There
have been a few concerted efforts to get the Chinese people onside about the
devastation being wreaked on Africa’s elephants. It’s an idea that may have
come a little late, but has at least come. It is to use Chinese media to relay the
information. One story that appeared on Facebook showed renowned elephant
researcher and advocate Ian Douglas-Hamilton riding with Chinese journalists in
the back of a safari vehicle as they rode through Samburu National Reserve.
Kenya’s
Daily Nation news organization has
joined the efforts. In an online article a Tourism ministry spokesman was
quoted after speaking to the reporters.
“We have a beautiful
country with beautiful animals. But we have a problem with poaching and soon we
won’t have these animals,” the ministry’s deputy
secretary, Mr Patrick Gakure, told
the reporters.
The response was encouraging. The
delegation promised to inform people at home.
“We would love to make Kenya the Number One destination for Chinese
tourists. We have a large population of 1.3 billion, and if just one per cent
of this visit Kenya, that means very many people,” Mr
Aaron Sze, the chairman of Glamorous-Kenya, a Chinese marketing and travel
agency, said.
At the ”consumer” end it appears
that Yao Ming, the iconic and very popular basketball star is making an impact.
An email that came to me from Zach Weismann of WildAid on April 16th
was headlined:
Yao Ming Says No to Ivory and Rhino Horn.
Photo credit Liu Ranran |
With the message was a picture of the star at a table with several other
folks backed by a huge banner. I have included the picture, taken by Liu Ranran
here. The email is too long to reproduce in a blog and I could not find a
useful link to it, but it sends a message of hope.
Three organizations are involved in the efforts. They are WildAid, the African
Wildlife Foundation, and Save The
Elephants.
The email provides
results of two surveys conducted in China. They are both revealing and
chilling. A survey conducted in November of 2012 in Beijing, Shanghai, and
Guangzhou by the Chinese research company, HorizonKey, found that:
• More than half of the nearly 1,000 participants (over
50%) do not think elephant poaching is common;
• 34%, or one in three respondents, believe ivory is obtained from natural
elephant mortality;
• Only 33% of all participants believe elephants
are poached for their tusks; and
• 94% of residents agree the “Chinese
government should impose a ban on the ivory trade.”
Meanwhile, a
similar survey conducted by HorzionKey in the same three major Chinese cities
on rhino horn perceptions found that:
• 66% of all participants, that is two out of
every three respondents, are not aware that rhino horn comes from
poached rhinos;
• Nearly 50% believed rhino horn can be legally
purchased from official stores; and
• 95% of residents agree the “Chinese
government should take stricter action to prevent use of rhino horns.”
The
media can no doubt make Chinese people more aware of the issues, but it is the
two figures at the end of the surveys that are chilling. They indicate that
only 94% and 95% of people think that stricter action is needed. As the population
of China is about 1.3 billion that means that something like 78 million DO NOT
THINK THAT SUCH ACTION IS NEEDED. That is over twice the population of Canada.
There
is another and very sorry side to this story that comes out of Kenya. It has to
do with the penalties of ivory smuggling.
There
is no doubt that the fines handed down to ivory traffickers in Kenya would not
even qualify as a slap on the wrist. Paula
Kahumbu is the Executive Director of Wildlife Direct. She is a powerful
conservation voice and active on Twitter (you can follow her @paulakahumbu).
She has reported on
a case that was tried on April 19. The
accused was a Vietnamese man named Nguyen Viet Truong Phong.
He pleaded guilty. The magistrate fined the man a total of Ksh
40,000. The ivory he was trafficking was worth Ksh 5.7 million. To save you the
bother of figuring out these numbers in dollars here they are. The value: $70,000.
The fine: $489. He was released after paying the fine.
No wonder Paula wrote “I drive home in a state of shock. I feel devastated. No matter how much we
invest in anti-poaching and dealing, no matter how many more poachers, dealers,
traffickers we arrest, it makes no difference. The courts are letting them off
with miniscule fines.”
Kenya’s new president Uhuru Kenyatta made a recent speech about the need for greater awareness of his country’s wildlife heritage, but nothing has yet emerged from that plea. Paula Kahumbu finished her piece with this
Today’s ruling was a wake-up call for all of
us. It is going to take more than nice speeches by His Excellency President
Uhuru Kenyatta to turn this situation around. Otherwise, our elephants are
doomed.
Anohter Yao Ming poster, but I could not find a name to credit |
Let’s hope that Yao Ming’s efforts can
push those numbers way way up. 100%?
Wouldn’t that be nice.