Would you walk in your country for 30 days, for 570 miles through
temperatures that range from hot to cold, through pouring rain and on the
shoulder of heavily traversed highways and roads? Would you climb up and down
hilly roadsides over rocks, and through trees and bushes to deliver a message?
It is a monumental task, exhausting and necessary. Combine this massive
undertaking with almost daily speaking engagements and all-day educational
seminars at prominent colleges and organizations. There’s little sleep,
fatigue, an overwhelming heartache, a plea to be heard. Jim Justus Nyamu and
his loyal followers are the voices of our elephants. The message is clear: we
must act now to save our world’s elephants.
Jim reminds America that in 1989, the US was a leader in
banning the trade of ivory. President Bush implored the world:
''We do this out of mounting concern for the rapid decline
of the wild elephant, one of nature's most majestic creatures,'' Mr. Bush said,
''If their population continues to diminish at current rates, the wild elephant
will soon be lost from this earth.''
The message produced results. For a time, elephant
populations rebounded. The protection of the elephant, a Keystone species, as
noted by Jim, provides nourishment, the preservation of watering holes, cleared
pathways for travel, and many other ways that play a vital role in the
environment as described by The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya.
The ban on ivory lasted for 8 years until the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) allowed the sanctioned sale
of ivory, once again, according to the PBS documentary Battle for Elephants.
CITES shamefully caved in to pressure from the Chinese and Japanese governments
that demanded the trade of the tusks of these magnificent and breath-taking
beings, so full of love for each other that they mourn their dead in a manner
unlike any other animal species that we know of.
“They live in a fluid fission-fusion society with
relationships radiating out from the mother-offspring bond through families,
bond groups, clans, independent males and beyond to strangers,” as we learn
from Elephant Voices based right here in California, USA.
Protection and respect for elephants fell away once again.
Populations plummeting to today’s numbers of under 400,000 left in the wild,
36,000 per year, 96 per day, 1 elephant killed every 15 minutes. This countdown
lives in the hearts and minds of the building individuals and communities
bonded together in hope, fear, and determination, imploring the people of the
United States to heed the warning and remove the stigma of being the 2nd
largest consumer of ivory in the world, a statistic that stains the reputation
of this global power that protected elephants just 25 years ago.
Although President Obama appointed an Advisory Council just
last week, is the US media turning their backs on the elephants or do they also
need to be educated on a larger scale and by who? The Ivory Belongs to
Elephants Walk campaign brought to the US by Jim Justus of The Elephant
Neighbors Center in Kenya is a wake-up call. According to Jim Nyamu, not only
does the US government and its people need to “take swift action”, the media that
seems to somewhat ignore the issue, must take the lead in educating Americans
through their vast multimedia outlets to reach audiences in the millions. The
media must take this message to the masses as is their ethical, political, and
social responsibility to the world in protection of the elephant species.
Jim reassured me that if the poaching of elephants for ivory
does not stop, Americans will never see another elephant or the many other
species of animals whose lives are sustained by them. Jim Nyamu continues his
Walk, culminating this effort at the International March for Elephants in
Washington, DC on October 4, 2013. He educates us, sometimes one at a time,
raising awareness and delivering the message that we, as Americans must “commit
again and support the ban on ivory.”
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