VELLIES 4 ELLIES
VELDSKOEN™ Shoes is passionate about our natural heritage in Africa and determined to help preserve it. The immediate conservation of the African elephant is now critical and VELDSKOEN™ is actively involved in global efforts to fundamentally protect these incredible creatures. Please read the below excerpt from “the Last Elephants”, it succinctly explains the current danger to the African Elephant.
The results of the 2016 Africa-wide elephant census co-ordinated by Mike Chase and Kelly Landen from Elephants Without Borders were recently made public. The numbers were a shock. On average, three savannah elephants were being killed every hour somewhere in Africa for their ivory. Add in their forest cousins and their numbers rise to an elephant being shot every 15 minutes of every week, every month, every year. In Africa there are currently fewer than 450 000 elephants, well down from the three million or so just a hundred years ago.
And while the human population is rapidly increasing, elephant numbers are plummeting even further. Human/ elephant conflict and the resultant ivory poaching are inevitable and we know who wins those contests. Then factor in the arrival of criminal syndicates into the elephant world who have accelerated demand for ivory in Asia. Elephants are in serious trouble. Even the large herds of Southern Africa are now under increasing attack after decades of almost zero poaching.
We’re losing elephants fast. They could become extinct in large parts of Africa. In many countries where they once roamed, particularly in West Africa, they already are. They need and deserve our protection. Let us not have to bear witness to the last wild elephants. That would cause a terrible, unforgivable hurt to the Earth’s living fabric. And in a deep, ancient way, the loss of such intelligent, thoughtful minds that have been with us throughout the existence of our species would leave us so lonely.
Vellies for Elephants is a VELDSKOEN‚Ñ¢ initiative that is part of the ivory poaching solution. A percentage of the revenue from every VELDSKOEN‚Ñ¢ shoe is paid to worthy elephant conservation causes, in particular those that fund field rangers and anti-poaching teams. They are the people that lay their lives on line every day often for very little pay, to ensure that our grand children will be able to view elephants in their natural habitats in the wild.
