Salt Lake Community College

Research and written Speech

Elephant Poaching

Bailey Pittl

Communications 1020

Raymond Bingham

April 6th 2017

 Elephant Poaching

Did you know that elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet, and females of

this species undergo the longest pregnancy of 22 months? That is so amazing to me! Elephants

are such a beautiful iconic animal. They offer so much to the environment and are astoundingly

majestic. Elephants are so wonderful and they are facing the biggest threat to survival. The

demand for Ivory is causing 25,000 elephant deaths. This brings me into what Id like to share

with you today. I would like to talk to you about elephant poaching. Poaching is killing so many

that its affecting our environment and its killing off the elephant species to the point of

extinction.

As the number of Elephants become fewer and fewer its affecting the environment a

great deal. Elephants are a keystone species, other animals, plants and entire ecosystems rely on

them for survival. Elephants pull down trees and break up thorny bushes and as they do this it

creates salt licks and grasslands. This makes it easier for other animals survival in the

environment. They also create water holes by digging into dry river beds. This helps other

animals immensely. Elephants are often referred to as natures gardens, plants and animals rely

on them to disperse their seeds. At the rate the elephants are going it is causing a great deal of

hardship for other animals in the process.

The Demands of Ivory trade rocketed with 80% of traded raw ivory coming from

poached elephants. Major ivory markets were eliminated in some countries of Africa which

helped decrease the number of illegal killing of elephants and gave the elephants time to recover.

In an article done by Iworry, it states Following a one- off sale in 2008, the illegal trade
rocketed with 2011 seeing the largest seizures of ivory since records began. The elephants are

declining rapidly and its fueling the black market all because of the consumer demand to buy

ivory. Ivory is a symbol of wealth, status and power in eastern countries and its creating an

awful environment. An article done by National Geographic Magazine titled Ivory worship states

In January 2012 a Hundred raiders on horseback charged out of Chad into Cameroons Bouba

Ndjidah National Park, slaughtering hundreds of elephants entire families in one of the worse

concentrated killings since a global Ivory trade ban was adopted in 1989. Elephant poaching

levels are at their worst in a decade. With the number of elephants dying there is no way that they

will be able to replenish what they lost in how quick they keep getting killed. Like I said earlier

elephant pregnancy is 22 months. This doesnt give the elephants enough time at all.

This poem named Elephant Poaching by Tabi Lim illustrates to us the elephants in the situation

and being killed and how we need to save the lives of the elephants and look at them without

greed and see them for what they truly are.

A gunshot rang throughout the sky,

sending mothers and babies fleeing for their lives.
On the ground that was once green and lush,
is now stained with ruby red blood.

The poor beast that was writhing in pain,

became a joy for the monstrous poachers.
Another shot rang once,
the beast laid still.

It was the ivory,

the ivory was what they wanted.
It was greed that had blindsided them,
as they had no remorse.
Please, I beg of you,
please, stop the poaching.
As for many innocent lives that were lost,
during the raid.

How is it fair for the elephant to lose their lives due to our greed?
How is it right that they have no weapons, but we do?

Rise, my brothers and sisters,

let us work together to raise the governments attention.
We, together,
have to stop this act before they go extinct.

What is an elephant?
No one knows.
All they will see, are only photos and illustrations,
with no knowledge on how does a real one looks like.

- Tabi Lim

Organized crime is just how affective these poachers are in order to get what they want.

These organized criminals are killing and slaughtering these elephants in a way never seen. In an

article titled Organized Crime on Iworry it states sub-machine guns, night vision goggles and

even helicopter are used to slaughter up to 100 elephants each day. Its not just animals lives at

risk, in the last 10 years 1,000 rangers were killed protecting wildlife in the war against

poachers. This is terrifying to think that 1,000 rangers got killed for protecting these beautiful

animals for money. Organized crime is making it hard for the villages that live in these areas

because of the black market it throws off the whole system and it makes it hard to for those who

arent because they just keep getting lower and lower making them really poor while those who

are participating in the black market are getting wealthier. What causes the problem is that there

is no taxes being made and controlled and so nothing goes back to the community so it doesnt
equal things out at all. An article on Earth Islands Journal titled THE END

FOR ELEPHANTS? Poachers are orga-nized and coordinated by traffickers, and traffickers are

coordinated and organized by white collar criminals, This shows how manipulative this really

is. The poachers themselves dont get paid a ton of money either they get pretty descent money

but its nothing compared to how much its really worth. The white collar business men are the

ones running the operation and getting the big money.

There is a penalty for those who get caught poaching. In January 2014, in the first court case

since Kenya introduced the new anti-poaching law they stated that nobody would get a small

punishment for poaching. It is now declared that if you are caught and/are poaching you must

pay $233,000 or serve a seven year jail sentence. In an article done by the National Geographic

titled In Kenya Justice Catches up with Elephant Poacher States In January 2014, a Chinese

man arrested in Nairobi and convicted of ivory smuggling became the first to feel the full brunt

of the new law when he was ordered to pay $233,000 or serve seven years in jail. He had to

experience the punishment in full force. This punishment is so big and so severe that youd think

why anyone would want to do this if the consequences are so high but they still do so they had to

raise the penalty. Now if you are committing wildlife offenses you have to pay 10 million Kenya

shillings or imprisonment of 15 years or both. This raises a huge question for me on why they

would want to do this if the penalty is so high.

Stephen Messenger wrote an article for the dodo titled Exclusive Interview with An

Elephant Poacher. In this article he had an interview with a past elephant poacher whose name

was John Kaimoi, He had just gotten out of prison not too long ago for poaching elephants.

Messenger asks Kaimoi for his reasoning behind his actions and he said it was to provide for his
family. Kaimoi used to farm with his family and then sell to the market in town but when famine

would come he had nothing to give to the market to sell and receive money to get food for his

family so he turned to elephant poaching. Because of the situation he was in he couldnt help it.

Kaimoi states But because of the situation that I was living in, I could risk it. I could risk it.

Kaimoi talks about how he would feel after killing these elephants and it killed him inside. I

didnt want to kill them but that was his target that is what he needed to do to provide. He said

that after he would kill an elephant and let out a shriek it felt like the Heavens had fallen down.

After he got out of prison he said that he didnt want to partake in this life style he wants to be

better and not feel the way he does. It burdens him and he doesnt want the animals to suffer

anymore. Kaimoi want to work to help the elephants now and protect the elephants from

poachers. He says that most poachers are just trying to provide for their families and they need to

help the poachers to stop and find a job that can help them provide for their families. This shows

to me that there are people struggling in Africa and not all poachers want to kill these elephants,

they are just trying to survive and provide for their families.

There is an elephant that dies every 15 minutes due to the poaching crisis in Africa. The more

this happens elephants will become extinct, its not a matter of if its a matter of when. We need

to ensure the safety of these amazing elephants that provide so much to this beautiful earth we

live on. Animal poaching is quickly making these elephants come to an end. The African Wildlife

Foundation wants to ensure wildlife and wild lands thrive in modern Africa. We need to put an

end to what is going on and see the bigger picture over laying this elephant poaching crisis. If

this continues today we will no longer see elephants in our future.

 Bibliography

"Poaching Poems - The best poetry on the web."Poaching Poems - Modern Award-winning
Poaching Poetry : All Poetry. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

This is the website I got the poem from to illustrate a picture to those who are reading and
visualizing the elephants.

10152652173065943. "Exclusive Interview With An Elephant Poacher."The Dodo - For Animal

People. N.p., 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.
But because of the situation that I was living in, I could risk it. I could risk it.

McConnell, Tristan. "THE END for ELEPHANTS? (Cover Story)." Earth Island Journal, vol.
30, no. 2, Summer2015, p. 30. EBSCOhost, libprox1.slcc.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=102694386&site=eds-
live.
Poachers are organized and coordinated by traffickers, and traffickers are coordinated and
organized by white collar criminals,
worry.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

sub-machine guns, night vision goggles and even helicopter are used to slaughter up to 100
elephants each day. Its not just animals lives at risk, in the last 10 years 1,000 rangers were
killed protecting wildlife in the war against poachers.

"Keep Wildlife in the Wild." Born Free Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.
I looked at this website so see if there were places in Africa that were taking care of the situation.
If they had a support group to end poaching and they did and it was super interesting to read
about it.

"As Animal Poaching Surges, Organized Crime Plays Bigger Role." National Geographic.
National Geographic Society, 08 Apr. 2017. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

In January 2014, a Chinese man arrested in Nairobi and convicted of ivory smuggling became
the first to feel the full brunt of the new law when he was ordered to pay $233,000 or serve seven
years in jail.

Zielinski, Sarah. "14 Fun Facts About Elephants." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 03
Jan. 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.

Did you know that elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet, and females of this
species undergo the longest pregnancy of 22 months?
Hunt, Patrick Norman. "African Elephant Poaching." Salem Press Encyclopedia, January.
EBSCOhost, libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ers&AN=89473938&site=eds-live.
Lineaurearer, Marion. "POACHING." Saturday Evening Post, vol. 221, no. 50, 11 June 1949, p.
106. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=19960579&site=ehost-live.
I looked up some poems using the slcc library on poaching.