Ivory Poaching Research Paper

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.

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,

In Africa they relocated mother elephants and their young to a different part of the country due to over crowding. The bull elephants were heavier and harder to transport so they didn't take them. After sometime the park rangers tried to figure out what was attacking and killing other animals, such as endangered white rhinoceros. The culprits turned out to be marauding bands of aggressive juvenile male elephants that had been relocated earlier. The theory was that the lack of the older bull elephant was the problem.

The African Bush elephants are found in eastern and southern Africa. Some of the areas with the highest densities of the Bush elephant is: Tanzania, South African, Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The African Bush elephant is terrestrial. The Bush elephant usually live in the grasslands, semi-deserts and the bush lands. They also clear out forest and turn them into more of grassland, by knocking down the trees. The climate that the Bush elephant normally lives in is dry and hot. Their thin hairs and ears help them stay cool. Another way that they stay cool is that their hides become more permeable in the heat. Scientists has performed research on 13 elephants (African and Asian), they measure the release of heat and moisture. What they have found was that their skin opens up at air temperatures as low at 10°C to 12°C, this is what allows them to perspire. Elephants are different than most mammals, that sweats through glands connected to pores, elephants only have pores between their toes. Elephants do not sweat (Phillips, 1992). By all of the skin being permeable they lose more

decreasing. At the start of the 20th century there were 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia and

Poaching is becoming less and less popular with ivory and the elephant tusks and today the elephants are thriving in the 21st century. A man named Desire Dondego was a killing machine, but now helps the elephants live and thrive. Poachers can be hunted illegally or legally and if you hunt somewhere where it is illegal, they can get arrested and go to prison

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.).

Did you know that that 35,000 elephants are dying each year? We are poaching them, usually for a price. Poaching is different from hunting. Hunting is when you kill for sport, and it's completely legal. You still need a permit. Poaching is when you kill an animal without a permit. Sadly, 30 elephants are lost a day in Tanzania. Imagine if that was you and your herd was getting killed with no end in sight. We need to take some responsibility, because I would want to be killed just because a poacher had a permit. In order to understand elephant poaching you need to know why they’re being poached, the perspectives of the poachers, and the organisations, how they’re becoming extinct, what we can do to help and what is being done to help.

Statistics tell us that animal poaching has amplified at an exponential rate. Many organizations rose to prevent these kinds of environmental disaster. Cheetahs, Rhinoceros, Elephants, Bears, Tigers, etc. have been victims of animal poaching. These animals are stolen and killed, which is obviously illegally. Elephants, Rhinos and other such mammals are killed for their tusks and horn. Tigers, Leopards, Bears, etc. are killed for their precious skins, which are used for rugs and fur based fabrics and sold on the black

This is a serious crime being committed by the black market that pays millions of dollars in trade of animal parts. It is a known fact animal parts are being sold as novelty items like jewelry and as a "medicinal" property mostly for Chinese medicine. Environmental groups or animal rights groups, are desperately trying to put a stop to these poachers because of the decline in animal wildlife and an increase in the ICUN Red List. The United States is only second to China for its desire for illegal wildlife parts either for medicine or personal desires. According to Orietta C. Estrada from the One Green Planet organization states that a number of rich poachers have killed over 30,000 elephants in the last year. It is a belief that elephants, mainly the African and Indian Elephant, will become extinct within the next ten years if poachers continue murdering the elephants at this rate (One Green

Though poaching can happen all over the world. The main area that it occurs in is Africa. Though there were many elephants, due to the amount

But even that didn't work. “After years of being regarded as an unassailable haven for wildlife, South Africa’s iconic Kruger National Park has been hit by elephant poaching. In May 2014, the first killing of an elephant for its tusks in ten years was reported in the park. By mid-October 2015, 19 Kruger elephants had been killed for ivory. Twelve of those were killed in September and October alone”(National Geographic). It is said that, South Africa can expect poaching to increase dramatically in the Kruger National

Just imagine life without any elephants, wiped out just like the dinosaurs. In the early 1980’s, there were more than a million reported elephants in Africa. Tragically, during that decade, 600,000 elephants were destroyed for ivory products. Today, conceivably no more than 400,000 elephants remain across the continent. Elephants are facing a very real threat of extinction; In fact, the African elephants are listed on the

The complexity surrounding conservation is a theme that I found both important and compelling. This topic came up during the “Class within a Class” on the Illegal Wildlife Trade. One of the readings assigned was a New York Times article about elephant poaching. After working at a charity focusing on wildlife preservation in Africa last summer, I had become passionate about elephant conservation. I had learned about the rapid decline of elephants along with the threat of poaching based on the ivory trade. Yet after completing the readings, I realized that the issue was more complicated than I had previously appreciated. For example, I was unaware of the complex geopolitical elements of the issue: the ivory demands of middle-class China, the