Image by Abigail Dillon
Stats and Charts
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There are only an estimated 450,000 to 700,000 African elephants left.
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Between 2010 and 2012 100,000 elephants were poached.
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The value of Ivory in China is $2,100 per kilo (a little
over 2 lbs)
Image from nationalgeographic.com
Image from nationalgeographic.com
Ivory and China
The Chinese are the main consumers of elephant ivory. Ivory is seen as a sacred item in Chinese culture. It is also seen as a status symbol. China's economy is rapidly growing and the middle class is now able to afford luxury items. At the top of their list is ivory.
In 1989 there was a ban on the buying and selling of ivory in China. However in 2008 a grant was given for China to legally buy 73 tons of ivory from Africa. Doing this drove the demand for ivory even more than before.
This grant also allowed for the perfect cover up for the now illegal ivory that is smuggled. In the ivory shops they are recreating pieces made from the legal ivory and dating them older than they really are. The Chinese government does very little to enforce the current ivory trade laws. It is estimated that only 16% of ivory sold in China is actually legal.
About Elephants
Elephants are beautiful and intelligent animals. Not only are they important because of their intelligence and empathy but they are also crucial to the environment they live in.
Elephant's footprints make great sources for watering holes, fire breakers and water runoffs. They tear down trees to make salt licks and grasslands for other animals. They are very important for human survival as well. Elephant dung is used to make great nutrient soil for local crops to grow. Also dung beetles disperse many seeds that small animals eat.
Image from bbc.com
Image from wikimedia.org
Fun Facts:
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They weigh anywhere from 5,000 to 14,000 lbs
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They eat 300 to 500 lbs of food a day
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They drink 50 gallons of water a day (as much as a bathtub)
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They have very poor eyesight
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They can live a natural life of 70 years
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They have the largest brain in the animal kingdom (they really don't forget anything)
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Just their trunk has 650 muscles
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They can sense vibrations through their trunk and feet
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They have no sweat glands
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They walk at only 4 mph
Research
Poaching and Africa
African wildlife crime is a big business and is a blood trade, similar to blood or conflict dimonds. Elephant poaching is funding terroism in Africa. Many terrorist groups, such as the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), in Africa poach elephants and sell the ivory to buy weapons and fund their operations. There is very little law enflocement to help stop these groups, which makes ivory trade have a lower risk and higher reward than other crimes to make money.
The economy is very bad in Africa right now and many locals have no jobs to support their families. This is a problem because they turn to poaching for income. A local selling one ivory tusk is equivalent to 12 years of farming in Africa.
The African elephant population has decreased 62% just in the last five years. One major cause is the lack of funding from the government going towards the preservation of African wildlife. The government sees elephant poaching as "just a conservation concern."
Ivory and America
The US is also at fault for the ivory trade. While there are laws against selling and buying ivory, they are not well enforced. In California in particular the laws are very lenient.
Chinese markets sell ivory in California and claim that it is over 100 years old, making it legal to sell in the US. However, these claims are not true. Many sellers ware down the ivory and stain it to make it look older than it actually is. The reason we do not prosecute these sellers is because to prove the date of the ivory very expensive tests would have to be conducted.
Another problem are the laws themselves. The laws of what can be sold and what cannot in the US are so complicated, officals do not want to deal with the complex laws.
The Internet
Ivory is also being illegally sold on the Internet on sites like Ebay and Craigslist. Though they have rules posted on the sites saying the selling of parts of endangeredspecies is prohibited, people are still selling. These rules need to be strictly monitored and enforced.
Image from liberalamerica.org
Image from nationalgeographic.com
Orphans
Many times mother elephants are poached shortly after giving birth. This leaves the baby elephant by itself. The baby elephant will likely die without it's mother. In Kenya there is an elephant orphanage that takes in baby elephants they find after their mother is killed. They nurture them until they are capable of being on their own.
Laws Against Poaching
African Laws
Kenya
The law prohibits the killing of a protected animal, this includes elephants. A person also cannot hunt or kill any animal inside of a national park. Kenya law also prohibits the importing and exporting of hunted trophies without proper license and documentation. In other words the smuggling of elephant ivory is illegal.
South Africa
South African law prohibits any "restricted activity" with a "threatened or protected species." This inlculudes all highly endangered species like elephants. Also the buying, selling, supply or export of any part of endangered species is prohibited without written proof.
The buying and selling of elephant ivory depends on how and when the ivory was aquired. Importing and exporting ivory requires a permit. Any ivory aquired before 1976 with documentation is legal, but with no documents it is illegal. If the ivory has not been bought or sold since February 25, 2015 it can no longer be sold. It cannot be sold or exported if it came into the US or was harvested after 1976.
Image from attackofthecute.com
Image from nationalgeographic.com
Helpful Technology
Drones
Air Shepherd, a group committed to stopping the poaching problem, wants to use computer-controlled drones to watch the elephants .Since there are limited amounts of rangers guarding the elephants, this would give them a much better way to see all the elephants at once. All of the drones in use have been effective and they have been able to arrest more poachers than in the past.
Under Cover
Another project involving technology to help the elephants was one conducted by a journalist, Bryan Christy. He set out to make an artificial tusk with a built in tracking device to go into the ivory trade. He was able to track exactly where the ivory was going and how it moved from country to country. His experiment made it possible to possibly find where the source of the ivory trade is coming from and who really is involved.
Image from nationalgeographic.com
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