Off he strode with a thrumpety trump, trump, trump, trump
March 12, 2016 11:48 PM Subscribe
From Tana River, Morgan trudged 20 kilometres on the first night and then hid in thick forest the following day, before continuing his march under cover of darkness. He maintained this pattern for the next 18 days.
Morgan is a 30-year-old bull elephant, the first elephant to return to Somalia in 20 years, using an old migration route.
More than 20,000 elephants lived near the border between Somalia and Kenya in the early 1970s, but poaching in Kenya has reduced the herd to less than 300, while on the Somali side of the border, civil war, political instability and ivory poaching pushed the animals out of the country’s boundaries.
Morgan stayed just 24 hours before heading home.
Sadly, for an elephant, Kenya isn't all that safe despite government attempts to crack down on poaching and the construction elephant underpasses.
Sometimes people can be cool.
But there are fears that the Tsavo area, host to Kenya’s largest, and one of Africa’s biggest, elephant populations, is under threat from humanity.
Bonus: Where East Africa’s Majestic Animals Once Roamed
More than 20,000 elephants lived near the border between Somalia and Kenya in the early 1970s, but poaching in Kenya has reduced the herd to less than 300, while on the Somali side of the border, civil war, political instability and ivory poaching pushed the animals out of the country’s boundaries.
Morgan stayed just 24 hours before heading home.
Sadly, for an elephant, Kenya isn't all that safe despite government attempts to crack down on poaching and the construction elephant underpasses.
Sometimes people can be cool.
But there are fears that the Tsavo area, host to Kenya’s largest, and one of Africa’s biggest, elephant populations, is under threat from humanity.
Bonus: Where East Africa’s Majestic Animals Once Roamed
Best trump news I've heard in a while. The treatment of elephants in many countries is simply awful.
posted by ersatz at 1:39 AM on March 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by ersatz at 1:39 AM on March 13, 2016 [7 favorites]
i think i will be the last generation to know elephants, rhinos and maybe polar bears. this makes me very sad.
posted by PinkMoose at 7:19 AM on March 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by PinkMoose at 7:19 AM on March 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
On the upside, Hong Kong, number one in the ivory trade, is clamping down on its licensed dealers.
Whether the new restrictions will be enforced remains to be seen, of course.
NB, however, that supply/demand ratios suggest that market economics may also be favoring elephants.
I also take hope in the wide spread availability of Viagra; thanks to Big Pharma, elephant ivory or meat has been superseded as a means for inflaming flagging sexual appetite.
posted by BWA at 8:41 AM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Whether the new restrictions will be enforced remains to be seen, of course.
NB, however, that supply/demand ratios suggest that market economics may also be favoring elephants.
I also take hope in the wide spread availability of Viagra; thanks to Big Pharma, elephant ivory or meat has been superseded as a means for inflaming flagging sexual appetite.
posted by BWA at 8:41 AM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
(Sigh) I know you mean well BWA, but very little of the TCM trade is about sexual function. It's a stupid western myth that gives westerners one more reason to dislike the trade in animal parts. Most are believed to cure various ailments, ranging from the common cold to cancer. The best way I've heard it described- if you had a child dying, and really thought that a rhino horn would save his life, how much would you worry about some animals half the world away?
Not that there are not some used for sexual disfunction. Seahorses are believed to help with sexual vitality and fertility in woman. But they are actually the exception, not the rule. And it's not so simple as pop a seahorse for a boner, it's a belief they have multiple effects on reproductive health.
That's not defending the trade. Of course it's bad. But you start off the conversation by insisting that TCM is frivolously used for sex, that conversation is going no where.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 1:29 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not that there are not some used for sexual disfunction. Seahorses are believed to help with sexual vitality and fertility in woman. But they are actually the exception, not the rule. And it's not so simple as pop a seahorse for a boner, it's a belief they have multiple effects on reproductive health.
That's not defending the trade. Of course it's bad. But you start off the conversation by insisting that TCM is frivolously used for sex, that conversation is going no where.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 1:29 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
Actually, that's where I ended the comment and I insisted on nothing. I bow to your contention that a small portion is used frivolously, but your own admission and the final citation suggest that is not a myth. Which is all that matters to body part's original owner. I started off the comment with two cites dealing with pure economics, chiefly noting ivory's use for trinklets.
Moreover, given new laws in east clamping on the trade - which was my main point - I don't see that dislike of the trade in endangered animal parts is an eastern/western thing. At least, I don't like to think that it is. Is it?
posted by BWA at 6:14 AM on March 14, 2016
Moreover, given new laws in east clamping on the trade - which was my main point - I don't see that dislike of the trade in endangered animal parts is an eastern/western thing. At least, I don't like to think that it is. Is it?
posted by BWA at 6:14 AM on March 14, 2016
BWA the point I'm trying to make is that claiming a culture uses animal parts for sexual potency is offensive, usually not true and, at best, absolutely an over simplification of the problem. Suggesting Viagra could solve the problem with elephant exploitation is wrong on many levels.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:05 AM on March 14, 2016
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:05 AM on March 14, 2016
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posted by anadem at 1:22 AM on March 13, 2016 [3 favorites]