In this world today, almost anybody and everybody is honoured. Friday, August 12 is World Elephant Day, a day to honour our pachyderm (a very large mammal with thick skin) friends and to spread awareness about what threats they face across the world. How can we ensure their survival? That is the third, most important outcome of this day.
Most of us have had elephant rides in a wildlife park or as part of a rural fair. Most of us have also seen a string of elephant movies. There was the famous jungle movie, Hitari, and in it was the lovable tune, Baby Elephant Walk. Then, in the early seventies, came a family Hindi film hit, Haati Mere Saathi. The pachyderm was on screen again with everyone singing, Chal, chal, chal mere haathi, oh mera saathi…. Now, in just another 50 years, the elephant population is in deep trouble.
Asian Elephant Population
There are about 50,000 to 60,000 Asian elephants, and 60 per cent, or more than 35,000 of these elephants are in India. The estimate is that there are almost 5 lakh elephants worldwide, so India despite its forest cover has probably less than 10 percent of the world elephant population. Apparently, just a century ago, Asian elephants numbered at least 100,000.
Loss of Habitat
So, what is to blame for this sharply dwindling elephant population? As human population rises, especially in India and Indonesia, and human habitats expand at the cost of dwindling forest covers, all forms of wildlife, including the elephant population has suffered. Growing human-elephant conflict often results when forest cover gets fragmented; also, poaching is responsible for shrinking their population. Some of these mammals have been captured for work in forestry and tourism industries, and in captivity, these mammals are prevented from mating.
To save elephants, the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation and Patricia Sims, founding president of the World Elephant Society decided to dedicate a day, August 12, every year to save the beloved pachyderm. Its primary aim is to bring the world together to help elephants.
How You Can be Involved
You can spread awareness in cities about the importance of this day and how we can together raise awareness to save our elephants. You can partner with other local groups and put up posts about this day on your Facebook and social media pages. This way, you can get rid of the ignorance that we city people are faced with when it comes to wildlife information.
It is amazingly easy for us in the internet era to eradicate our ignorance. Once we have turned our attention to this topic, we can watch elephant documentaries to become more focused on how we can help conserve our elephant population. The World Elephant Society recommends that you watch the When Elephants Were Young documentary. It will motivate you to donate for a good cause such as safe Asian elephant tourism.
Here is How Each One of us Can Help
We can raise awareness about the deeper issues and threats facing elephants. Solutions include finding alternative, sustainable livelihoods for people who have traditionally relied on elephants.
We must also know that elephants in captivity, when they are used for entertainment and religious purposes, are usually treated terribly by their minders. Do not support these people or let them thrive. You are only perpetrating elephant torture.
Instead, experience elephants in their natural environment by finding eco-tourism operators who support local elephant conservation projects and treat elephants with respect and dignity.
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