The restful winter vacation is my favorite time of year. It's time away with family and dogs, surrounded by trees in the mountains; time sorting life at home and getting prepared for an effective year to come. But, our work never ends. Despite the fact that the calendar will be changing to 2017, old battles loom large and desperate news has once again intruded on the holiday break.
Born Free USA supporters know how hard we've worked to save cheetahs, for instance, from the despicable live animal trade that provides wild cat "pets" to the wealthy elite in the Middle East. We've helped our friends at Born Free Foundation Ethiopia rescue confiscated cheetahs and give them sanctuary for life. We've campaigned and persuaded delegates to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to take additional, new actions to save the species: focus on wildlife law enforcement and use social media platforms to vilify (not glorify) cheetah ownership. And, in both cases, we've had great success.
That said, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warns that the cheetah "faces extreme challenges to its survival" and that the remaining population is estimated at only 7,000 individuals, occupying less than 10% of its historic range.
These fragile animals mostly live outside protected areas and, therefore, face additional serious threats to their long-term survival--and extinction rates may "increase rapidly."
This certainly suggests that, while I know we've made progress on elevating the cause of cheetah conservation and rescue, 2017 will be a year of vigilance.
Another story arriving last week informed the world that Zimbabwe has begun a new shipment of live animals to be incarcerated for public display in China. According to the news reports, Zimbabwe has rounded up more than 30 wild elephants to sell to Chinese zoos, viewing these animals as little more than an economic resource to be slaughtered for sport, killed for their ivory tusks, or put on display due to their captivating presence. Lions, hyenas, and a giraffe have also been reportedly included in the shipment.
It stuns me that, in this day and age, people still think there is an educational value or conservation benefit in seeing an animal in a small, unnatural enclosure, behind bars, or perhaps standing on concrete. It mystifies me even more that, in an effort to provide such entertainment, governments would allow the capture of wild animals and sentence them to miserable lives in captivity.
To be clear, this isn't a problem exclusive to Zimbabwe or China. Just this past year, three American zoos imported live wild elephants from Swaziland. Elephants don't breed well in captivity, and the captive numbers are dying out and decreasing. So, rather than conclude that elephants are ill-suited for captivity, people greedily and selfishly start bringing in wild ones. It's shameful that the live elephant trade continues.
This certainly suggests that, while I know we've made progress on elevating the cause of wild elephants and the plight of captive ones, 2017 will be a year of vigilance.
These are the things I know for certain as I reflect on the year about to pass and the new one about to start... Animals continue to suffer and need the vigilance of millions of humans to protect them. Hard-won advances for animals are never safe from the onslaught of action to undermine, weaken, or completely dismantle them. And, with our concerted action, we can continue--in 2017 and beyond--to make the world a more compassionate and safe place for animals everywhere.
This weekend, we take a small, well-deserved break. Tuesday, we get back to work. New year; old battles; no let-up.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Adam