Elephant Poaching Essay

When one imagines what elephants are like in the wild, they imagine giant animals roaming the land eating plenty of food and drinking plenty of water. The average person may not know, or understand, that there are people that practice the illegal killing of elephants, or poaching, in order to obtain and then sell or trade that ivory for whatever is valuable to the poacher. Poaching is illegal because it has led to the significant decline in the elephant population in recent years and can very well lead to severe endangerment or worse, extinction. Elephants are more than just animals that graze on the land, but they are animals that can spread the seeds of the plants they eat. Elephants roam a large area of land, and therefore, spread seeds via their dung. This is great for plants that have no ways of transportation, except for falling next to their parent plant. Along with the vast spreading of seeds, “the seeds that are in elephant stomachs are softened, which means the seeds are able to germinate faster than seeds that have not been softened”(Scientificamerican). Due to this there must be lots of plants that have been dependent on elephants because of co-evolution. The poaching of elephants is an issue that must be looked into not only because of reasons stated above, but also because the extinction of a certain species can only cause a domino effect of cataclysms.

Because of the poaching of game like the elephant, the number of species will start to diminish. What hunters brought to the villages of Botswana was the money and the meat from the animals to feed the many people that go hungry everyday. Hunters that would take animals such as an elephant wouldn’t take any of the meat for themselves but rather they give all of the meat to the villages in the area. However, when poaching starts to take over, there will be zero meat or money that will be put back into the community. Poachers that kill elephants are only after one thing and that is the ivory from the elephant tusks. After taking the tusks, the elephant is left to rot. Another animal that is sought after by poachers in Botswana is the rhino. The rhino is poached for their horns, which are supposedly an aphrodisiac in China so the demand is high. Because of these effects, groups like SCI are so important to different places around the world. The money brought in by the hunters is used to hire conservation officers to protect the rhinos and elephants and to buy land that will be put into game preserves so the numbers of these species will increase because there aren’t any pressures from hunting or

Because of the sale of illegal ivory so many elephants' lives are put at risk. If the poaching of elephants and ever-growing trade in illegal ivory is to be seriously addressed, part of the solution to this complex problem must be a return to the full ban on the sale of ivory established in 1989 (Bloody Ivory). Between 434,000 and 684,000 African savanna elephants in 18 countries remain, down 30% in the last seven years. Once again levels of poaching and illegal trade have spiraled out of control. Rates of poaching are now the worst they have been since 1989. There are no easy answers, but a total ivory trade ban is the one strategy we know has worked (Mary Rice). Hong Kong seized 779 elephant tusks three days into 2013, over a ton of ivory,

As they wander they naturally produce waste that fertilizes the ground by dispersing seeds in new areas. This helps the primary producers population increase due to the waste containing seeds that the elephant once ate and recycling it into the environment. In the environment and complex food web, elephants are not hunted by a wide variety predator, since there size, weight, and strength are higher than other animals. It's primary predator consists of tiger that goes after the smaller elephants in the herd for they are easier to catch. Another predator that causes great harm to their populations are humans hunting and poaching them to gain a tusk that is seen as wealthy.

Elephant poaching better or worse we can see that some people believe it was better in the past then it is in the present. For example when In the 1800’s 44,000 elephants were killed each year to meet the demands

What ivory is the bones right next to the trunk on the elephants. Elephant population have declined because more than 50 percent have been killed. What scientist believed was that killing elephants for ivory was putting them at risk. Elephant are still being poached because of the high demand for their ivory. There were 50 elephants killed in west africa for their ivory. What animal welfare does is protect elephants from poachers. What public awareness do is make ivory illegal anti-poaching information is that patrols and money where they're needed most common are being pressured.

The poaching of elephants for their tusks has driven the animal in some countries - such as Sierra Leone and Senegal - to the point of extinction. More than 30,000 elephants were slaughtered in Africa last year alone, 382 of them in Kenya. (Stewart, 2013n n.p.).

It's a widely known fact that poaching has been detrimental to the welfare and very existence of elephants. Despite countless efforts to thwart poaching and ivory trade missions, the number of elephant deaths at the hands of poachers is still critically high. IB Times reported in 2015 that due to poaching, a staggering 35,000 African elephants are killed each year—that translates to nearly 100 elephants

Planet Earth is the one and only home for humans, and it’s their natural duty to protect it and all of its inhabitants. For many people, the fate of animals is of little importance, especially when there are so many of their own species suffering throughout the world. However, only when one has respect for nature can he or she come to appreciate for his or herself. In the past few decades, some animals have progressively come closer and closer to extinction. When compared to demographics 30 years ago, less than 5% of tiger and rhino populations remain in the wild (Congressional). The main culprits for this abominable crime against nature are avaricious poachers who seek personal gain and profit. Poaching is the illegal killing of

Although the CITES banned the poaching of Asian and African elephants and international trade in the mid 1980’s, many organizations have been posting anti-ivory trade promotion on their website (Stiles, 309). Websites such as International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Born Free Foundation, Care for the Wild International, and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) (Stiles, 309). Many of the southern countries of Africa do not agree with the African elephant ban (Stiles, 309). They’ve been against the ban since around the mid-1980’s (Stiles, 309). People from the southern countries of Africa have been arguing because they don’t believe they should be penalized because other countries don’t know how to handle their wildlife (Stiles, 309). The CITES Conference of Parties voted in favor of Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to

The central idea of "Endangered Species: The African Elephant" by Gale from Cengage Learning. The central Idea of this passage is elephants are endangered. One reason why elephants are endangered are poachers. The poachers hunt the elephants for their tusks which are ivory, tusks are of great value because they are used in a lot of things such as jewelry or piano keys etc. and there is a large demand for these things so the price for them is high.

Recently, the poaching controversy has gained more attention in the news and media due to the killing of Cecil the Lion back in 2015. But what exactly is poaching and why is it illegal? Poaching can be defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals. Animals are captured and killed for their parts and products that are eventually sold on the black market and to cartels to make medicines, trinkets, and other products. Animals are typically poached for personal gain and value.The the illegal poaching trade in Africa alone has accumulated a worth of $17 billion dollars a year and it keeps growing. Ivory, fur, skin, and bones especially are in high demand and places/people are willing to pay high numbers for these products, so it is no surprise that people continue to hunt them. Due to poaching, the tiger is one of the most endangered species in the world . Tiger parts, such as fur, skin, and bones, are seen as a luxury and are used as commerce on the black market and secretly throughout Asia. Although China has participated in the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, the laws are commonly ignored and it remains the primary destination for tiger parts. Elephants are also on the brink of extinction and the number hunted per year keeps increasing. Despite international ivory trade being banned in the 1990s, it is still sold on the black market and sought after in Asia; once again, China being the biggest demander. According to Kideghesho in Sage Journals , “widespread poaching coupled with inefficient law enforcement in Tanzania was manifested in the dramatic decline of the elephant population to less than 30% of what it was in 1979, a drop from 316,000 to 85,000 by 1987.” Rhinos are also greatly sought after in Africa. In

If Illegal poaching keeps killing Elpehants at the rate thats is going expeerts predict that within the next decade elephants will be an extinct species .

Textual Evidence: “Elephants are also losing their habitats—and ancient migratory routes—due to expanding human settlements, plantation development and the construction of infrastructure such as roads, canals and pipelines.”

Elephant populations suffered a drop in numbers that carried the species into the endangered animals list. At the beginning of the twentieth century, about ten million elephants lived in Africa. Presently, the ten million is reduced to half a million because of illegal hunting and habitat loss. Studies of the population show twenty-two thousand were killed in 2012 and twenty-five thousand in 2011. When comparing the death rate to the natural population growth, there is a possibility the largest mammal on Earth could be extinct soon (Vaughan 1). Because the elephant is the largest animal to walk on land, the greatly increasing human population affects the elephant population first. They live in some regions of the world that have the densest human population which continues to grow, which therefore continuously decreases their own population (Bryner 1). As the human population swiftly increases, the elephant population in turn, decreases. This is so because they cannot cohabitate the same living space. Elephants and humans cannot cohabitate because they would kill each other due to the inability to communicate. About population recovery, the Animal wildlife foundation states, “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”(1). Poaching presents one of the main issues that make recovery so difficult for these animals.