Save the Elephants

Elephants are incredibly intelligent, family-oriented animals, who have been known to mourn the deaths of their loved ones and demonstrate compassion toward strangers. But thanks to increased ivory demand in China and elsewhere, they're being slaughtered by the hundreds.

In January, hundreds of pieces of elephant ivory were seized at Kenya's main port. And those are just the smugglers who got caught. Who knows how many elephants have been murdered for their tusks in the last few years alone?

The rise in poaching is not only an environmental or animal welfare issue; it's also an economic one. Diminishing numbers of elephants in Kenya means a loss of revenue from tourists who travel to the country to see the elephants.

At the current poaching rates, conservationists wonder if there is any hope for saving elephants as a species. It is vital that Kenya step up protection efforts for elephants immediately. Ask the Kenyan government to draft new legislation to take steps to address poaching in their country -- before the elephants are gone forever.