What Are We (Not) Doing?

“You are holding in your hands the entire global population of those snails, they exist nowhere else on earth but here in your hands.”

If you checked out Tom Hadley’s guest post yesterday you not only have seen some amazing images of Amur and Snow Leopards but you will also recognize the above line.  A big thanks to Tom for sharing his images but more than that, his passion for conservation.

Let’s face it, and this has been mentioned on a number of blogs recently, wildlife photography is an amazingly powerful medium with which to create an awareness of the beauty of nature. An awareness of the fragility of nature.  Now just for a moment, let’s take Tom’s quote from the beginning of the post and change it to this…

“You are holding in your hands the entire global population of rhino.”  Strange?  Well read on.

I was originally planning another post for today but I was catching up on some of the blogs I follow and one got me pretty damn upset hence the chance in direction.  I urge you to think about these two statements for a second:

- Currently, in South Africa, a rhino gets killed every 1.6 days.
- It is estimated that there are just 35 individuals (amur leopards) left in the wild.

What are we doing?  Or perhaps, what are we not doing?

For the last few months Photo-Africa has been promoting the Bush Warriors Photo of the Day contest.  The idea is to not only showcase wildlife images, which can win the entrant a prize, but also to create an awareness for conservation and what is happening out there.  It is not pretty but it’s real.  It’s very real.

The following story was posted on the Bush Warriors site on 21 May.

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On January 19, 2008, Puji (an Indian name meaning “gentle”) and her calf were shot by rhino poachers when they wandered just 200 meters outside of Kaziranga National Park, near Kohara. Puji’s baby died shortly after being struck by the poacher’s bullets. The poachers removed the baby rhino’s tiny horn – which amounted to less than one gram.

Puji fell to the ground, but she did not die right away. As Puji lay wounded on the ground, the murderers hacked off her horn while she was alive and fully conscious.

After witnessing the death and mutilation of her baby, and despite the excruciating pain, Puji struggled to stand up. She bravely fought for her life for 36 hours, until succumbing to the massive loss of blood from her horrible wound.

Finally, on January 23, 2008, protest letters reached the Prime Minister, Mammohan Singh. The police were ordered to respond immediately, resulting in the arrests of more than 10 rhino poachers and rhino horn traders.

Kaziranga National Park has already lost nine greater one-horned rhinos to poachers this year.

Illegal rhino killing in Africa and Asia has surged in recent years. The increase is fueled by demand in China and Vietnam, where superstitions attribute healing “powers” to rhino horn – despite the fact that scientific analysis has proven that rhino horn has no medicinal effects on humans.

Please remember this mother rhino and her baby: Share the story of Puji.

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Absolutely disgusting!  The actual post includes a number of very very graphic images and a video clip which hammers the point home, as if the above story is not enough.  Now I am far from a tree hugger but things like this really gets me really really upset.  (The original post can be seen here but please take note that it contains very graphic images.)

At least there are people out there who are doing something about it.  The following article was posted on the Bush Warriors site yesterday.

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Forest guards in Kaziranga National Park shot and killed four rhino poachers in an hour-long gun battle that erupted after forest guards gave chase and surrounded the six-member poaching gang. This anti-poaching incident came just four days after Kaziranga forest guards arrested seven rhino poachers.

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To people like the the forest guards in Kaziranga National Park, the guys at Bush Warriors, Tom Hadley and everybody out there who are fighting to protect our natural heritage – thanks for doing what you do.  Thanks for creating an awareness.  Thanks for doing something to protect the wildlife and nature we all enjoy and will hopefully be able to photograph well into the future.

Before we end off, here are two of the entries to the Bush Warriors Photo of the Day contest.  You can click on either of the images to view more!

It is sad what’s happening out there but if you have a camera you can help to document nature and wildlife.  You can help to create an awareness.  You can help to show the beauty of nature.

However good or bad you think your wildlife images are show them.  Share them.  Support contests like the one hosted by Bush Warriors or the one recently hosted by C4 Images and Safaris.  People need to see wildlife.  They need to see that there are people who care about wildlife.  It’s the least we can do to create an awareness!

I will be back next week with an update and images from last weeks Photo-Africa workshops, new wildlife images, guest bloggers and a whole lot more.  Have a great weekend and if at all possible, take a wildlife image and post is somewhere online.   Don’t just sit and do nothing – create an awareness!

See ya on Monday!

Gerry