Written by Amelia Kisling
UA Student - African Elephant Project

The concept of a class dedicated entirely to elephants made my heart sing, so of course I signed up immediately. I told everyone I could about it, and most people were jealous that I was getting class credit for simply talking about my favorite animal. I had no idea what to expect from my small honors seminar, and on the first day I realized this class would not be rainbows and butterflies – we were talking about reality, and that reality is that elephants are being killed. They are being killed for their beautiful ivory tusks at a rate of 96 elephants every day.  

When I met my classmates, I discovered that we all had different majors. Some were pre-med, some public relations, some psychology, some engineering. And then there was me – an accounting and criminal justice dual degree who felt a little lost on what I could possibly do to make a difference. I want to go into the FBI not open my own elephant conservatory. Then I learned something that changed my entire perspective on these elephant killings: Ivory poaching has been linked to funding terrorist groups in Africa. This was one of the most shocking things I had heard in the class. Not only were these gentle giants being poisoned and shot, butchered and beheaded for their tusks, but the ivory itself was used to help finance terrorist groups, one of the most universally feared things, enabling them to get all the weapons they need to continue killing across Africa. Learning this was my turning point; I knew I wanted my career to revolve around terrorism, so why shouldn’t it involve saving my favorite animal from being killed as well? 

So I did research.

I read several articles about terrorist groups in Africa that use ivory trade as their main source of income. There were three terrorist groups that seemed to come up often: Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, the Lord’s Resistance Army, or L.R.A., and Darfur’s Janjaweed. The most prominent, however, was Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab is a Somali, al-Qaeda-backed terror group responsible for the Kenyan Westgate shopping mall massacre, which killed at least 68 people and left at least 150 people injured, back in September of 2013. Three years ago, the Elephant Action League, or EAL, conducted an 18-month undercover investigation into the link between Al-Shabaab and the illegal trafficking of ivory through Kenya. The organization’s findings suggested that Al-Shabaab has been actively buying and selling ivory to fund its militant operations and that ivory trafficking “could be supplying up to 40% of the funds needed to keep them in business’’ (AEL: Africa’s White Gold of Jihad). ​

With anti-poaching tactics so poorly funded, terrorist groups find poaching an easy option to fund their organizations. Even rangers have been gunned down trying to protect elephants, but when groups like Al-Shabaab come in from the sky on helicopters and shoot elephants before they even know what happened, a handful of rangers really don’t stand a chance. Wildlife agencies aren’t prepared to fight terrorist groups and rebel armies, it’s not how they operate. And with increased ivory prices, poaching has increased as a result. Luckily, the United States has begun to view wildlife trafficking as a national security threat. This publicity on such a serious matter is incredible progress, but it will not make this problem go away. It is, however, a great start.

Nothing about ivory poaching is beneficial. Elephants are being killed, altering entire ecosystems in their absence, watering holes are being poisoned, killing more than just those elephants they are taking ivory from, and at the end of the day, another terrorist group gets to put guns in their hands. This means that its not just the elephants that are dying – people are dying, too. The African Elephant Project taught me that I don’t need to be experienced with biology or non-profit or even large animal care to take a stand against such heinous crimes. With just a little more knowledge than I had before my first day, I now see where my place is in this fight. It may not be in Tanzania at an elephant orphanage. I may not do research on protective tactics for these amazing creatures. I may never even go to Africa. This does not mean I won’t do everything in my power to make a difference in this fight. And all it took was one fact to make me realize that. 

University of Alabama students and fans are gearing up in great anticipation as the Alabama football team prepares to take on Clemson for the College Football National Championship in Glendale, AZ next Monday.  This National Championship presents an opportunity to showcase the work that students, faculty, alumni, and fans of both universities are doing to protect their mascots. Both Big Al and The Tiger are hallmarks of the athletic programs at the University of Alabama and Clemson University, respectively.
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Unfortunately, their wild counterparts are declining across their natural ranges. Habitat loss and a global poaching crisis are driving elephants and tigers toward extinction.  However, Tide for Tusks and Tigers for Tigers are working to ensure their mascots continue to thrive in the wild. Although we may be rivals on the field, by channeling the passion of two of the most powerful fan bases in all of college football we can truly make a difference for the future of our wild mascots.
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During the National Championship Game, Tide For Tusks and the National Tigers For Tigers Coalition are leading a joint social media campaign with the two student-led initiatives from the University of Alabama and Clemson University. With a stadium filled with an estimated 65,000 people, the two organizations will ask thousands of students and fans to show their solidarity for their wild mascots by using the hash-tag #ProtectOurMascots.
 
Our hope is that this effort will become much broader in scope to bring about an exchange of ideas and to develop new avenues for research and conservation.  It is only with the conscientious support of the University of Alabama students, faculty, staff and alumni – who deeply believe in protecting a keystone species like the African elephant – that we can become a part of the solution to save a wildlife icon for future generations.

You can do something!  
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​ www.tidefortusks.org
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By Reata Strickland
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As a child I remember singing a song called “There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea”. You would start out with a hole and then end up with “On the speck on the flea on the tail on the frog on the bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea.” For the past three years I have devoted a great deal of time and energy to researching the African elephant. The issue that attracted my attention to the African elephant was the rate that these magnificent creatures were and are being slaughtered each year. The numbers quoted by reputable sources are between 30,000 and 35,000 each year. Being a graduate of The University of Alabama, where the African elephant is the mascot and a beloved symbol, these numbers are alarming. But there’s so much more to this than just the number of elephants killed a year.

The killing of African elephants for ivory is just one step in a long journey. The poached ivory from the massacred elephants are used by militant groups to fund terror and purchase guns. Park rangers and villagers on the African front are caught in the middle of a bloody struggle where life has little to no value. The militant groups sell ivory to illegal smugglers who then ship or fly the ivory to Asia. In Asia, the ivory is made into carvings, keychains, and trinkets. These goods are then sold and shipped around the world. Mainland China is considered to be the world’s largest ivory consumer, however the United States is the world’s second largest ivory consumer. 

The ivory trade is a bloody trail that ends up on exhibit in someone’s home on a table or bookshelf. The laws governing ivory trade are ambiguous and people do not know what ivory is legal or illegal. Smugglers and terrorists take advantage of this ambiguity and map out a road of destruction, death and terror. 

There are many things in the hole in the bottom of the sea, and there are many factors to the killing of elephants in Africa. To stop the song and the build up of things in the hole in the bottom of the sea, you stop singing the song. To stop the killing of the elephants, we need to stop the demand for ivory. Stop the demand, that will stop the trade, that will stop the poaching, that will stop the killing of the elephants in Africa.
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Please do something.  Join us in our efforts to raise awareness for the dire situation facing the African elephants and help us promote conservation of this threatened species.  Care. Share. Give!
www.tidefortusks.org
#tidefortusks

​Cash strapped game reserves in Swaziland are holding 18 elephants hostage and threaten to kill them if they are not sold to American zoos.  Managers of the group of reserves called Big Game Parks, claim that they have too many elephants and the pachyderms are destroying habitat and crowding out other species like the rhino.  The truth of the matter is that the enclosure around the reserves are too small.
Swaziland is tiny in comparison to other African nations.  The whole country would fit neatly inside the perimeter of Kruger National Park in neighboring South Africa.  The elephant population is only about 40 strong in Swaziland and the managers of Big Game Park want to reduce that by about half.  And this comes at a time when poachers are killing almost 100 elephants a day in other parts of Africa – threatening the very existence of the species.

It is pointless to take elephants out of the wild and ship them 9,000 miles away to be held in captivity.  
The reserve managers do not need to look far to find natural habitat closer to home – including their 
own government run reserves in Swaziland.  This is not the first time this has happened.  In 2003, 11 
elephants from the same game reserves were sold to US zoos.  This is beginning to sound like the 
reserves in Swaziland are nothing more than breeding farms. 

And one must also question the ethics and moral values of the administrators of a zoo that would want 
to even consider taking wild elephants.  But that is exactly what the Dallas Zoo and its cohorts are 
planning to do.  All imports of animals recognized by the Convention on International Trade in 
Endangered Species (CITES) must first be approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  Buying and 
selling of African elephants and ivory is prohibited under CITES.  However, the Dallas Zoo is requesting 
permission for an exception to this policy.  

It is unethical and detrimental to the health of elephants to separate them from their natural family 
herds and banish them to a life of captivity.  Doing so will most certainly not provide any conservation 
benefit to the species!  It is dishonest for the reserve managers to claim that they have “too many” 
elephants when the species has been completely exterminated in neighboring elephant range countries.  
I view this as merely a tactical ploy to sell off the herd to the highest bidder with complete disregard to 
the health and welfare of the elephant.

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Globally, the average cost of an assault rifle is about $534.  In Africa the cost is about $200 less – or
around $334 for an AK-47.  With the increasing demand for ivory in Asia, an average pair of elephant 
tusks that are sold on the black market can bring about $33,500.  A criminal gang of poachers knows 
that one elephant can net about 100 AK-47 assault rifles – enough to arm a small army.  You may recall 
that the Somali terrorist group that attacked unaware shoppers in the Westgate Mall in Kenya used 
ivory that was poached from neighboring countries to pay for its maneuvers.

So what is a wild elephant really worth?  I’m not sure I could place a clear dollar value on the price of 
seeing a bull elephant making a trumpet call to ward off a bachelor male approaching too closely to a 
safe guarded harem.  Or witnessing a female tusker gently nudge her months-old calf up the steep banks 
of a mud hole and shepherd it to safety with the rest of the herd.  Too often, we take for granted the 
things that stir our emotional inner being – a spectacular waterfall, a vivid sunset, an eagle soaring 
across the sky, or a deer grazing in a distant field.  I view these moments as being priceless.  Someone 
less passionate and more calculated might give them a price tag – such as an admission to enter a park, 
a fee for a glimpse through a mounted viewfinder, or a paid guided tour through a wildlife preserve.

With the global expansion of a middle class and more disposable income available for the savvy traveler 
to see nature, are people willing to spend money on seeing a wild elephant?  An article I recently read 
about travel indicated that the average daily rate for an African safari is around $800 to $1,000 (typically 
lasting ten days to two weeks). With most African villages lacking basic infrastructure (running water, 
sewer and reliable electricity) the continent may be underdeveloped, but the safari lodges and camps 
are among the most glamorous and expensive in the world.  It is estimated that tourism in Tanzania 
alone, with wildlife safaris at the top of the list, generate around 2 billion dollars annually.  People want 
to see elephants in the wild! 

Conservation of elephants benefits all people - it pours cultures together creating an economy of 
wildlife.  Animal enthusiasts from all over the world can see the majestic creature in its natural habitat, 
contributing to the local economy through the hiring of rangers and guides; staying at lodges and camps 
that in turn hire local people as hospitality staff, porters, chefs, waiters, bus boys, and housekeepers.  

There is a considerable, sustainable value for maintaining the conservation of elephants living in the wild 
– the whole community prospers. That is why it was shocking for me to read that the Zimbabwean Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Oppah Muchinguri, would blame a ban on sport hunting by the United States for increased poaching.  She was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “All this poaching is because of American policies.  They are banning sport hunting.  An elephant would cost $120,000 in sport hunting, but a tourist pays on $10 to view the same elephant.”   That may be true, but what happens when there are no more elephants to be hunted or seen in the wild?

The African elephants are in an extreme dire situation.  It is estimated that there are only 350,000 
elephants in the wild today.  In 2013 alone, Tanzania reported losing about 10,000 elephants – or on 
average about 30 a day.  Poachers are responsible for about 90 percent of these deaths that occur in the 
national parks and wildlife reserves – simply to feed the illegal ivory trade.  Huge amounts of ivory are 
being smuggled out of Tanzania to supply illicit markets in Asia.  The large scale of elephant poaching 
and ivory trafficking have major safety and economic implications for Tanzania.  The decline in elephant 
populations and the presence of armed poachers in protected areas could jeopardize the future of 
tourism and seriously impact the national economy.

Back to my original question:  What is a wild elephant really worth?  If you use the formula offered by 
Zimbabwean Minister Muchinguri, then there are only about $420 billion worth of elephants living in 
the wild today.  According to the World Wildlife Fund if the current trend for poaching continues, then 
the African elephant will become extinct in ten years – and they will be worth nothing. 

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#tidefortusks