Speech time: 20 15- 10-24

-Yao Ming's speech at the third wildlife conservation lecture of Let's Talk in Britain (totalNo. 160)

Dear ladies and gentlemen, good evening!

Everyone knows my past experience, on the basketball court. But after I retire? I joined another battle, that is, wildlife protection. Since 2006, I have joined the fight against eating shark fin with the animal protection organization WildAid.

Maybe you have seen some advertisements like this before, in order to persuade you to reduce the consumption of shark fin. Because the situation at that time was that nearly 73 million sharks were killed every year because of their fins. After the advertisement was put on, everyone responded and helped. I'm glad to tell you that in 20 13, our government has clearly stipulated that shark fin should be cancelled for official banquets. At that time, our shark consumption and price dropped by nearly 50%, which should be said to be very successful. It also shows that our society and the public are very protective and only need a little hint. Real strength and real awakening are all contained in our society. Although we have achieved staged success, we still have a long way to go.

This is familiar to everyone. Traveling by land in Africa, you can go out by car to see wild animals. There are elephants, blue sky and grasslands, and there are many elephants here, from Opejeta National Park in Africa to Samburu Elephant Observation Camp. The guide is very experienced. He drove our car about 200 meters away from the elephant route and stopped there. Elephants will come to us like this, so you will find yourself in the whole elephant. Imagine how many elephants have fallen under our guns, but they are still so unprepared for us. This is a miracle of nature. But this also makes us deeply worried. What if we are poachers? The local people are called Samburu tribe, and they have a natural relationship with elephants. They think elephants are their very good neighbors and become very good friends with them. At the welcome bonfire party that night, they gave me such a spear almost eight feet long, which is still in my house. It took me a lot of effort to get through China Customs. You know this almost arrested me. They told me that they wanted me to go back to China to deliver this message. Although China is 108,000 miles away from Africa, the world has become so small now. A simple action by China can change a lot of smuggling on the African continent.

This little elephant, this is a little elephant in the elephant orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. Because of poachers, he often beats elephants. Elephants are social animals. Elephants are usually females, and males live independently. When the mother elephant is shot, she will leave many panicked baby elephants behind. The baby elephant was about 3 months old when we saw it. They were sent to the elephant orphanage. Nurses take care of them very carefully and even sleep with them in the elephant shed. Feed them milk every day and wrap them in blankets to keep them warm, because their fat content is very low and they are very fragile. This little elephant lives happily in the elephant protection park. I hope that when it reaches a certain age, it can be released into nature and grow happily. Isn't this a good story? But I regret to tell you that this is not true. This little elephant died six months after we left. Why? Because it is difficult for elephants to grow up healthily without their mothers, they are afraid, even if they are nurses. They didn't sleep well and their resistance was very low, so they didn't survive in the end. That is the reality. I'd like to tell you a beautiful story, but it's not a fairy tale.

We found this in a place 5 kilometers away from Fiona Fang this morning. Of course, it was discovered by the local guardian. When you see many vultures hovering somewhere in the sky, you know there must be an elephant's body lying there. Poachers will cut off the whole face very cruelly in order to take away its ivory quickly. Because gunfire will attract local residents and gunfire will attract local patrols. Therefore, in such a place only 5 kilometers away from Fiona Fang, five elephants fell down, and all at about the same time. It is conceivable how rampant this poaching activity is and how severe the local situation is.

This photo shows us in a warehouse in Kenya's field department. These are ivory seized by the customs, which are basically poached. When I walked in, I felt depressed. There are so many ivory, I feel that there are many souls floating around. I hope this thing can give us a lot of warnings. Of course, there are many other animal products, such as crocodile skin, cheetah or lion specimens, and of course rhinoceros horn, where you can't see it, behind me, where the photos are not taken. I'm glad we got a lot of help, including Mr. David Beckham and Prince William. We made such an advertisement together. I hope more people can join us, fight back and let more people say no to buying. In this case, those poachers will have no incentive to return to Africa. Our last slogan is-"Please say no to teeth or any animal products! Go and say no! " This is what we can do. Thank you!

The following is the video of the opening speech of the trip to Yao Ming in the UK: