This year WaytoHelp is proud to be partnering with Great Plains Foundation to raise money for the preservation of wildlife in Africa.
The Great Plains Foundation was started by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, to promote the well being and safety of animals - mainly elephants, rhinos and lions. In addition, they support undeveloped communities and villages in Botswana and Kenya. The sad truth is that even today, one elephant is killed every 15 minutes. That translates to over 35,000 elephants a year, which means that the African elephant population could be wiped out in 15 years. The main cause of elephant deaths is hunting for ivory in their tusks. Ivory is very precious and rare and, although it’s banned in many countries, the global trade in ivory continues to be strong. Now keep in mind that this problem is becoming bigger everyday. As well as buying our products, you can stop promoting ivory based products by not buying them. Ivory can be found in traditional Chinese medicine, jewellery, statues and even fake teeth! (Here's a fact you probably didn't know: George Washington's teeth were made of ivory, not wood!) Elephants walk in herds and when a member of the herd is killed, the rest become depressed. Some herds contain babies, and when the babies are neglected because of their parents being depressed, they may wander off by themselves and die, due to lack of nutrition or just from depression itself. Rhinos are listed as critically endangered and there are so few left in the world. In the last decade, over 7,137 have been killed just in Africa alone as compared to a total population of 25,000. Over the last 50 years, over 95% of the black rhino population has disappeared. Conservationists have tried various methods to protect the rhino and the South African government is now trying to de-horn rhinos in advance, while keeping them alive. This would be good, but hunters still kill rhinos with no horns, because it takes really long to track a rhino, and they don't want to go back to the same rhino with no horn. Even though lions are only vulnerable on the endangerment scale, they are still heavily hunted. In the last 50 years, their numbers have reduced by 75% due to hunting and loss of habitat. Have you ever read or watched books and movies which people have hunted deer? Well this is the same situation, except with lions! Recently lions have been hunted for sport, not even for meat or the pelt. Many lions are also taken into captivity, and they die due to starvation or mistreatment. The reason Great Plains also helps undeveloped communities, is because most hunting takes place in these villages. For example, in some villages, it is a tradition to kill a lion once a boy reaches a certain age, simply to show that he's a man. As well as that, some villages and communities are so poor that their only source of income is selling on the black market. Great Planes also educates the children of the village, to insure that when they grow older, they stop hunting animals for sport or to sell on the black market. WaytoHelp is releasing a new line of products, and the photos taken are all taken in Africa by Ankit. Please buy our products, all of the funds go to preserving the welfare of lions, elephants and rhinos. - Maya
1 Comment
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |