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Does this offend you?

Oh well it should!! Because it is a sad reality happening in Kenya, the monstrosity of poaching by gluttonous human beings. But not today, because on this very day Kenya lights a fire so big the world will not be able to ignore it; the fire will burn stockpiles filled mainly with tusks belonging to over 6,000 elephants and rhinos as well as hides and skins belonging to other wild animals lost as a result of greedy poachers. This fire should send a message to the world that our animals are #worthmorealive than dead, they are our source of joy, our revenue and are part and parcel of why we Kenyans take pride in being one of the best wildlife destinations in the world. Mention Kenya to anyone and apart from acknowledging that we are exemplary sportsmen, they will admit that our wildlife scenery is a sight to behold and Kenya is always on the buckets list when it comes to safari destinations.


But yesterday when I visited the burning sites where the stockpiles had been mounted, I felt it all: shame, despair, disappointment and an overwhelming sadness. There stood an elephant graveyard, bloody and stinky, with a swarm of flies covering it. Innocent blood nonetheless, the elephant attacked nobody, neither did the dead rhinos, nor the lions, cheetahs and leopards. But their stinking carcasses were left behind to rot. The poachers didn't kill these animals because they were starving  and needed food, NO they stood at a distance and shot poisonous darts at them and cowardly waited for them to fall to the ground: helpless. Some of them even cut off the animal tusks while the animals were still conscious. That's how low humanity has stooped.

Stockpiles readied for the fire

Yet yesterday rangers stood in guard next to the stockpiles, guarding what their mates had died protecting. Proof that human greed had just hit it's epitome. We live in a time where we would rather discover new planets to live in than protect the one we are in, sad times where we fund museums to maintain extinct stuffed animals yet we kill and destroy existing species, it sickens me that some idiot out there would take a stupid dose of aphrodisiac made from to get their manhood going and feel like real men yet someone cowardly killed an animal for it, if they are real men why not try and fight the animals without guns or poisoned darts?

Other folks are on a whole new level of shallow-mindedness for assuming mounted animals hides and carvings look better in their living rooms than they would in the wild, not to mention thinking that ivory looks better on you as  trinkets and bracelets than they would on the real animals for Pete's sake!! Did I mention that rhinos and elephants threaten to be extinct in 15 YEARS? Yes that's the reality should this trend continue. The #lightafire gesture may not exactly solve our wildlife problems but it surely is the right move to put the ivory beyond use and the right step towards integrity. Kindly #jointheheard and spread the word that they are #worthmorealive. If the 6,000 elephants stood in a line it would run for 483 kilometers/30 miles long. Think about it.

If I had a say in the matter I would have tied the poachers together with the stockpiles and use them to fuel the fire since cruelty is their most fluent language. But I am just a simple Kenyan tired, frustrated and ashamed by this vice, soo tired.

Ivory is worthless, unless it's on a living animal