Rhino Horn Poaching Essay

The prices of tiger pelts continue to go on the rise because “as the destruction of tigers decrease supply, the price of their parts rises further, creating even greater incentives for poachers to kill the remaining animals” (Linden). These innocent animals are in danger in both unsecure and secure places. Poachers will not hesitate to go into zoos and kill an animal. Recently, zoo veterinarian Eric Miller talked about an incident that happened in France. Miller said, “we were shocked last week by the news that a white rhinoceros was killed when poachers entered Thoiry Zoo” (“A Critical Time for Saving Rhino Species”). The prolonged war against poaching is not promising for the future of some animal species. Animals are being driven to endangerment and even close to extinction. A recent extinction in the wild happens to be the white rhino. In 1960 white rhinos numbered more than 2000, but now they are extinct in the wild (Miller). The few white rhinos that are alive, in the world, are kept in areas such as zoos.

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.

In the nonfiction book Ivory, Horn, and Blood by Ronald Orenstein, the author discusses his opinions on the topic of poaching elephants and rhinos. Orenstein believes that poaching is morally wrong, unnecessary, and should be stopped. He refrains from using emotional words, instead focusing on and providing startling statistics and horrifying facts.

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

And while some try to save these animals from extinction, others only want to kill them for profit. These poachers have wiped all of the Northern White Rhinos in the wild. They sell the ivory from their horn for large sums of money. Now only 3 Northern White Rhinos survive in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, all have passed the age in which they were able to breed naturally, so they will either become

Wildlife hunting is a big business a 2013 estimate valued the illegal poaching trade in Africa worth 17 billion dollars a year and growing. While elephant poaching between 1800’s - 1999 and 2000’s and up have some similarities they also have a wide variety of differences. Elephant poaching in 1800’s-1999 was done to meet the worldwide demands, but elephant poaching in 2000’s and above was done for sport. Elephant poaching is wrong and shouldn’t be done.

the head and died almost instantly. No one can do anything for the rhinoceros now. Poaching

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

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.).

Imagine growing up without knowing elephants. There is no elephant stuffed animals, children's books with elephants, or elephants at the zoo. This may be the case in just a few years. The number of elephant fatalities is rising every year and presents itself as a global issue. Not only does the ivory poaching industry impact elephants, it impacts the entire ecosystem. If elephant poaching continues at this alarming rate, there is a high probability of extinction within the next couple of years. There is a need for stricter laws to be intact and higher consequences for poachers.

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

Animal poaching has a bigger price tag than the trophy sitting on the shelf. Poaching is causing iconic animals of many continents and of our oceans to become endangered or even extinct. These animals that people have come to love and fantasize over may be gone before we are (Africa). Elephants, rhinos, lions, and zebras are the animals thought of the most when it comes to animal poaching, but many animals are poached. They are killed for only one quality, like their horns or skins and the rest of the animal is left behind. Poaching is a massive business that is ran by international networks, it’s estimated to make hundreds of millions of dollars (World). Not all wildlife trade is illegal, but it becomes a crisis when an increasing amount of illegal poaching is done and it directly threatens the survival of species in the wild (World). Since 1960 97.6% of the Black Rhino population in Africa has been poached and lions are extinct in seven African countries (Africa).

“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

Endangered species help to gauge the health of ecosystems and can help individuals become more conscious of their environments and conservation issues around the globe. In recent years, various species and subspecies of rhinoceros have become threatened, endangered, and even extinct. One such subspecies, which was not only endangered, but has been declared extinct inhabitat as of June 26, 2013, is Africa's Western black rhino (Lavina, 2013).

The plight of the rhinoceros is not unlike the all-too-familiar danger that the elephant faces. Illegal trade is greatly responsible for the endangerment of the species. Valued for their ivory horns, over 90% of the five rhino species have disappeared, while the rest continue to dwindle. The worth of one rhinoceros horn is $44,000, and the demand remains high in the countries of China, Taiwan, South Korea and in the Middle East. In East Asia, the horns are regarded as powerful medicinal tools, known to cure everything from nosebleeds to food poisoning. In a powdered from, the horn is thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. Similarly, the animals? genitalia are also considered extremely valuable.