Recently on my visit to the Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, I witnessed the majesty of the African elephants. It never occurred to me that we could be the last generation to have walked the Earth with elephants, until I heard of the killings of nearly 100 elephants in Botswana, Africa. 

A species that boasted a vast population now lags on a few thousand surviving elephants. In the last few years, elephants on the African continent have been killed and have had their tusks inhumanely removed to be sold to ivory traders, who then sell them as jewelry, ivory idols, and other things for human entertainment.  

Elephants are not the only animals that can supply ivory. A rhino’s horn is used for ivory since demand is high, but the supply is becoming scarce. In the spring of 2018 the last northern white rhino met its end. This ended the male lineage of the northern white rhinos and now it seems the time of the elephants is coming to an end.  

Botswana was the last safe haven for the elephants, and it was safer than most places because of the way the protection was enforced, by arming the rangers that were managing the anti- poaching unit. When rangers were stripped of their guns, the poaching of elephants rose. If there is armed protection in schools, then why can we not use weapons to protect an endangered species? Unless, of course we believe that our lives are more important than elephants? If the laws cannot permit the rangers to be armed with weapons, then the trade of ivory and the killing of elephants will not end.   

There are laws and policies that have been created to protect the elephants. Recently, China’s landmark decision to outlaw the trade of ivory assured the world that the trade of ivory will die out soon, but there are countries that are still active in that trade. 

Being one of the living creatures that benefit from the natural parts of Earth, we should not undervalue life and should understand that the ecosystem is kept connected by the smallest of insects and by the grandest of creatures. The rise of the number of endangered species indicates that our quality of life and survival is diminishing.