Elephant Slaughter

Lurking in the foliage
Or shooting from the air,
Ivory poachers seek their prey
To naturalists’ despair.

Elephants, both young and old,
Are gunned down every year,
For reasons that their missing tusks
Make eminently clear.

An easy source of revenue,
The tusks fulfill the need
For criminals to profit from
Some tycoon’s grisly greed.

Tens of thousands die this way,
Their bodies left to rot.
Our voices should be raised in wrath
But sadly, they are not.

The elephant – so noble
And astonishing and wise –
Deserves some human help to stop
This onslaught of demise.