August 12 is World Elephant Day. The elephant is a mighty animal loved by everyone on earth but it also is the target of poachers for its ivory. According to Jason Bell, Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) Elephant Programme, at least 35,000 elephants a year die the most cruel of deaths to supply the ivory business. Most of these elephants are from Africa. Poverty and political insecurity are the major reasons for the thriving illegal poaching.

Thankfully the UAE is not a major destination country for the ivory trade, but it is still used as a transit port for the illegal trade. Authorities at Dubai International Airport announced that they seized 1,500 ivory products and tusks in the last three years. Ivory is smuggled from Africa to Asia, and the two main destination countries are China and Thailand.

Dubai Police, Dubai Airports Authority, the Ministry of Environment and Water and IFAW had conducted a 20-day campaign in June at Dubai Airports to bring awareness on the illegality of carrying ivory. IFAW, in collaboration with the UAE's Ministry of Education, had launched "Elephants Never Forget" in 2011 and "Big Trunks Tiny Tales" in 2012 to raise awareness on elephant conservation.

IFAW advises countries to cooperate with agencies such as Interpol and interact with the authorities to map and profile those behind the criminal activity. For our part let us spread awareness to say a "Big No" to any product of ivory an save the "Big friends" each one of us admire irrespective of age.