Global March for Elephants, Rhinos and Lions

The poaching of elephants, rhinos and lions has surged to unprecedented levels in recent years, fuelled by the demand for ivory and rhino horn from mainly China and Vietnam. The ivory trade is also funding terrorist groups, transnational criminal gangs, and armed militias that are destabilizing African countries as well as posing serious threats to international security.

An elephant is brutally killed every 15 minutes – that’s around 100 every day and the annual toll could be as high as 50,000. With so few numbers left (some estimates put the figure as low as 250,000 for the entire African continent), and with such a slow reproductive cycle, the outlook is very bleak. Unless we take action NOW to stop the killing, it will be too late to save elephants – they will vanish from the wild forever, in less than 10 years.

A rhino is poached every 9-11 hours, with an estimated 24,000 left in the world. Over 1,000 rhinos were poached last year

alone, compared to just 13 in 2007. If the rate of killing continues to rise, rhinos too will face extinction within the decade.

The Global March calls for urgent concerted action to be taken on all levels to save these highly intelligent, emotionally sentient, socially complex species who have roamed the earth for millions of years. Now they face a military-style onslaught from poachers using AK-47s, mass poisoning, grenades, snares, night-vision equipment, and helicopter gunships to indiscriminately wipe out entire herds at a time. This is a war, and the elephants and rhinos need you on their side if they are to survive.

This march is the biggest international event ever held to save our planet’s vanishing wildlife, with the focus on the endangered elephants and rhinos. To date, 90 cities are participating, with the support and sponsorship of many organizations and celebrities from all walks of life.

The last few years we have also marched to raise awareness for the tragic plight of lions. It is estimated that fewer

than 30 000 lion exist on the planet today, and with growing human/wildlife issues, a massive surge in the demand for lion bone and other body parts, we cannot afford to ignore the crisis that this presents.

The Global March for Maun will be held in September or October each year. We invite you to be part of this awesome global effort to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade, so please join us! We are looking for donations to pay for drinks, t-shirts and educational materials for Maun’s youngest participants – the generation that we mostly want to address!

Links:

www.march4elephantsandrhinos.org

www.facebook.com/gmfermaun