Why We Love Elephants

Humanity’s relationships with elephants goes back hundreds of thousands of years, if not more. Click HERE to see a picture of a mammoth (an ancestor to what we today call the elephant) carved 12,000 years ago in the

Altamira caves, near Santander on the north coast of Spain…. The figures are about five feet long, coloured mainly in black and red, varied here and there with browns and yellows. The main lines of the drawings are actually carved out of the rock. The animals are shown strong, alert, vigorous…

These iconic keystone species have been able to withstand the changes of time - from natural selection to an ice age to migrations across continents, and more. Yet today they need our help. On average, every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for it’s ivory tusks. With less than 400,000 African elephants left in the wild, there’s a possibility of extinction within our lifetime.

The first step to saving elephants is to raise awareness. Many people don’t even know the grim facts about elephants and the ivory trade. It’s up to people like you and me to tell them. The more people know, the more people will care and more change will happen.

So we asked you earlier this week, why do you care about elephants? We encouraged you to share the post with your friends. Here’s a few responses we received:

• They’re majestic animals and they have great memories. Elephants are beautiful, I love them.
•  Elephants are my role models. I sign petitions and encourage others to be aware of how much elephants need our help. Trying to get more involved any way I can!
• They’re incredibly ancient as a species, they’re gentle - despite their size - and very intelligent, family-oriented, emotional, and so caring of each other. Their existence is part of the health of our ecosystem, and they have been used/abused for centuries, but continue to be beautiful, kind souls - unlike their human counterparts. I sponsor 5 elephants in S. Africa (The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust) and in the US (The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee), educate people, and run my own educational blog on these majestic creatures: memoriesofelephants.tumblr.com
•  If humans were even close to possessing traits of elephants….what a wonderful world it would be.
• Because I feel connected with their soul! I created a group: Elephants in Loving Memory of Cyndy Kukus! I put lots of energy in it, up to 4 or 5 hours a day, I sign lots of petitions…
• Intelligent, compassionate, loveable beings who deserve better than to be chained up in a circus in order to entertain humans!

Now let’s keep the conversation going. Please share this post with a friend or family member and ask them why them love elephants. Then ask them to sign the petition that we will be sending to Florida legislature once we have reached a minimum of 1,000 signatures. This past year, Florida had an ivory bill with a senate sponsor but no house sponsor so therefore it did not have a companion bill in the house. It must have both so it did not pass this session but it has people talking and we are hopeful it comes back next session (early Jan 2016) with bills in both chambers. Together, we can make sure that does!

(Featured photograph of baby elephants hugging shared with permission from Alison Langevad Photography)