By Nancy Motto
In June, elephant lovers participated in "Backpacking for Pachyderms" at Ramapo Reservation in Mahwah. The idea was hatched when I decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro this coming August with a friend. We realized that we could do something special for the elephants as part of our training.
We are raising money for the U.S. Friends of the David Sheldrick Trust in Kenya by inviting friends and family to accompany us on hikes in the area. David Sheldrick was a world-renowned naturalist and founder warden of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya which has one of the largest elephant populations in Africa. To honor his memory, his wife Daphne set up the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust which runs an elephant orphanage that rescues and raises young elephants and then returns them to their natural environment.
The elephant is being decimated by the thousands in Africa’s forests and savannahs. With an increasing demand for ivory resulting in the wholesale slaughter of elephants, this need has never been greater.
As part of this event, contributions can be made to crowdrise.com/backpackingforpachyderms/fundraiser. So far over $2,000 has been raised. The site will be up until the end of the year and anyone can donate to this worthy cause. Donations will go directly to the trust.
Dame Sheldrick reminds us that "saving wildlife and wilderness is the responsibility of all thinking people. Greed and personal gain must not be permitted to decimate and destroy the earth’s irreplaceable treasure for its existence is essential to the human spirit and the well being of the earth as a whole. All life has just one home – the earth – and we as the dominant species must take care of it."
For more information on future hikes please call me at 201-669-7174.