Poaching

When they are gone and every last life has been stolen, how will you remember them? Extinction is forever.

What is poaching? Poaching is defined as "illegally hunting or catching wild game or fish on land that is not one's own or in contravention of official protection".

Human beings have been hunting animals since the beginning of time. However, while hunting used to be relied on for food and community development, the Agricultural Revolution has reduced the need for survival hunting in most areas of the world. Unfortunately, hunting has not universally diminished and has expanded to be utilized for many reasons beyond necessity. Poaching remains a heavy possibility in any area where hunting is still widely used. Poachers seek animal parts to sell or trade including meat, hide, bones, organs, horns, tusks, and teeth. Just think of the African elephant who is killed nearly every 15 minutes for its ivory tusks. It is estimated that on average 55 elephants are killed daily and that is just one species.

While the practice of poaching has existed for a long time, the illegal wildlife trade and market has grown immensely as humans continue to take interest in new animals for varying reasons. As integrative medicine and non-traditional therapies continue to popularize, poaching often becomes skewed as a beneficial act. But beneficial for whom? Humans. Surely not the endangered animal whose live was just taken from them. Human greed is at the root of poaching every time.

A vast majority of poaching leads to items being sold on the Black Market for prices that can reach tens of thousands of dollars. But when will people realize than no amount of money will bring our wildlife species back once they're gone?

So why are lions at risk for poaching? One of the largest threats against lions right now is the Chinese lion bone trade which is continuously growing and expanding. It is said that the Chinese will pay upwards of $15,000 for a single wild lion skeleton. Embedded in their belief is that the bones of captive lions are not valuable so they are only targeting wild lions and their bones. This fact skyrockets the risk for extinction as captive lions are being killed by trophy hunters and wild lions are dying at the hands of both poachers and farmers.

Outrageously, lions are currently not on any CITES list, so they receive essentially no protection under this treaty from the sale of their body parts. Elephants, rhinos, and leopards are all currently protected and far more numbers of these species exist in the wild.

Resources

There are so many amazing anti-poaching campaigns out there starting with the grandfather of them all, The International Anti-Poaching Foundation (iapf.org). There, you can begin to learn more about poaching and take the first steps in helping stop this malicious practice by signing up for their FREE newsletter which provides in-depth information and various ways to take action. You can also donate to their active campaign as well as physically volunteer with the organization. There are several other anti-poaching resources listed below.

To learn more about the poaching of Africa's wildlife and their conservation status: http://www.awf.org/campaigns/poaching-infographic
To donate to a campaign specifically targeting the eradication of lion and other big cat poaching: https://panthera.org/cat/lion
To learn more about the illegal wildlife trade and wildlife crime: https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/illegal-wildlife-trade
For information on creating your own fundraisers to contribute to anti-poaching work around the world: https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/get-involved/fundraise-us