Road to Extinction: Confinement of Roads. Boom I hear a piercing noise through my headphone. Boom I hear it again. I glance

Transcription

1 Road to Extinction: Confinement of Roads Boom I hear a piercing noise through my headphone. Boom I hear it again. I glance at the spectrogram and notice that there are a dozen more of these noises. To me, this sounds like a battlefield: fueled by bad faith, expansionist desires, and antagonism. Full of horror and discontent, I unplug my headphone and leave the room. Elephant ivory, a prized material for centuries, has been recorded in history from several thousand years ago (Spinage). Its demand spurred from the Europeans colonizing Africa, decimating African elephant population that has never recovered ever since (Barnes). In Africa, approximately 60,000 elephants are illegally killed every year; these elephants are now classified as vulnerable species in the IUCN Red List (African Elephants) (Straziuso). In order to obtain ivory, the elephant must be put down; However, what most people fail to realize is that elephant tusks grow 7 inches every year. If the poachers gathered ivory from an old, dead elephant, they will get tremendous ivory from them. Unfortunately to navigate every 1

2 dead elephant is demanding and slow, so poachers continue to slaughter elephants for their unique tusks (Walker). What really makes elephant ivory stand out is its hard yet delicate texture. The texture is optimal for carvings and the pores on the surface makes ivory easy to dye for further polishing. Hence, in many cultures, ivory is a symbol of wealth and luxury; for example, in China, artists and carvers chisel ivory to make decorations that were once worn by emperors as an indication of prosperity (Pomfret). About a year ago, Hong Kong officials found 794 pieces of elephant ivory concealed in a large shipment from Africa. It has been estimated that the ivory shipment would be worth $1.6 million (Staff). Notwithstanding anti-poaching laws, the ivory market is growing at a considerable rate. In a recent radio program, Frank Langfitt said: Despite occasional crackdowns and even prison sentences, scores of shops in China continue to sell illegal ivory, according to outside investigators. To improve the elephant population and to successfully stop the ivory trade, we must identify the core problem: roads. Roads near elephant habitats serve as gateways for poachers to access elephants a small, isolated area densely packed with elephants is optimal for elephant poachers. Although roads are currently not prevalent near elephant habitats, their numbers are increasing through private businesses, international aid, and the local government. To examine the effect of roads on forest elephants, a group of researchers put GPS collars on 28 elephants in the Congo Basin. Their study showed that elephants circumvent the roads, especially those outside protected areas. Out of all the elephants, only one elephant crossed a road and it did so by moving 14 times its normal speed (Blake). Dr Stephen Blake, the lead author of this study, said: "Forest elephants are basically living in fear of their lives in prisons created by roads. They are roaming around the woods like frightened mice rather than tranquil 2

3 formidable giants of their forest realm (Eccleston). If the elephant habitat continues to become more isolated, there will be long-lasting effects: local overpopulation, increased feeding intensity, habitat degradation, and increased mortality from illegal poaching (Whyte). Despite the rising attention towards elephants. it was only recently that researchers found out that elephant activity is higher during nighttime than during the day. Recent studies showed that there were significant behavioral differences between elephants inhabiting in open forest forest clearing that is favorable for poaches and closed forests. About 80% of open forest elephant activity occurs at night; on the contrary, elephants in closed forests are equally active during the daytime and nighttime. According to the indigenous peoples in Central Africa, human activity near the elephants habitat has forced the elephants to become nocturnal over the years (Wrege). To stop the construction of roads near wildlife is not an appropriate way to address the problem: there must be a balance between socio-economic development and wildlife preservation. One effective way is to implement an animal-friendly road system. Construction of animal-friendly roads will mitigate many of the problems the wild animals and forest elephants face: roadkill, isolation of populations, and habitat destruction. In Mount Kenya National Reserve, roads were built in a way so that the forest elephants could walk beneath the major highways between the attraction sites. In addition, fences surrounding the highways have also guided the animals away from the roads (Elephant Tunnels, Possum Bridges). To go further with animal-friendly roads, to effectively endorse the well-being of the forest elephants, we must reduce the elephant s fear of roads. In order to accomplish this goal, permanent roads should not be built near the elephant conservation areas. Building roads away from the conservation areas may require more funding and stricter protocols to enforce anti- 3

4 poaching laws; however, once the system is constructed, it will be sustained for the forest elephants and humans (Blake S). To reinforce such ideas and propose laws, many organizations such as Save the Elephants, Wildlife Conservation Society and WWF have worked together to protect areas within the national parks. However, implementing direct protection and enacting laws against poaching are not the only way to watch over the elephant population. One efficient way is to monitor elephant activity and vehicles near elephant habitats as what the Elephant Listening Project (ELP) has been doing for the past decade. Directed by Dr. Peter Wrege, the ELP has been making audio recordings from various parts of Central Africa in order to estimate abundance and study forest elephant behavior. Recorded sound files are converted into spectrograms that are examined to locate any sound of elephants, primates, gunshots, and even tree falls. As a sound analyst in the ELP team for the past year, I have monitored sound files and these acoustic signals. 4

5 Sound files on elephant activities serve as data to keep track of the elephant responses. The ELP investigates the seasonality of the elephants to recommend logging companies to log during the season when the elephants are not active. In addition, they present the data to determine where the elephants are most populated so the roads can be built away from the location. Every day after working at the ELP, I walk home through the woods: peaceful and quiet, just the place to be alone. The sun emits its blazing red façade as it descends to the ground as the darkness peeks above me. A sorrowful wind blows, reminding me about the elephants getting shot. They sound just like us when we are in pain: screaming and mourning. People purchase expensive ivory decorations to demonstrate their wealth and to show off its scarcity, but to me, elephant ivory is far more beautiful on the elephant itself. They say that elephants never forget. With our materialized, hectic lives, are we forgetting about them? 5

6 Works Cited "African Elephants." WWF. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July < Barnes, R. F. W. (1999), Is there a future for elephants in West Africa?. Mammal Review, 29: doi: /j x Blake S, Deem SL, Strindberg S, Maisels F, Momont L, et al. (2008) Roadless Wilderness Area Determines Forest Elephant Movements in the Congo Basin.PLoS ONE 3(10): e3546. doi: /journal.pone Eccleston, Paul. "African Elephants Afraid of Roads Because They Mean Danger."Telegraph.co.uk. N.p., 28 Oct Web. 25 July < "Elephant Tunnels, Possum Bridges." Health24. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July < Langfitt, Frank. "Looking For Elephant Ivory? Try China." NPR. NPR, 02 Mar Web. 19 July < N.d. Photograph. Msnbc.com. 31 Aug Web. 25 July <N.d. Photograph. Msnbc.com. 31 Aug Web. 20 July >. Pomfret, James, and Tom Kirkwood. "China Ivory Demand Bodes Ill for Africa's Elephants."Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 09 Nov Web. 19 July

7 < Spinage, C. A Elephants T. and A. D. Poyser, London Staff, Msnbc.com, and News Service Reports. "2 Tons of Elephant Ivory Seized in Hong Kong." Msnbc.com. Msnbc Digital Network, 31 Aug Web. 30 July < Straziuso, Jason, Michael Casey, and William Foreman. "Ivory Demand Threatens African Elephant." MSNBC. MSNBC, 15 May Web. 10 Mar < Walker, John Frederick. Ivory's Ghosts: The White Gold of History and the Fate of Elephants. New York: Atlantic Monthly, Print. Whyte I, van Aarde R, Pimm, SL Kruger s elephant population: Its size and consequences for ecosystem heterogeneity.pp in du Tolt, J.T., Biggs, H.C., and Rogers, K.H. (eds.) The Kruger experience: ecology and management of savannah heterogeneity. Washington, DC: Island Press. Wrege, P. H., Rowland, E. D., Bout, N. and Doukaga, M. (2012), Opening a larger window onto forest elephant ecology. African Journal of Ecology, 50: doi: /j x 7