I know it’s difficult to avoid the news about our seemingly endless election process, but there is a lot of news lately about several bad situations in Africa and how refugees are quickly elmininating Africa’s wildlife. Some of this poached wildlife is of the endangered species variety.
Yes, I know most of you are speciesists who believe that human animals are far more important and valuable than non-human animals. You are wrong. I want you to take a few minutes and imagine our planet with nothing on it but human apes, all of our wildlife gone, and all of our wild places converted to factory farms. Not a pleasant image, is it?
I wrote recently about Zimbabwe’s plans to shoot elephants in order to make “biltong,” a sort of jerky-style snack. Now there is news from Tanzania that refugees are poaching wildlife at enormous rates because relief organizations aren’t providing them with meat protein.
We really have an education problem on this planet if people are convinced that protein comes only from animals. I’m a vegan and I get plenty of non-animal protein and I’m not some pale, skinny bitch, neither. This primitive urge to kill and eat non-human animals needs to end – it is well past time that we start behaving like the superior beings most of you think we are.
Now comes news from Wildlife Direct’s Baraza blog that the month-long political unrest, riots, and mass murders in Kenya will have a very negative effect on the wildlife of the Mara Conservancy.
Because of news reports of mass killings, people being burned to death in a church, riots and other horrible mayhem, tourism to Kenya is just about non-existent. Tourism to view the rich wildlife of the Maasai Mara is Kenya’s chief source of income. Kenyans who work in hotels, restaurants, as guides and other tourist-trade occupations are now unemployed and … hungry.
“Environmental NGO WildlifeDirect.org warned that the world-renowned Maasai Mara Game Reserve “is under severe threat from widespread poaching following the collapse of tourism in Kenya’s post-election crisis.”
“Wildlife is going to be hit hard,” Brian Heath, head of the Mara Conservancy Trust, was quoted as saying in the statement.
“The NGO, chaired by conservationist Richard Leakey, explained that many people were expecting to turn to poaching for bushmeat trade if they lost their jobs in the tourism sector.
“My community benefits directly from tourism as gate revenues pay for the wildlife conflict compensation scheme,” explained Parmois Siampei, a Maasai administrative officer for the Mara Conservancy and local community member.
Leakey called a fund-raising campaign through conservancy blogs to save the Masai Mara reserve. “Africa’s parks cannot survive on tourism revenues alone, especially during times of political instability.”
Fundraising plans are revealed in a recent post on Wildlife Direct’s Baraza blog, as well as graphic photos of animas caught in snares and the unimaginable suffering that poaching causes them.
“We are going to ensure that the Mara Conservancy blog raises 160,000 dollars in the next 5 months. To achieve this we urgently need 16,000 dollars immediately to set up a sub station in the Mara that will enable Brian Heath to produce materials for blogs that will be as effective, if not more so, than gorilla protection blog. In 2007 we established camps in Bukima and Mutsora to enable blogs to operate from the bush. These blogs raised 350,000 dollars which has tremendously improved the protection of mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park. We are certain that we can replicate this for the Masai Mara to avert a wildlife disaster of similar magnitude to losing mountain gorillas.”
You can donate to protect the Mara Conservancy here and here. There is a place for comments on the Paypal form that will allow you to indicate your donation is for the crisis fund.
“The Mara is home to the worlds most famous wildlife spectacle, losing it because of political unrest in Kenya would be a global tragedy. Please help us.”
s.
Filed under: endangered species, overpopulation, politics, wildlife conservation
