Media Log #7: African Elephant Poaching

     Is it me or does anyone else find this comic very sad?   Poor Lana and the rest of the African elephant population!  Not only is the issue discussed saddening, but also the expressions of the animals are saddening.  
     I was reading the comics section of the newspaper a few weeks ago, and I came across this comic a couple of weeks ago.  It immediately stood out to me because I found it interesting that the issue of elephant poaching was discussed in the cute Mutts comics.  Usually, Mutts comics don't discuss any issues and instead, show scenes of daily life in a cute and loving way that warm your heart.  It's just out of the ordinary to find an issue as serious as elephant poaching discussed in this comic. 
     This comic strip is trying to bring awareness to a problem that may have been overshadowed by all the other problems in the world.  Thirty-five thousand African elephants were slaughtered in 2012 for ivory!  The proof given is not vague at all and instead, is right in your face.  You can't ignore it.  It saddens me that people still do this even though it's illegal and harms the elephant population.  These people are heartless and don't care if the elephants suffer for their selfish actions.  If this continues to happen, the elephant population will become extinct, and then there won't even be any elephants to take ivory from.  Those poachers won't have a job anymore.  Patrick McDonnell wants us to become aware us this issue and maybe help to prevent this from continuing.  
     Discussing this serious issue in such a cute, heartwarming comic works in the issue's favor.  You see the animal's faces, especially the elephant's, and instantly feel for the elephant since it's the elephant who is being affected.  You can also see how quickly and dramatically the animals' expressions change from a normal, curious look to a sad and depressing look.  It's such a powerful and memorable moment because we can see how an elephant feels about this issue.  I feel that if this issue was discussed in a comic that isn't known for it's cute character, such as Zits, the effect wouldn't be as powerful since we wouldn't associate the right kind of feelings with it.  Sure, we'd feel bad about the issue, but we might forget about it after a while.  
      The elephant can't forget what's happened to thirty five thousand of her species, and now that fact is continuing to sadden me too.  This comic did a good job at raising public awareness for this saddening problem.