Ivory and Insecurity: The Global Implications of Poaching in Africa

Even if we are not today thinking much about the global implications of poaching in Africa, I can guarantee that we will be if it goes unabated. In a country with a deep and abiding conservationist conviction which has rallied to the defense of our bald eagle and our American bison, it is just a matter of time before we awaken to poaching's consequences, and if we do not act now, then the time will come too late. It would come too late for the elephants, these enormous, lumbering, majestic animals which have been a sentimental favorite with people the world over. They are a living connection to prehistoric times and a reminder of our responsibility to the future by preserving the past. And just as we have fought to save tuna, salmon, sharks, tigers, whales, the American eagle, and other endangered species, here too we have a special responsibility to future generations to live out our steward-caretaker responsibilities. How shockingly destructive and historically shameful it would be if we did nothing while a great species was criminally slaughtered into extinction.