NBA star turned animal activist, Yao Ming is now working to protect our elephants. His mission? To turn public opinion on ivory, in his home land of China and around the world, from elitist to socially unacceptable.

It can be tough to fit in. Especially when you are 7’6”. But Yao Ming found his sweet spot on the basketball court where he had a massive fan following in both the US and China. Now he’s a hero off the court, taking to the African bush to aid in banishment of the ivory trade.

That’s right. Yao’s goal is to make the sale and purchase of ivory “socially unacceptable”.

Known as The Gentle Giant in his basketball days, Yao has said he was first drawn to Africa because many of the animals there are bigger than him. It seems more than the physical similarities, it is his big heart that has moved him toward this mission.

Humans have killed 4.5 million elephants in the past 60 years. Over 20,000 elephants died last year alone, along with more than 1,000 rhinos. At this rate it is estimated that these two species could be extinct within the next ten years. Can you imagine your kids or grandkids living in a world without these animals?

In his documentary on the illegal elephant poaching and ivory trade, “Saving Africa’s Giants” which aired on November 18 on Animal Planet, Yao visits Africa to bring the message back home. The people there have no idea he is a mega star in his country. They do, however, share his love of basketball. And his mission to abolish the ivory trade. As he shoots hoops with the locals, one man explains how elephants used to pass through their village regularly. Now they are scarce. Instead roaming further away, scared, skittish and stressed out. Many with bullet holes in their bodies. He says this rampant poaching is killing not only their beautiful elephants, but their economy and their heritage.

These gentle giants are being destroyed for their tusks. Ivory is big business and demand is at an all time high. The highest since the beginning of the ivory ban in 1989. And China is the largest consumer. Once a symbol of wealth and power, the newly wealthier middle class has taken to collecting ivory too. But are they thinking about where it comes from in the first place?

In order to harvest ivory the animals must be killed. The ivory never falls off naturally or is taken from a living animal. Don’t let anyone selling ivory tell you otherwise.

Those doing the killing? Illegal poachers. And these are not the back alley renegades we may once have thought. Poachers of today are organized groups with serious ammo, night vision goggles, and the support of many parties throughout the world. An ivory mafia, of sorts.

The gangs, who move quickly and usually at night, spray the herds with automatic weapons hoping to kill a large elephant. Often babies are killed in these rampages, left to die for no reason. Once larger elephants are killed, their faces are crudely chopped off with axes and taken away. Their bodies litter the African landside.

Systems to defeat poaching have done little to no good in the past. So Yao is implementing a new idea…go to the source. He feels this fight should be fought in the marketplace. This means in Chinese trade rather than the fields of Africa. In order to make a difference in the senseless killing of these remarkable animals, the demand for ivory must cease.

Elephants, aside from being beautiful creatures, are emotional mammals. They live in families, love, and mourn. They also have personalities and look out for one another. They are not only becoming extinct but severely traumatized by this senseless carnage.

Elephant herds are led by a matriarch who knows where to go for food and water, and which areas are safe or should be avoided. Once these matriarchs have been taken from the herd by poachers, babies are left to themselves. When a family member dies the remaining elephants gather round the fallen animal, touching the body with their tusks and feet. This is a mourning period where the elephant family says goodbye to their lost member.

While in Africa, Yao and crew watched one elephant family who was left with only one female. The rest had been killed for their tusks. This last female, whose tusks were very long, showed visible scarring by poachers. She’d been treated three times by the local organization. It is likely only a matter of time before she is destroyed too, her family left to fend for themselves.

“If we buy ivory it makes all of us killers as well,” says Ming. He hopes the documentary shows those at home in China, and around the world, the realities of the ivory trade. When you see the carcass of a young elephant, face missing and life needlessly ended, it makes that ivory trinket seem absolutely pointless and ridiculous.

This past February, the Obama administration tightened the rules on the sale of ivory in the US. Vendors must prove that the ivory they are trying to sell was imported before the 1989 ban. Antique ivory is also exempted with proof of age, and no ivory sales are allowed across state lines.

Conservation groups feel any restrictions on the sale of ivory will help to end illegal poaching. Yao Ming backs them up and is doing what he can to send this message to the people of his country and around the world.

I don’t want to live in a world without elephants. Do you? Wondering what we can do here at home? Take the Ivory Free Pledge, donate or volunteer at WildAid.org.

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Image by Tambako the Jaguar at Flickr.com

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This week’s Link Love highlights are getting us warmed up to winter in all the right ways.

Clothes take on hunger with Fed by Threads. Eat Drink Better explores this eco-fashion trend. [via Eat Drink Better]

New Year, New You…yadda yadda. But if you’re really serious about those resolutions, check out the best new health and detox books. [via Well + Good NYC]

Animal Planet gets nailed in this startling exposé that finds neglect, death and drugs used on animals all in the name of profit. [via Mother Jones]

Aw, really? A Math Genius Hacked OkCupid to Find True Love. [via Wired]

It’s still winter, apparently. Warm up with teas made from trees? Yes, please. [via Inhabitat]

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Link Love: DIY Wintery Lotion + A Pay-By-The-Minute Café + Seinfeld’s Return

Link Love: Green Jobs in 2014 + We Need to Talk about TED + How to Love a Woman

Image via Inhabitat

The post Link Love: Winter Tea from Trees + Love Hacking + The Best Detox Books appeared first on EcoSalon.

 Thousands of species are in critical danger of becoming a part of this animal planet’s history—swaying into extinction without another option—and thousands more are heading in the other direction, towards nearly unstoppable levels of overpopulation.

A dystopian future-earth is often portrayed as a barren wasteland in movies. It’s a planet void of life except for the layers of urban decay–the dark slums where the only creatures left are humans, a rat or two, and of course, cockroaches. But it’s the humans, primarily, who are left, gluttonous and exhausting all resources without a shred of guilt.

And while we are certainly seeing massive die-offs—the World Wildlife Fund estimates a loss of between 0.01 and 0.1 percent of all species every year—the flip side is just as grim. Populations of lionfish, kangaroos, zebra mussels and our beloved dogs and cats, are escalating out of control, and paint a different picture of life on earth in the not-so-distant future.

Credit climate change, the use of chemicals, and disasters like Fukushima for throwing the animal planet’s populations out of whack. It’s no longer unusual to hear of situations like these, reported by Collective Evolution:

5th May 2012 – 50,000 Fish found dead in a pond in Shenzhen in China.
5th May 2012 – Mass Bird death discovered in waste water in Finland.
4th May 2012 – 2 TONNES of dead Fish found in a River in Jinzhou China.
4th May 2012 – Mass Fish kill found in Muttar River causing panic in India.
3rd May 2012 – Dead Fish are washing up on shore of Lake Houston in America.
2nd May 2012 – Large number of fish found dead in River in China.
2nd May 2012 – Many dead Fish washing up dead in Village causing panic in Turkey.
30th April 2012 – Hundreds of Bull RedFish found dead in Alabama.
28th April 2012 – 1200 Pelicans found dead in Peru.
27th April 2012 – Mass Fish kill on Lake Elsinore in California.
26th April 2012 – Mysterious Death of possibly thousands of Storks in Thailand.
25th April 2012 – 11,000 dead Fish found in River in Kettering, America.
25th April 2012 – 28,000 dead Fish found in River in Strongsville, America.
25th April 2012 – Porpoises dying in alarming numbers, causing concerns of a local “ecological catastrophe” in China.
25th April 2012 – 4 Dolphins wash ashore dead at Bandra Bandstand in India.
22nd April 2012 – Thousands more Fish wash ashore dead in Pakistan.
19th April 2012 – Thousands of Fish, also Cows and Dogs killed in Pakistan.
17th April 2012 – Thousands of fish (30 species) dead in a creek in Tennessee.
17th April 2012 – Thousands of fish continue to turn up dead in the Zandvlei Estuary in South Africa.
17th April 2012 – Several thousand Fish found dead in River in India.
17th April 2012 – Thousands of Dead Fish found floating in Pond in India.
13th April 2012 – Mass Bees falling dead in Canyon Country California.
13th April 2012 – Hundreds of dead Fish litter Ocean Floor in Durban South Africa.
11th April 2012 – 300 more Dolphins found dead on beaches in Peru.
11th April 2012 – 14,000 Fish dead in Creek in Missouri.
9th April 2012 – Thousands of fish found dead in Lake in India.
9th April 2012 – 3 Whales wash up dead in India.

The Western Black Rhinoceros, which was recently declared officially extinct in the wild, is a massive loss to the planet’s diversity. To lose such an ancient, giant creature from our catalog of species illustrates the fragility of our changing ecosystems. But while the rhino has disappeared, the even bigger African elephant is becoming a nuisance in South Africa, according to Salon. Even though elephant poaching–which is still a major issue on the continent—continues to decimate elephant populations, South Africa is seeing too many elephants, thanks to successful breeding and reintroduction programs. It’s becoming such a problem that rangers in the area have resorted to birth control in order to mitigate the issue.

Head north from South Africa and you’ll find threatened gorilla populations in the Congo. Over in Borneo, orangutans are also struggling to keep their canopy homes as clear-cutting for the palm oil industry is an ongoing threat. But in India, langur monkey populations are soaring out of control. With no real predators in the urban environments, monkeys in cities like Delhi have become quite crafty at scoring food (and often lots of sugar), and are quickly becoming a health and safety threat. A deputy mayor in Delhi died in 2007 after falling from his terrace during an attack by a monkey. Tens of thousands of monkeys are trapped each year in Delhi alone, but it’s barely a dent in the situation, according to officials.

Jellyfish are now so abundant in the oceans that there’s major cause for concern. Without any real predators and hefty appetites, they could take out vulnerable marine species for good. They’re also a threat to power plants and difficult to kill off. “One reason jellyfish blooms are so disastrous is that they’re almost impossible to get rid of. In fact, cutting some species open actually creates exponentially more of them. When the cells of one species, named the Benjamin Button jellyfish, are released through post-mortem decomposition, they somehow find each other again and form a whole new polyp,” reports Quartz. Freaky, eh? And let’s not forget just how deadly they can be to humans. The box jellyfish is considered to be the deadliest creature on the planet.

Our future-earth scenario may indeed be void of pandas, polar bears, rhinos and blue whales, but it won’t be lifeless. While the human population is also on a dangerous rise towards a self-inflicted extinction, we also seem to be breeding species that excel at consuming our food supply and then some.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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The Black Rhinoceros: My Time with an Extinct Animal
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Image: Ray Morris1

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