Animal Talk - Endangered and Extinct

Gazing at the scenic view of elephants trawling through the dry lands of Africa with the towering Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, I was awed by its beauty and majesty. Will you be able to imagine if 20 years down the road, there would be no images like this and all that is left are views of tall skyscrapers towering polluted skylines and human in their big vehicles zig zagging across busy streets? Can you even imagine if 20 years down the road, your kid will ask you where the cute cuddly white bear with black eyes around its rim called the panda can be found and your answer would be 'Pandas do not exist anymore'. Can you imagine not having the enormous but tame whales swimming in the great blue ocean surrounded by the most adorable of dolphins jumping in and out of the seawaters?

All these and more could happen in the near future if we are not careful with the animals walking on the face of Earth today. As I was trawling some international website, I came across this beautiful photo of elephants but was heart-broken when I read the news on how these tame and obedient creatures are poached for ivory leaves. And I thought this action has been banned since 1989, considering the criticality of the situation and the realization that these animals will be extinct. I was flabbergasted when this piece of news mentioned that in 2006 alone, as many as 23,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory due to the rising demand of luxury ivory goods in Japan, China and the United States. Those who carried out these inhumane behaviour do not realise the impacts on the animals. Elephants are very much like human beings in which the young elephants seek for their elders for guidance and protection, thus growing up in a not complete family will negate negative behaviours and frequent clashes among the elephant communities.

Feeling sorrowful from reading this article, I was elated when I read a good piece of news from my own country, The Star saying that in order to prevent the extinction of a very unique mammal only found in Asia called the tapir, an animal with long stout and a white middle on black-coloured body, they trapped a female tapir to use it as an object of study and analysis. With an estimated 1,100 to 1,500 tapirs in the peninsula, even though not endangered their numbers could dwindle if left unmonitored.

Last but not least is how a little bit of glamour could bring out the message a little louder through the honourable actions of Hayden Panetierre who went to Tokyo and rowed out to the sea in her little bikini to drive the message of 'Stop Killing the Dolphins and Whales' a little louder. In Japan, Taiji fishermen kills doplhins as part of their traditional fishing culture while in Brazil, heartless fishermen kills dolphins in large quantities so that the meat can be used as shark bait, while complete dolphin jaws are hawked in an open air market in the large Amazon city of Belem. Their eyes are also plied as fetishes to men who believe they have magical powers to attract financial riches and women. My god, I can't even dare to print the words here but had to as I need to drive a strong point to my readers. So, let's keep these animals safe so that we can show them to our children instead of just photos of them.