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If you had a real chance to help stop the slaughter of over
five thousand elephants, would you take it?
by The Earth Organization
A magnificent herd such as this, can be killed in less than 40 seconds In 2005, South African National Parks decided to end a ten year ban on culling and proposed the slaughter of between 5,000 and 7,000 African Elephants to solve a claimed overpopulation problem in Kruger National Park. An elephant slaughter of this size and scope is unprecedented in international conservation history.
The approved method of culling is to surround and trap each family herd, and then gun them down with high powered rifles - males, females and babies - intelligent, emotional and peaceful living creatures. An entire herd can be put down in less than 40 seconds.
The trauma experienced by the surviving elephants in the park would be massive.
In November of 2005, The Earth Organization took the issue to the public through an international press conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa. On The Earth Organization panel were Dr. Ian Raper, head of the Southern Africa Association for the Advancement of Science and Chairman of the The Earth
Organization Scientific Advisory Board, and Professor John Skinner, President of the Royal Society of South Africa and The Earth Organization Scientific Advisory Board member.
In the press conference, Professor Skinner issued a statement that : "There is not a shred of evidence in the primary scientific literature demonstrating that Elephants are adversely affecting biodiversity." It is clear that several of the countries top scientific experts are stating that the cull is not necessary. Unfortunately however there remains a strong push for a cull to be part of a solution..
This press conference made national news on every network station in South Africa, CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS in the US and BBC News and Sky News in Europe. All told, an estimated half billion people worldwide would have been reached with the news story.
Contraception as a solution.
Ten years of research and testing is nearing completion at the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, on a new organic, non-hormonal contraceptive for use on elephant females. The treatment is completely safe, natural, reversible and does not affect females who are already pregnant.
Currently, the contraceptive is a one shot 2 year solution, meaning that a female elephant darted with the contraceptive will not fall pregnant for the next 2 years. However, scientists are continuing research to create a one shot 5 year solution.
Elephant culling has, until now, been the recognized method of keeping down elephant populations around the world. With this new and unique contraceptive solution, we will change the emphasis on elephant management forever. A solution that can simply be administered via a dart, and which will last for years, is
revolutionary, and could spare the lives of thousands of elephants in South Africa and many more throughout Africa.
This new solution could become a reality but WE DO NEED YOUR HELP TO PULL IT OFF. The Earth organization is the only group taking responsibility for raising the funding to complete this vital research and develop a means of delivering the contraceptive simply and efficeintly via a dart. If we fail, the elephant cull will undoubtedly go ahead.
Elephants are extremely intelligent emotional creatures, with strong family ties. They have been known to return to the resting places of their dead kin. The whole mood of a herd has been seen to alter when one of them dies or is killed, which has led to the belief that they actually mourn the dead.
Can you imagine the trauma if thousands of elephants are slaughtered?
If you have ever felt that donations to environmental issues fall into a bottomless pit, or that no matter how much protesting and picketing occurs, its not really going to make a difference, here is a chance for you to do something that will really change things.
We have the researchability, the technology and experts to make contraception an integral part of future elephant population management. It is just a matter of raising the necessary funding.
By contributing to this effort, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you personally had a direct effect, in not only saving thousands of elephants, but saving the lives of a great many elephants throughout Africa in decades to come.
Please help take responsibility for this planet and its life forms.
WILL YOU, CAN YOU, HELP RAISE $250,000 TO AVOID THE LARGEST ELEPHANT CULL IN HISTORY.
MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION NOW or JOIN AS A MEMBER. EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS.
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