SLAUGHTER OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANTS

In “Slaughter of the African Elephants,” Samantha Strindberg and Fiona Maisels talks about how people kill elephant to use their tusks for many different reasons. According to a study, 62 percent of African elephants disappeared from central Africa between the years of 2002 to 2011. Forest and savanna elephants have been killed by poachers across the areas of Africa. But the forest elephants are the ones that are being “pushed to extinction”. Forest elephants have a huge role in forest that they inhabit. When they move through the forest, they create a trail used by the other animals, and they eat and drop quantities of seeds over miles. These seeds help grow new trees into the forest, which let the forest be healthy and clean air. When poachers kill elephants, such as the mother’s elephants, babies are still depending on the mother’s milk. The baby elephant start to die slowly from starvation, being heartbroken and alone.

I think it’s wrong to kill elephants. Elephant play a huge role in Africa.  They break down trees to help other animals, they dig waterholes in dry river beds that other animals can use as a water source, and their foot prints create deep holes that water can collect in. Even though we kill other animals, we kill them for food. Its wrong for people to kill animal for skin, fur, and for elephants, their tusks. Elephants help the forest grow, and without elephants, there probably wouldn't be any forests.