Nigeria Literature Review

Over the past 40 years, nearly 52 percent of the world’s wildlife has been wiped out of existence. Africa’s large mammal population, alone, has taken a toll of 59 percent since 1970. A majority of this massive deflation has been caused by the astounding abundance of poaching in these regions. Africa's increasing rates of illegal poaching are a result of humanity’s selfish demand for an individual body part such as tusks, pelts, or bones, which can be sold on the black market for large sums of money. Poaching in Africa is not only illegal, but morally wrong. Efforts to end poaching entirely should be a priority, and with help, it can be stopped.

Trophy hunting is a wildly controversial topic, especially in today’s social media driven world. Every time a new picture of a hunter and a dead lion or other animal is posted online the media goes crazy. Africa is known for it’s beautiful landscapes, and more importantly the exotic highly sought after animals that roam the land. Africa’s most prominent animals are known as the “big five” it consists of the most challenging and rewarding animals to hunt. The big five consists of: lions, elephants, white rhinoceros, leopards, and finally the buffalo. The big five are majestic and extremely dangerous creatures, therefore they are highly sought after by mainly wealthy white males from all over the world as trophy hunts. Locals to Africa see the animals as threats to their way of life, America see’s them as exotic creatures that need to be protected, and trophy hunters see them as a challenge and another check on the list. The two perspectives I am going to look at about this controversial topic is from a social construction perspective and a political economy perspective.

The illegal killing and trafficking of animal parts has long been a global concern. With trading at an estimated 6 billion dollars annually, poaching has become the world’s second most profitable crime activity behind illegal drug trade. In its prevalence, poaching has driven many species to the point of extinction.

The above-mentioned programs are only in place in a few African countries. In many others, the ban is an often side stepped nuisance in the illegal trade of ivory. Over the past several years, the illegal ivory of over one thousand African and thirty nine Asian elephants has been recovered en route to Japan alone. The ivory of over three thousand elephants has been recovered worldwide (Kioko 1). In 1997, in an attempt to stop the illegal trade, MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) and ETIS (Elephant Trade Information System) have been organized. There efforts, although well planned and well funded are still ineffective (Kioko 2). With continued funding and support, the hope is that these organizations well be able to greatly reduce the

The first advantage of a green criminology is that it brings attention to environmental issues, which otherwise may be over looked or down played. This is important as Agnew (2012) argues that climate change will increase strain, reduce social control and increase social disorganisation. He goes on to suggest that these circumstances foster beliefs and values favourable to crime as well as affecting opportunities for crime. Also, orthodox criminology tends to hide crimes of the powerful, whereas green criminology highlights them. Both individuals and corporations cause harms to the environments with research showing

poaching—and because it is overlooked, human beings are internationally at the expense of the importance of an animal. When discussing poaching, the poverty of various people is ignored, the beauty within the making of cultures is dismissed and the amount of people murdered in the name of conservation is not being exposed. Poaching has been demonized and portrayed endlessly as inhumane—but often, the inhumanity resides with the negative consequences on the native people affected by the establishment of national parks and the consequences for hunting animals within or near the said parks. Due to the creation of wildlife reserves and national parks, human rights have been belittled and blood spilling within the countries that aren’t rich enough

Poaching in Africa has become a major issue for the world. Poachers kill innocent animals for certain items to sell for a high price on the black market. Poachers are people who kill animals out of season or any other illegal way. If poachers are not stopped soon, there will not be any more rhinoceroses, lions, or elephants. People need to find ways to stop this crisis. Better education in schools, better poaching laws, and better security to patrol the wild can help against animal poaching in Africa.

The crack of gunfire and the disruptive shouts of the men ripple through the humid, sweltering air, disturbing the once calm atmosphere that had settled over the Sahel desert of Mali in North Africa. The distinct sound of an ear curdling shriek comes next, followed by a distant thump as a large, limp body crashes to the ground. Just in that moment, another endangered animal is slain out of season by the same faceless men that will be back soon for more. Disturbingly enough, sounds like these and the actions that cause happen every day in the world we have made for ourselves and the other species that we share it with. Every year, the rate at which animals are poached increases rapidly and substantially, and although there have been some policies

In 2011 there were 88,000 elephants roaming in the forest, but by 2014 that number had declined to 82,000(Gogo 1). Hundreds of elephants have been killed in the Hwange National Park. The poachers have began to poison the waterholes to avoid any suspiciousness from a gunshot. When the poachers began doing this all of the animals that came to the waterholes were killed but the poachers did not care. The elephant population in all of Africa is quickly declining. There are only an estimated 475,000 elephants left in the wild compared to the 1.3 million that were roaming in 1970(Gogo 2). The elephants are a very prized animal for the poachers, but there are also other animals that are widely targeted. For example, the Rhino is another one of the poachers most prized animals. The population of Black rhinos has dropped from 65,000 to 5,000 in the last fifty years(Gogo 2). One of its horns can bring up to $15,000 per Kg(Gogo 2). Also, the lion is a very prized animal fetching poachers large profits. The population of lions in 1964 was up to 200,000 but in 2014 was between 20-35,000 lions(Gogo

In recent years elephant poaching has led to a significant decline in the African Elephant population. The ban on the international trade in ivory has allowed some elephant populations to recover, but it is an inadequate amount compared to the tens of thousands of elephants being slaughtered each year. What more can be done to stop elephant poaching? Poachers often take desperate measures to obtain ivory due to being economically unstable. What is ivory used for exactly? Where does it get shipped? Illegal trade on ivory has been said to fund terrorist groups. Is this true? These questions may enhance ones knowledge of the harmful effects poaching has on the elephant population and how the funding of terrorist groups affects individuals across

One world environmental issue that we have to turn our attention to is poaching, specifically in Africa, of animals such as elephants, zebras, lions, black rhinos, and mountain gorillas. Last year alone, over 35000 elephants were killed for their ivory tusks. Ivory is sold illegally for up to $1000 per pound, and the tusks are often carved into jewelry, religious figurines, utensils, and other small trinkets. Around 2000 zebras remain in the wild, and these animals are sought after for their black and white striped skins, which are often made into clothing or accessories. The surviving lion population is a mere 15% of what it used to be, and that is because farmers keep killing them before the lions kill their livestock. Lions are often hunted for fun too, most recently Cecil. The black rhino population is down 97.6% since 1960, and these animals are killed for their valuable horns. The horns are believed to heal various ailments, when in reality, the horns do not cure anything, it’s all myth. Fewer than 900 mountain gorillas remain in the wild, and infant gorillas are often sold on the black market

educating and re-instating of the ivory trade ban that commenced in 1989 in hopes that it will inform people about how to sustain the environment and ecosystems;

Thesis Statement: My purpose today is to inform you on the illegal poaching on elephants and the ivory trade.

A number of steps have been taken by state institutions, governments and concern non-governmental conservation organizations (INTERPOL, 2011b) to address the issues that motivate wildlife crime. Attempts according to literature have focused on making wildlife monitoring more efficient and effective. Effective law enforcement has been defined by INTERPOL (2011b) as:

There are organizations around the globe designed to stop elephant poaching. Their intent is to sway people’s opinions to help with the world-wide problem. Only a global ban on the sale of ivory would take the heat off of these massive creatures. Solutions might include, addressing the involvement of international criminal institutes by means of strong law enforcement at both national and international levels along the full extent of the supply. Closing down domestic (national) markets in ivory, would also be beneficial. Countries could embrace the trade ban, and educate consumers in order to stem the demand for ivory (Bloody Ivory; January 11, 2013).