Yes. It is a
strong claim to say the China fuels the demise of the elephant and rhino. Unfortunately
one side effect of an ever increasing middle-class and rich sectors in Chinese society
is that the long held belief amongst Chinese is that the horns or tusks of the
two animals are thought to have much desired ‘health’ qualities. However in the
past, only the rich could afford these ‘products,’ meaning that the overall effect
on the animals was less. Now it seems that it is open slather on the animals of
Africa as demand increases along with China’s influence in the area.
Latest
figures claim that nearly 35,000 elephants were slaughtered last year and only
the tusks were taken, leaving the remainder of the carcass to rot in the hot African
sun. Kenya particularly suffered huge losses in its elephant population,
leaving the prospect of the elephant being extinct in the near future.
Kenya and
other countries have fought this illegal trade but their resources are limited
and it appears that they are losing the battle. Even China has made the trade
illegal but as with many moves by the Chinese Government to curb ‘illegal
actions’ (take ‘rip-off copies of a large range of products for example) they
have a long way to go. China is also increasing its reach into Africa and it is
not hard to find Chinese traders buying up many ‘threatened’ products, right under
the nose of African officials. No doubt money changes hands to smooth the
process.
What needs to
happen is that the ‘market,’ therefore the need for such products needs to be
curbed at the point of delivery---the huge and growing market in China (and other
predominately Asian countries).There is an ever increasing Green movement in
China and it this that the Chinese Government needs to tap into. There would be
a vast number of Chinese how find the trade in ivory repugnant.
The question
needs to be asked---‘what will China think as a nation when and if the time
comes where the only place we will be able to see the elephant and rhino will
be in a zoo?’ Of course I am not so narrow-minded to claim that the ‘West’ in beyond
criticism re the disappearance of other animals from the wild. My hope is that
China joins the move to retain our animal ‘co-inhabitants of this place we call
‘earth.’
