Save The Rhino Talk

The representative presents for us

On Monday, November 19th, a representative of Laikipia Wildlife Forum came to talk to the Save The Rhino group about poaching. This occurred after school, and took place in Mrs Wilkin's room.

We all met in the classroom after school, and in around 15 minutes or so the representative arrived. He first introduced us to his foundation - the Laikipia Wildlife Forum. This is a conservation organisation, that considers the views of locals, private rangers, pastoralists, tourism ventures, etc, in their strive to protect the natural resources and animals of this beautiful region. Their mission is to bring the people of the region together and conserve the wildlife, ecosystem and natural resources as a result.

You can find out more about this organisation at: http://www.laikipia.org/

The representative was really nice, and a great public speaker. He had prepared a powerpoint for us, which was really interesting, but brutally shocking. He included some very graphic photos, and there were numerous times when I just couldn't look at them. For instance, there was a particularly awful one of a mother elephant who had been killed, and her stomach has been split open and an almost fully developed baby elephant has been dragged onto the ground. I just don't understand how anyone could do this to such an innocent creature, who's never harmed anyone in it's life - how can you put your own material needs over the life of something so innately pure!? We are all equal in this world, a human is no less superior than a mouse or an elephant, and we all deserve to have long happy lives. The level of suffering, exploitation and ignorance in this world leaves me shellshocked and confused, I wish that I had the power to make change immediately, but I know that making myself heard (as well as getting others to consider and accept my views) will be very difficult indeed. For instance, in track and field the other day I heard two 10th grade boys discussing meat - they were talking about chicken, and they spoke with so little consideration for the fact that, what they view as simply a source of food, is a living breathing creature, which can feel pain just as they can. We have no right to carry out this mass murder each day, and I know that there are some who may disagree, but I feel that it is morally wrong.

To get back on topic - the representative continued on to talk about how farmers often poison lions and other carnivores that attack their cows (by putting acid on the carcass), and this spreads throughout the ecosystem (as other scavengers feed on the carcass of the lion), which is disastrous. I found this terrible,  because so many are hurt for one simple action - an action that cannot really be labeled as negative, for the lion has to eat just as much as anyone else.
He discussed many other things, linking them directly to the people in the area as well. For instance, he talked about water, elephant raids of villages, education, fencing, tracking and dealing with poachers, etc etc. It was all extremely dynamic and eye-opening, and I was really glad to see that they're making a  considerable impact on the wildlife of Kenya. I want to go into wildlife-conservation later in life, and this empowered me and increased my passion for this area of work tenfold.

I'm really glad that it was arranged for this man to come and talk to us, because in Save The Rhino we have a tendency to fundraise with no background information or exposure to the issue. Hopefully the other members of the group were impacted as greatly as I was.