The dedication of conservationists around the world is inspiring when we live in a time where poaching, land encroachment, loss of habitat, global warming, disease etc are on the increase. This beautiful planet we live on is suffering, however I see many people moving towards change within their own lives (thinking green, less waste/plastic, etc) and wanting to assist in some way towards the greater good of this amazing earth we inhabit. Thanks to all those who put their lives at risk every day with anti-poaching units, who fight for animal and human rights, and to everyone making a difference, no matter how small, even a kind word and caring gesture.
I enjoy spending time with any wildlife and have a particular affection for elephants. I love watching them communicate and interact; they are highly intelligent, caring and have strong family bonds. Approximately 100 years ago, around 10 million magnificent elephants roamed Africa. Through an escalation of poaching and human encroachment, only about 400 000 now remain, with an average of 1 elephant killed every 15 minutes. These stats are horrifying, but through education and intervention, we can make a difference to their lives.
Remembering Rhinos
By Wildlife Photographers United
The follow up to the highly acclaimed Remembering Elephants, once again Remembering Rhinos comprises images generously donated by many of the world’s best wildlife photographers, each of which is united in their desire to make a stand against poaching. All profits will go to rhino protection projects via their charity partner The Born Free Foundation . Please support this wonderful project by ordering a book directly through www.rememberingwildlife.com .
Both Remembering Rhinos and Remembering Elephants books are available.
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”
“We’ve been given this gift, our planet, and we’ve found no other place in the universe that we can inhabit. I want to do something to create radical change to help save it. It’s our responsibility”
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
“Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans have been living for hundreds of thousands of years in their forest, living fantastic lives, never overpopulating, never destroying the forest. I would say that they have been in a way more successful than us as far as being in harmony with the environment.”
”Whatever we believe about how we got to be the extraordinary creatures we are today is far less important than bringing our intellect to bear on how do we get together now around the world and get out of the mess that we’ve made. That’s the key thing now. Never mind how we got to be who we are”
“Animals are indeed more ancient, more complex and in many ways more sophisticated than us. They are more perfect because they remain within Nature’s fearful symmetry just as Nature intended. They should be respected and revered, but perhaps none more so than the elephant, the world’s most emotionally human land mammal”
”To be a baby elephant must be wonderful. Surrounded by a loving family 24 hours a day…. I think it must be how it ought to be, in a perfect world”
“I have spent hours and hours watching elephants, and to come to understand what emotional creatures they are...it’s not just a species facing extinction, it’s massive individual suffering”
“But perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves”