7 Per Cent of Elephants Killed for their Tusks in only a year
In one of our Newsleters we have been publishing recently, we have been publishing news on poaching in African national parks. And most targeted are elephants because of their husks. Africa has the most pontential industry for wildlife. But will find that Africans and their governments have not done much to protect the wildlife. Instead have been used to destroy wildlife. Its high time that Africans come out and be the leaders of protecting our heritage. When you mention africa to the outside world will defitely ask you about doing a safari in africa. Country like Uganda can offer fatantastic Uganda safaris with an array of elephants, lion, leopard buffalo mountain gorillas and many more. Our African gorverments should do a lot to protect our wildlife.
Today it one of the industries that is growing so fast and employing many Africans. By protecting these wildlife then it could lead to poverty elimination in some sections of africans. This will be a great export to the outside world.
Elephant tusks bound to China intercepted by customs officials in Hong Kong ( Source of photo Africa Geographical)
China has been the most conumer of ivory . Meaning that many elephants lost , husks end up reaching china. Joyce Poole, co-director of Elephant Voices, said the creatures had experienced their worst year in history, with more than 7 per cent killed for their tusks in only a year.
She called for China to tackle the country’s appetite for ivory to save the remaining 400,000 elephants from extinction, and said the species would be extinct within a decade if poaching continued at the current rate.
Nearly 40,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year, Poole told the South China Morning Post.
‘It’s either China does something, or we lose the elephants. It’s that big,’ she said.
‘If we can’t even save the elephants – such an iconic keystone animal, important to the African habitat – then what hope do we have?’
Ivory is known as ‘white gold’ in China, she said, and is symbol of wealth and status.
A worldwide ban on ivory was imposed in 1989, with two sanctioned sales of stock to China and Japan in 1999 and 2007.
Hong Kong customs officials have seized at least 16 tonnes of ivory worth HK$87million (more than £7million) bound for China in the past five years – which would require the tusks of 1,800 elephants, the paper reported.
About 93 per cent of elephant carcasses have been found to have been killed by poachers, said Poole, who has researched elephants for 40 years.
One elephant would earn an African poacher the same as a typical annual salary, she told the newspaper.
‘I think many people don’t know that you can’t get the tusks [for ivory] without killing the elephants,’ Poole said.
‘[Beijing is] still in denial that they have any part to play. Ivory isn’t worth much to the [Chinese] economy, but losing the elephants will make a huge difference to African countries.’ – Daily Mail
