Poaching… Mar. 18, 2007
“Ivory Wars” Photo Gallery. Heartbreaking to see these things, skin and bone remains of 20 massacred elephants, elephant with hacked-off face, orphaned lion cubs, unaware that they will not survive to adulthood. Seriously, wtf is wrong with people?
The dead elephant, a huge bull, lay on his side, right leg curled as if in wrenching pain. Dirt covered the exposed eye—magic done by poachers to hide the carcass from vultures. The smell of musth and urine, of fresh death, hung over the mound of the corpse. It was a sight I had seen hundreds of times in central Africa. As I passed my hand over his body from trunk to tail, tears poured down my cheeks. I lifted the bull’s ear. Lines of bright red blood bubbled and streamed from his lips, pooling in the dust. His skin was checkered with wrinkles. The base of his trunk was as thick as a man’s torso. Deep fissures ran like rivers through the soles of his feet; in those lines, I could trace every step he had taken during his 30 years of life.
This elephant’s ancestors had survived centuries of raiding by the armies of Arab and African sultans from the north in search of slaves and ivory. He had lived through civil wars and droughts, only to be killed today for a few pounds of ivory to satisfy human vanity in some distant land. There were tender blades of grass in his mouth. He and his friends had been peacefully roaming in the shaded forest, snapping branches filled with sweet gum. Then, the first gunshot exploded. He bolted, too late. Horses overtook him. Again and again, bullets pummeled his body. We counted eight small holes in his head. Bullets had penetrated the thick skin and lodged in muscle, bone, and brain before he fell. We heard 48 shots before we found him.
Souleyman Mando, the commander of our detachment of mounted park rangers, was silent. I sensed a dark need for revenge. The feeling was mutual.
“Next time, you will get them,” I offered.
He feigned a smile. “Inshallah,” he said. (Last Stand in Zakouma)
Mar. 19th, 2007 at 1:01pm
As salaam alaikum.
Masha’Allah.
It has been a long time since I have felt feeling of anger over an animal rights issue — jazakallahu khair for sharing.
While I will not ‘go vegan’ over the issue, humanity needs to be better stewards of the gifts that Allah (swt) has given us.
Wa salaama,
nuh ibn
Apr. 8th, 2007 at 9:09am
Most Muslims could give a shit though. They’re too busy talking about how to hold your hands during salat, or denouncing Ibn Arabi as a pantheist. You can basically wipe every species on earth except the ones they eat (lambs and chickens) and they could care less. Then again, you could wipe out every PERSON on earth who’s not a Muslim and a signifigant (though smaller) portion of the community wouldn’t care. I started learning that the first time I walked into a masjid wearing my AIM shirt and was basically told by a brother “What does this concern us? They’re not Muslims.” Then I had a pretty much identical experience with a Tiocfaidh Ar La badge. I don’t want to make it sound like Muslims are more short-sghted than others though; it’s a pretty universal human trait.
Apr. 8th, 2007 at 3:03pm
Your observation is spot-on, DA. Sadly, there are a lot of people who are apathetic toward these issues. I somehow feel that “real Muslims” should be, as Nuh put it, “better stewards” of the Earth, not just their race, their community or their family.
If anyone wants to be an idiot and not give a shit about anything or anybody but themselves, that’s their business, I can only worry about my own soul. But I can keep posting things like this and hope someone has a change of heart!