The ivory trade is not a dying industry, unfortunately but, it is killing 30,000 elephants every year. And, despite common assumptions, poaching elephants in Africa is not the root cause of this devastating slaughter; the demand for ivory in Asia is.
In the 1980s the ivory trade was primarily influenced by the US, Europe and Japanese markets, but today the rising wealth of Asian countries like China and Thailand is driving the market and fuelling the poaching spree on elephants in Africa.
This devastation isn’t just someone else’s problem – you can do something significant to help. Here’s how two brave Aussie women are crusading to save the world’s elephant population from further diminishing. Meet Dr Tammie Matson and Nadya Hutagalong from Let Elephants Be Elephants.
Let Elephants Be Elephants (LEBE) is a campaign encouraging people to make a simple pledge with a mission to reduce the number of people buying ivory in Asia. Co-founded by TV host Nadya Hutagalong and elephant expert and author Dr Tammie Maston, LEBE is committed to raising awareness about the connection between rising levels of elephant poaching in Africa and the consumption of ivory in Asia.
LEBE is spreading the word that ‘it’s not cool to buy ivory’, that when you buy ivory you’re killing elephants in the wild, and a simple pledge is actually the most powerful and valuable things we can all do now to help save Africa’s elephants.
This baby orphan elephant is a victim of poaching.
With 30,000 elephants being poached annually to provide ivory for markets across Asia (yes, that’s almost 100 a day!), LEBE wants your help to save elephants from extinction. At current rates of poaching, wild elephants will be gone in less than twenty years. Quite simply, we can’t let that happen.
A reflective moment for The Let Elephants Be Elephants team member Nadya as she takes in the scene of an elephant killed for its ivory in Kenya.
Please take two minutes to take the pledge and then help this important initiative by spreading it as far and wide in your social networks as you can.
If you love baby elephants, you’ll love this short behind-the-scenes video from Africa and stay tuned as there are more videos to come soon!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support for the Let Elephants Be Elephants campaign. By taking the pledge to say no to ivory, you’ve taken the first step towards helping reduce demand for ivory in Asia. If you’ve taken the time to share the videos www.letelephantsbeelephants.org on social media, you’ve gone the extra mile for elephants and we can’t thank you enough.
All images courtesy of Let Elephants Be Elephants.
