The killing of elephants and rhinos for social status and ineffective medication must end

"People Hunt Endangered Animals, So This Woman Hunts Poachers"

				People Hunt Endangered Animals, So This Woman Hunt... A group of retired US vets have just landed in Africa, and their mission is to deter poaching before it contributes to the elimination of endangered species.
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I came across this post on Facebook and because I think elephants and rhinos are cute and I know they are endangered I clicked “like” and then I shared it.

Turned out some of my Facebook friends knew a lot more about this topic than me, and they brought up some points I regret not having considered myself.

My friends made me realize how ignorant I was. Feeling embarrassed I read everything I could find on the Internet about the poaching business. My stomach wrenched and I felt terribly sad.

I wish I could go back to my ignorance.

I wish I had never seen those pictures of mutilated animals. 

But there is no going back now. 

How can this be solved? Is it going to end only when there are no elephants and rhinos left? 

Back to the woman in the Facebook post; her name is Kinessa Johnson, and she says she will hunt the poachers.

But I learned from my friends that she might accidentally shoot at locals who struggle for survival. Not all poachers are evil criminals in combat armour, but poor people who kill animals to feed their families. How is Kinessa going to tell the difference? 

Organized crime flourishes when there is money to be made.

Elephants are killed for their tusks, and rhinos are killed for their horns. The rest of the animal is left on the spot to rotten. 

The criminals are well rewarded; the prize of ivory today is about 1'000 USD per pound (equals 1'000 Euros for a mere 450g). The prize is high not only because tusks are getting rare, it is high because there are buyers in the world who are willing to pay.

So the „bad guys" Kinessa Johnson should target are not the poachers, but the buyers.

There are two types of buyers who create a market for these organized criminals:

- the buyer who believes in the medical power of rhino horn powder, and

- the buyer who tries to gain personal power with expensive items made out of ivory.

Rhino horn powder is considered an effective drug in traditional Chinese medicine. It is used for headaches, fever and convulsions.

It is not easy to change traditional medical beliefs or to convince a user that rhino horn powder is ineffective.

But the “medical” use can be targeted. It will take time, educational efforts and clever diplomacy. Clever diplomacy does not mean sending in a western medical doctor to tell an Asian his traditional beliefs suck, but to encourage alternatives from the Asian tradition.

I did not mention erectile dysfunction (impotence) for a reason. Quote from https://www.savetherhino.org:

"There is a belief in the West that rhino horn is used as an aphrodisiac and sexual stimulant but this is not correct and seems to have been misunderstood or misinterpreted by Western media. However, research has shown that people in Vietnam are starting to believe this rumour as they are consuming it for new reasons."  

These “new reasons” are using rhino horn powder as if it was Viagra.

Rhino horn powder is also used to treat hang-over...

Chemically, rhino horn is not much more than keratin, the compound that makes up human hair and nails. So you might as well bite your nails after a long night with too many drinks.

The elephants. Ivory is used to produce items like piano keys, chop sticks, ornaments and billiard balls.

The main buyers are Chinese and American.

Many of these buyers do not know the reality behind ivory “collection”. Many people honestly believe the tusks fall off and that there are people who walk around picking them up. Or they think you can cut off a tusk, and then it grows back again. 

Once they realize you actually kill the whole elephant for the ivory, they are appalled and shocked and they want ivory no more.

Some institutions believe that by making the ivory price go up, the demand will decrease, as fewer individuals will be able to afford it. This is the reason smuggled ivory is destroyed in a public manner. This strategy sometimes back-fires, because when the price goes up, the self-perceived status of the ivory item owner goes up, too. 

What if the buyers would understand that their precious and expensive chop sticks are stained with blood? Not only elephant blood, but also human.

Kinessa Johnson will probably get a lot of media attention because there will be more ignorant people like myself clicking “like” and share on Facebook.

I hope Kinessa uses this attention well to educate and influence the buyers. The poachers are only the symptom. One must treat to cure, and organized crime will automatically disappear when there is no more profit to be made.

And the Viagra example above is proof that Western media can influence the behavior of Asians. (There is already plenty of proof that Western media influences the behavior of Americans).

I plea to you: My Asian and American readers: Express disgust if someone tries to impress you with a gift made out of ivory. Educate and ridicule your friends who are buying ivory. Help make ivory an unwanted possession.

Thank you.

This week we are remembering Satao the Elephant.

Satao, a famous and well-loved elephant who lived in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park, had tusks over 2 meters long. 

Satao's long tusks sealed his destiny.

Satao fell prey for human greed when he was 45 years old; he was killed by a poisoned arrow exactly a year ago, on May 30th, 2014. 

Let’s kill the market, not the poachers. When there is no more demand, the poaching will end by itself. 

This could be the way to save our rhinos and elephants: Satao’s cousins, siblings and children.

Please share this post.

 Good links:

Africa’s Elephants Are Being Slaughtered in Poaching Frenzy

				Africa’s Elephants Are Being Slaughtered in Poaching Fre... Conservation groups say poachers are wiping out tens of thousands of elephants a year, more than at any time in the previous two decades, with the ivory ...
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http://tsavotrust.org/news/2014/6/13/kwaheri-satao-saying-goodbye-to-a-tsavo-icon