A Powerful Wildlife Message

While in Kenya, we jump started our Science study of the unit question, “How are humans and nature interconnected?” by visiting two important sites – The David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and The Giraffe Centre.  The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is committed to the preservation and protection of wildlife, specifically orphaned elephants and rhinos until they can be reintroduced into the wild.  Elephant and rhino poaching is on the rise in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.  Poachers are currently killing one elephant every 15 minutes for ivory!   At this alarming rate, elephant extinction can be expected in the next 7 years.  There are many complex economical, political, and cultural reasons for the recent rise in poaching of these incredible animals.  If there is one message we have heard loud and clear, it is to NEVER purchase ANYTHING made of ivory or you are profoundly supporting poaching and illegal ivory trade!

The Sheldrick Orphanage has had an influx of orphaned babies in the last couple of years.  In Kenya alone, 20,000 elephants were poached last year!  After observing and being introduced to the orphaned elephants, we were moved to adopt an albino elephant “Faraja” for our classroom.  Faraja is 2 ½ years old and comes from the Amboseli region of Kenya.  He was orphaned due to a human/wildlife conflict.  As we travel to Tanzania, we will learn more about the work being done by in Wildlife Management Areas in collaboration with the Honeyguide Foundation in the Amboseli/ Endumet areas to help local people live more symbiotically with wildlife.

Next, we visited the Giraffe Centre, a non-profit organization whose main objective is to provide conservation education for school children and youth of Kenya.  In 2010, FFT sponsored a field trip to the Giraffe Centre for Kilimani School students.  It was a powerful experience for the children to be so “up close and personal” with wild giraffes.  All of the giraffes at the Centre are endangered Rothschild giraffes.  They come to the Centre temporarily to breed and then are released back into the wild.  As human populations grow and increase agricultural activities, expand settlements, and construct roads, the giraffe is losing acacia trees, their main source of food.  The Giraffe Centre is helping to educate local communities on more sustainable practices.

Similar to the elephants and rhinos, the Rothschild giraffe is struggling to survive.  Imagine a world without these majestic beasts!  All of the contacts we have made so far this trip have informed us that education of present-day students and youth is the answer to wildlife survival.  Once local communities are empowered with knowledge and information, they are making changes at the community level to ensure species survival.  We are hearing “wildlife extinction”.  World wide, no one can sit back!  This is a powerful message that we are bringing home to our students in Boston!