Elephant Conservation

Elephant conservationists are concerned with helping elephants through this difficult time in history. Due to many developments that have taken place in the last several years, elephants are in danger of losing their habitats. Other elephants are abused and mistreated in captivity. Still others are losing their lives due to the ivory trade. The goal of elephant conservation is to protect elephants so that they continue to live in the wild as majestic animals instead of having to become extinct or live in small pens that don’t give them enough room to move around. Understanding why this problem is so serious and how it got this way is the first step to understanding why elephant conservation is so important.

Habitat Reduction

Elephants are currently experiencing a reduction in the size of their natural habitat. Elephants used to be able to roam freely across their migratory paths and enjoy a lot of dense vegetation. With forestry and other industrial activities taking over in these areas, the paths that elephants have traveled for years have been cut down and the sources of vegetation along these paths have been destroyed. Instead of being able to roam freely, elephants are forced into small spaces that aren’t big enough to meet their needs for grazing and migrating.

Abuse in Captivity

Many elephants are put into the captivity for the entertainment or amusement of humans. Some of these elephants are treated well; others are not so lucky. Some elephant owners mistreat their animals to try to get them to perform in a certain way. Elephants also don’t have enough space to live happy lives when they are in captivity. They are used to roaming in the wild and putting them in captivity takes away that freedom.

The Ivory Trade

The value of ivory means that elephants die needlessly just so their tusks can be harvested and used to make figurines, jewelry, and other ivory items. This reduces the elephant population and it also causes problems for the surviving elephants. Because elephants travel together in groups, the remaining elephants miss elephants that were killed for their tusks when they are no longer members of the group. Not only is the ivory trade hurting the elephants that are losing their lives; it’s running the lives of surviving elephants that have come to love their group members.

Orphaned Calves

Some elephant calves become orphaned because their mothers die due to injuries or accidents. When these calves are orphaned, they may be too young to find food on their own, so they need people to be involved in elephant conservation so they have an orphanage to go to until they are big enough to survive on their own. These orphanages provide shelter and food for the babies and volunteers bathe them and take care of their medical needs to keep them healthy.

Elephant conservation is much needed in the world today. Only with proper conservation will the elephant be able to keep its place as one of the most majestic animals in Asia and Africa.

Eric Herman’s CDs are available here : www.erichermanmusic.com Click here for the new iPhone/iTouch app: itunes.apple.com 8 Kids’ music artist, Eric Herman, sings an incredibly cute song all about elephants… sort of… The video was created by his wife, Roseann, with the help of their 3 year-old (at the time) daughter, Becca. The little girl in the song is Meghan Kleinlein from Amherst, NY, who was 6 at the time. This version of “The Elephant Song” is on Eric’s first CD, The Kid in the Mirror, and a new version featuring his daughters, Becca and Evee, is on Snail’s Pace. The guitar TAB and chords/lyrics for this song are available here: www.erichermanmusic.com Eric’s CDs/MP3s are available at the following locations: Eric’s website (CDs and MP3 albums): www.EricHermanMusic.com CDBaby (CDs and MP3 albums): www.cdbaby.com iTunes (MP3 songs and albums): phobos.apple.com Kidzmusic.com (MP3s): www.kidzmusic.com Amazon.com (CDs): www.amazon.com Amazon.com (MP3s): www.amazon.com CDs are also available at www.pokeypup.com and MP3s are also available at all other major digital distribution sites. If you like this song, please request it on XM Radio by calling 866-328-2345 (ch. 116) and on Sirius by calling 877-337-4748 (ch. 116), or ask your local library if they can carry Eric Herman’s CDs! To book Eric Herman for your event or venue, please contact him through http
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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