Ivory Poaching Research Paper

Adversaries believe that the extinction of elephants can hardly affect other species. In fact, African Elephants are essential to the survival of other animals who rely on specific conditions to live. Elephants have been proven to be crucial to the habitats of other animals. In the article “Endangered Species Can They Be Saved?”, It is reported that African elephants may not be the only ones in danger. Asian elephants’ habitats are disappearing as a result of the loss of African elephants (Allman, Schrof). The tusks of Asian elephants are normally too small to be recognized by poachers so the only reason they too are disappearing is because of the drop of their African brethren. It has been reported by activists that elephants create salt licks that are used by other animals (About the African Elephant). In the article “Endangered Species Can They Be Saved?”, it is reported that elephants open up grassland and clear the savanna for other grazers (Allman, Schrof). If elephants go extinct, these grazers will be losing their habitats and without elephants, it would take much longer to create them

There are many conservation efforts around the world: there are fundraisers and even clothing lines that donate the profits to elephant safety. Many foundations and charities work one on one with the government of the countries the elephants are home to. However, the real problem solver is the enforcement of stricter laws. There have been numerous cases where poachers have been not correctly penalized. Even with these cases, the laws were not strict enough in the beginning. If the laws start off being harsher, there is likely less illegal crime involved . Another reason why enforcing stricter laws is necessary is the income that elephants bring to undeveloped countries. A large amount of income for these countries comes from the wildlife, especially elephants. Along with stricter laws, new methods involving identification and permits have been introduced and seem to be working. There is also a significant decrease of ivory that is imported into Japan and Hong Kong (Netter). Many are unaware there is an ivory problem. With specific marketing tactics there is a possibility to educate the world. Similar to commercials about smoking and the effects it has on the body, the commercials will talk about the poaching of elephants and the downside. Overall, there is not one set solution to fix the illegal poaching of African elephants,however, with countries uniting there is a possibility to stop

Over the last 100 years, African elephant populations have declined from 3-5 million to 470,000-690,000 and Asian elephant populations have declined from 100,000 to between 35,000 and 50,000. Habitat loss and conflict with people are among the biggest threats to their continued survival. Elephant habitat is being replaced by farms and villages. Not only are elephants being pushed into smaller and smaller areas, but the crops that are planted by farmers (sugar cane, cassava, rice) are very tempting for elephants. As a result, elephants frequently raid and destroy crops and villages. People are often injured and killed by elephants during conflict. Elephants are killed in retaliation for the damage that they cause.

Between the years of 1979 and 1989 the African elephant population had declined from 1.3 million to 625,000, and the price had doubled per kilogram (Nave 1). The ban shut down all legal trade of the commodity, but black markets in ivory began to flourish. According to Kreuter, "poaching has increased in at least five of the nine countries studied by the African Elephant Specialist Group in 1994." In a few countries, such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa, programs have been put in place to give people incentives to maintain the elephant population (Kreuter 1). These incentives have placed a value on live elephants for the Africans who have therefore helped to maintain the numbers of these endangered creatures.

Outside of the potential cooperation problems between local and national governments, there is also the cultural issue that many farmers and villagers do not respect elephants. Because elephants are creatures of habit, they follow the same migration paths that their ancestors have for decades. Due to the increased agriculture in African villages, elephants often cross right through small farms or villages, destroying crops and small structures. Many African villagers who have had these encounters with elephants do not understand the Western fascination and obsession with saving an animal they perceive as a large, more destructive cockroach.

Thanks for the post Lauren! I read an article a few days ago about how an increasing number of African elephants are being born without tusks. As you discussed, poachers often kill elephants for their ivory tusks, so much so that the species is facing extinction in certain parts of the country. Scientist believe that to avoid poaching, elephants are evolving to be tuskless. For those with tusk, the sizes have decreased significantly. While in theory, being tuskless is a helpful development to ward off poachers, scientist believe tuskless elephants will be crippled in the wild when it comes to self-defense and digging for food. Ultimately, it looks like poaching is far threatening to species survival, then being able to defend oneself and

Poaching is the illegal killing of wildlife animals. Poaching can be found in almost every part of the globe. In Alberta, Canada, six people amounted seventy one thousand dollars of fines for multiple poaching charges through the course of seven years (Unknown, 2015). The African forest elephants lost sixty two percent of their population from 2002 to 2012 because of ivory poaching (Nature, 2013). In India, a combined effort of poaching, prey depletion and habitat destruction led to a tiger population of fewer than 4000 (Sharma, Wright, Joseph, & Desai, 2014). Therefore poaching can accelerate the decline of a species making them easier to become a vulnerable or endangered species. Poachers also threaten species biodiversity,

“We are experiencing what is likely to be the greatest percentage loss of elephants in history,” said Richard G. Ruggiero, an official with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Ney York Times; December 3, 2012). The poaching of elephants started in the late 1800’s and is still happening today. People are slaughtering these majestic animals for their ivory tusks. Ivory has been sold on the black market for millions of dollars. Before the start of ivory poaching there were millions of elephants in the world in both Africa and India, but today because of the hunting for ivory, there are barely any of these giants left in the wild. Throughout history Europeans have been moving in on central African states to make

The African elephant population has dwindled because of poaching—from 1.3 million to around 600,000 just during 1979-1987. In the 1980’s, there was a 60% decline in the African elephants, which they have yet had time to recover from (Effects). Poaching does not just include the African elephants; the black rhino population has decreased 97.6% since 1960. At current poaching rates, these incredible animals could become extinct in our lifetime, with the African elephants vulnerable to be endangered and the rhinos critically endangered (Don’t). China, Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania, and Vietnam are the eight countries of “primary concern” when it comes to elephants becoming endangered, published by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. CITES has issued Cameroon, Congo, the DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Garon, Mozambique, and Nigeria as secondary concern

Do you know what the biggest animal alive today is? That would the the elephant. Elephants are amazing creatures with many different features. They are the most intelligent species alive and despite their large ears, they do not have the best hearing. However, they are fading away du​e to poaching. The definition of poaching is to illegally trespass on someone’s property to hunt or kill animals. Still, why do people hunt elephants? Some hunters believe it is sacred to kill and poach elephants for sacrifices for gods or goddesses for a specific religion. Others believe that they are nasty blights, or an infection, therefore they must be killed to cleanse the land. However, hunters primarily poach elephants for their ivory that is located in the elephant's tusks. Tusks are continuously growing front teeth that are crucial for elephants’ survival. Elephants use their tusks for a mixture of functions. For the majority of the time, elephants use them for defensive tasks such as protecting

Many animals get poached but there are few that get poached so much that there is little to non left. Elephant numbers have declined in the past five years at more than 75 percent of the sites that they still occur.1 Elephant numbers have dropped because people have been killing them for their tusks.1 The population of wild tigers has dropped from 100,000 to 3,500. 2 The population of tigers has dropped because their pelts are really valuable on the black market.3 Rhino population has dropped drastically because of

Africa's elephant population suffers 25 year decline as more poachers kill for their ivory tusks. (Durando) The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), has been an organization for over 61 years concerning the protection of native African animals. Elephant poaching has become a more increasing issue over the past years. Hunting is used for control of population, but poaching can threaten the African elephants, and could cause the species to need to be protected.

“Lions and tigers, oh my!” Some know animals such as these to be scary; other people understand these animals to be a beautiful creation of Earth. Whether you are afraid of mighty beasts or simply in awe of them, it astonishes many people when they realize how few of them are still alive. Rhinoceroses, elephants, leopards, tigers, African lions, and many more creatures are all considered an endangered species, and we are the reason they are deemed that way. The one element all of those animals have in common is that they are valuable. Rhinoceroses are treasured for their horns; Elephants for their tusks. Lions, tigers, and leopards are all wanted for their skins. These magnificent beings are some of the main sources for poachers.

According to National Geographic, every year the elephants population decreases by 8 percent. This is about 27,000 elephants slaughtered by poachers year after year. In order to help stop the declining of the elephants population, in 1989 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) put in place a global ban on ivory trading that significantly stopped poaching at first, but twice since then, in 1999 and 2008, some southern African countries were allowed to sell ivory from their stockpiles. These sales widely believed to have boosted ivory demand in Asia and stimulated poaching and ivory smuggling. Despite being banned, ivory poachers still manage to illegally sell the elephants tusks all around the country.

African forest elephants can also provide ivory for economic profit if maintained in a well-structured system to boost the numbers in its population. Moreover, both species provide their hides and skins for marketable products for Ghana’s consumers. But, for these species of animal to be useful and have a positive impact for our human population as well, management preparation and action is needed to be taken to prevent any negative forthcomings.