sad this makes me feel
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I made this piece for sharks, they are facing the same crisis along with elephants, `When the buying stops, the killing can too` Yao Ming. Make a statement
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This is both really sweet and sad. The worst part is that a rhino's at least don't have to killed to take the horn but it's just easier that way. The horn will even grow back. That little boy is so happy just to see the elephant skeleton, it's like seeing a dinosaur or Woolly Mammoth to us.
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The tragic truth is that there are a lot of idiots in this world, many of whom consider animals expendable, especially for the sake of entertainment. Add that to the persistent and delusional beliefs that parts of the animals have some kind of mystical powers, and the odds are stacked against them. My only hope is that the more recent generations are smarter about the world we live in than the past few.
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That's a really sad but it's true pour elephants
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Oh my god.....I had no idea it had gotten that bad, I mean I knew they were endangered and not to buy anything made of real ivory ever but geeze....wish I had money to throw at the problem....instead I'll just share this and hope someone I know does I guess.
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That's why I made the comic, I had no idea myself. It's very easy to breeze along hearing all this stuff about conservation and thinking "it'll be fine, they'll fix it" but the real slap in the face is realising that so many people think that and at the same time those creatures we assume will always be there are hurtling towards extinction faster than ever. Sharing and raising awareness is just as valuable as funding, you may not be in the situation where you are able to donate but someone who can may spot the post you share and do so!
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Yep, as soon as I figure out how to I'll share this on Facebook.....I just don't know how to do that yet..... (I've been on here longer than I have been there.)
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This really breaks my heart 
I remember reading a news article where they talked about they might need to kill 200 lions in Africa, because there is an overpopulation and the lions might kill the giraffes and gazelles and tip the eco-system, but i just don't know why that is a problem? Nature has always been like that - the strongest kill the weakest, and then they starve and minimize their numbers, because their is no food and the the circle starts over :/ Perhaps it is just me being ignorant, but I really do not see the problem is letting these animals go un-hunted
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The lions involved have a limited territory to hunt in before they start coming to blows with farmers/cattle and other human populations, so the prospect of them drastically reducing the numbers of prey in their territory to unnaturally low levels is a very real concern, HOWEVER killing them is not the answer, the best result would be to contact other protected parks to see if the surplus number of Lions can be distributed out evenly. However once again the problem is lack of funds for them to be able to do this
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So sad! yet sadly very true! 
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My deepest worry is, once the black market comes in, it's almost as if it instantly creates a weird matter of ignorance over the head of certain people, and by that they won't stop trading those items, like horns and tusks.
It looks like it is going downhill until there is nothing left, which... Is just so wrong.
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I have to agree with this. I have the same worry - the problem is getting humanity to collectively control their numbers (and appetites) so there will be room for our fellow-beings, including elephants.
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I think the world in general has become a much emptier and less exciting place with the advent of modernity. Not only have the blank spots on the map been cleared up, but the wonders they once hid have become endangered resources.
Thankfully, I think African elephants and other megafauna might actually be easier to save than some others. Couldn't we synthesize ivory synthetically? As long as people don't see butchering wildlife a viable way to make medicine or status symbols, the demand will shrink up. I'm also sure a lot of the Africans driven by poverty to poach in the first place wouldn't mind having jobs that protect these animals instead.
Now, climate change. That's going to be the tough one. We know the greenhouse gases we release are speeding it up faster than the world can adapt, but how many people are willing to give up their modern conveniences in the name of a smaller carbon footprint?
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Just gonna add this link to your first statement: Endangered Ugly Things (if nothing else, highly informative) *nod*
Sometimes nature is amazing quick to adapt but other times you wonder just how sacred a balance it is. I've heard a theory that the reason moths are attracted to light is because moths had spent millions of years in perfect darkness with only the moon as their one light source and point of navigation; basically the advent/proliferation of human-induced light is still recent enough in the grand scheme of things that moths simply haven't adapted yet and their behavior is really just their navigation messing up.
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We are the next generation. The mistakes of the past are the opportunities of the future.
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T-T why do we live in a world were this is almost reality ?
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