One of nature's most beautiful creatures may soon vanish from the face of the earth. Once there were millions, but now there are less than 600,000 elephants in Africa. Last year about 100,000 of these were murdered by poachers. This beautiful species is only killed for its ivory tusks. Why? So its tusks can be added to a jewelry collection or become a mantlepiece which was once worn by a living creature? This is disgusting. People must work to boycott ivory products and stop the rapidly declining population of the elephant.

Most poachers are tribesmen from local villages. They are the murderers of these innocent creatures. As their guns fire, the earth shakes while the elephants fall, dying. Some die instantly while others stumble away to die in agony. The men run to the carcasses with chain saws used to cut the faces off. Within a few minutes, a life is gone and a man is carrying the tusks away. He will receive five dollars for every pound of ivory he tears from an elephant's face. Almost all ivory products are created from poached tusks.

For years the elephant population has been rapidly declining. Elephants are innocent animals defenseless against armed poachers. There are some laws which ban the slaughter of elephants, but these men flagrantly disobey these laws. Hundreds of these animals are dying daily, and everyone needs to be involved to help stop their extinction. Unless all nations join together to stop poaching, and boycott ivory products, Africa's elephants will continue to live on borrowed time. n