Thursday, September 12, 2013
Herald News
FALL RIVER —After a hearty breakfast at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast on Friday morning, Jim Justus Nyamu of Kenya put feet to pavement and continued his walk to Washington, D.C., on a journey to spread awareness of the illegal ivory trade and poaching of elephants in Africa.
While the plight in Africa may seem a world away, the United States is contributing to the problem as the second largest buyer of illegal ivory from Africa, beat only by China.
Nyamu, a scientist who works in conservation and research, has seen his country’s majestic elephant population dwindle in recent years as poachers slaughter the animals in horrific ways only to harvest their ivory for quick cash.
Nyamu said many of the poachers are engaging in the activity because they have no other means of income and no education, drawing a parallel to the drug trade caused by economic woes in America.
Some 400 elephants were killed in Kenya in August alone. Many are the family matriarchs, which leaves baby elephants to fend for themselves and disrupts the ecosystem.
If nothing changes, elephants will be extinct from Africa by 2025.
“When does it end? We want it to end today,” Nyamu said.
Nyamu traveled from Kenya to Boston last week to lead the “Ivory Belongs to Elephants Campaign Walk” that will culminate on Oct. 4, World Elephant Day, in Washington, D.C. He spent a free night at the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, where he “slept like an elephant” and then headed to Tiverton, Portsmouth, Newport and beyond. While in this country, Nyamu will meet with U.S. Fish and Wildlife and conduct presentations at Yale and Princeton universities.
As an activist, Nyamu is looking for help from America to end the trade.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order in July to combat wildlife poaching and trafficking in Africa, especially the sale of rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks.
Both elephants and rhinoceros are endangered species.
The American initiative will provide $10 million to help stop the illegal trade by training and assisting African authorities in their fight to end illegal poaching and selling of ivory and horns.
“It’s not an African issue. It’s not a Kenyan issue. It’s a global issue,” Nyamu said.
Nyamu said many American and Chinese people do not realize that the animals are being killed specifically for their ivory. Poachers generally earn $60 to $70 selling the ivory from one elephant.
The thought of elephants being killed for their ivory creates an emotional response in most Americans, Nyamu said. “Now, we need action,” he said.
The slaughter of elephants upsets the ecosystem. Nyamu said elephants are the protectors and leaders for other animals. Without elephants, lions, rhinoceros, zebras and hyenas become unsafe.
Jen Samuel, a U.S. partner of Nyamu, said U.S. government leaders have pledged funding, and must now act. She said elephants are spiritual animals with long memories and feel grief for the slaughter of other elephants.
“When children learn their ‘A,B,C’s, they learn that ‘E’ is for elephant,” Samuel said. “We don’t want them to learn that ‘E’ is for extinction.”
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