#Tweet4Elephants gathers over 100 million Twitter impressions

The event was hosted by U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Bob Godec (@BobGodec). Using the hashtag #Tweet4Elephants, the conversation sought to address a growing crisis affecting Kenya and nations across Africa, the escalation in illegal wildlife trade that is threatening the very existence of elephants, rhinos, and other wildlife through social media.

Wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion dollar illicit business that is decimating Africa’s iconic animal populations, threatening local populations, killing park rangers, and robbing local communities of their livelihoods and tourism revenues. Many species most notably elephants and rhinoceroses – now face the risk of significant decline or even extinction. Being a conversation that touched on the African heritage and need to conserve our heritage, I guess this was the reason why the conversation reached a wide audience via social media

Here are some of the tweets:

Lesley Hoka Nalwa @lesleyhoka: Tusks belong to Elephants, let’s protect our heritage. #Tweet4Elephants @BobGodec @RobertAlai @trezeroguda

Christian Turner @HCCTurner: #Tweet4Elephants we must address national stockpiles & put ivory beyond economic use; #Botswana2015 is next step @paulakahumbu

SokoAnalyst @SokoAnalyst : They say elephants never forget. Let our future not forget them to become myth for our kids. Let us defend them #Tweet4Elephants

Christian Turner @HCCTurner: #Tweet4Elephants great leadership from @BobGodec – only elephants should wear ivory

US Embassy Nairobi ‏@USEmbassyKenya: #Tweet4Elephants reached nearly 2.3 million on Twitter! Thank you for putting #elephants 1st! @BobGodec @paulakahumbu

Jeff Koinange MBS ‏@KoinangeJeff : “@alykhansatchu: The best time to act on a problem is twenty years ago says @BobGodec #Tweet4Elephants ” WORD!!

Cyprian, Is Nyakundi ‏@C_NyaKundiH: The Problem with #Tweet4Elephants Campaign is that while we are here Tweeting, some people are busy killing elephants

Nakumatt ‏@Nakumatt: If we don’t fight for elephants, the only elephants left will be the ones in our store fronts #Tweet4Elephants

Macharia Gaitho ‏@MachariaGaitho: Govt finally realised that game poachers are in the same nexus with terrorists & drug smugglers, but does nothing about it #Tweet4Elephants