Save Endangered Wildlife

Emirates Joins Fight to Save Endangered Wildlife
Well done to Emirates Airlines for the super Jumbo message against the illegal wildlife trade after Cecil the Lion was hunted and killed.

Numerous airlines including Emirates took a stand and banned big-game trophies from flights. The Dubai-based airline now has taken that one step further, showing its support for United for Wildlife, by paintings of endangered animals on two of its jumbo jets. Approximately 40% of the surface area of the A380 aircrafts is covered by the decal.

The decal on the first flight featured six endangered species, while the second flight was with rhinos and elephants. Both designs cover the world’s largest passenger aircraft almost from nose to tail, spreading over the wings and under-belly of the plane.

The airline operated 2 flights in November with the message across its two A380’s. The first one departed for London on 2 November and a second to Mauritius on 5 November, each with a different design featuring endangered wildlife.

Entirely designed and applied by Emirates’ in-house staff, both of these are the largest decals the airline has put on any aircraft, to date and took a team of 28 people to apply on one A380.

In addition to its two A380s literally “flying” the flag for the cause, Emirates will run regular feature stories about wildlife protection in its inflight magazines, and feature wildlife programming and films on its inflight entertainment system.

Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline, said: “Many animals – in particular African elephants, rhinos, tigers, and pangolins – are under extreme pressure because of an unprecedented spike in the illegal wildlife trade. The world is in a global poaching crisis, and everyone has to do their part to stop this, before it is too late. Emirates believes that the global transport industry, including airlines, can play a significant role to break the supply chain of illegal wildlife trade. And at Emirates, we are committing the resources to do our part.”

Quick facts about the threat to wildlife from poaching and illegal trade:

• Illegal poaching and trade of endangered animals has been a huge issue in Africa
• Numbering three to five million in the last century, African elephant populations have been severely reduced to its current levels because of hunting. Around 30,000 African elephants are killed by poachers each year.
• In recent years, a growing demand for ivory, particularly from Asia, has led to a rise in poaching.
  Populations of elephants, especially in southern and eastern Africa—that once showed promising signs of recovery could be at risk due to the recent surge in poaching for the illegal ivory trade.
• Africa-wide, 1,293 rhinos are reported to have been poached in 2014.

Help end the illegal wildlife trade which is killing our planet’s endangered species.
We too, can contribute in a big way, by boycotting products made from the parts of these endangered animals and discouraging others from doing so. UNITED TO SAVE WILDLIFE.