Poaching of African Elephants

There are few species in the animal kingdom that hold the mystic of the elephant.  Every aspect of an elephant’s body captures the mind’s attention from their huge heft to their massive trunks to their long, flexible trunks.  Unfortunately, another part of their impressive physique, their ivory tusks, attracts attention for all the wrong reasons.  Hunted for centuries for the precious ivory of their tusks, African elephants have been protected by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species since 1990 which inhibits international trade among member countries of products that come from African elephants.

Despite the protection, the surging price of ivory in Asian market has led to dramatic rise in poaching in Gabon.  For example in Thailand, the largest unregulated market for ivory in the world, the sale of ivory from domestic Thai elephants is legal.  Although the sale of ivory from African elephants is illegal, colossal amounts of ivory from Africa are smuggled in and sold in Thai shops.1

While a great deal of the poaching occurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the rise in demand of ivory has caused poachers to cross the border into Gabon.  Gabon is particularly attractive to poachers because it is home to forest elephants, a slightly smaller species of elephants with hard, pink streaked ivory.

This increase in poaching has been absolutely devastating to the Gabonese elephant population.  Since 2004, Dr. Fiona Maisels of the Wildlife Conservation Society estimates that the elephant population in the Minkebe national park in Gabon has decreased by between 44 and 77 percent of 11,100 have been killed.2

Though the government of Gabon have tried to take measures to deter poachers, their efforts have not been sufficient to prevent poachers, mostly coming from Cameroon, from killing what authorities estimate to be between 50 to 100 elephants a day in the Minkebe national park.  Just policing the Minkebe area is a problem; it is around the size of Belgium with no roads.  The poaching problem is augmented by corruption in the Gabonese government.  According to Bas Huijbregts of the World Wildlife Fund, “When arrests are made, they are often obstructed by government people who have a stake in the trade as well.”  With government officials involved in the illegal ivory trade, conditions for the elephants of Gabon appear dire.  Professor Lee White, in charge of the Gabon’s national park system, admits that “If we do not turn the situation around quickly, the future of the elephant in Africa is doomed.”2

With so much at stake, campaigners hope that next month’s meeting on the international trade in endangered species (CITES) will be opportunity to address the ivory problem.  Additionally, the World Wildlife Fund in the United Kingdom is currently trying to obtain a million signatures for a petition to get rid of loopholes that allow the ivory trade to continue.

P.S. the link for the petition is the first website address below.

1http://action.panda.org/eaaction/actionea.client.id=1773&ea.campaign.id=17713&utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=thaipetition&utm_campaign=iwtc

2http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21352722

3 thoughts on “Poaching of African Elephants

  1. Alaina Weinheimer

    It’s ashamed that such beautiful, enormous animals are poached for such a small part of their body. This reminds me of the killing of sharks for their fins. Anyway, it seems as though the preventing poaching is nearly impossible! There is an International Elephant Foundation that is finding a creative way to tackle the issue! In Kenya, they have created the Northern Rangelands Trust Joint Anti-Poaching Team. This team consists of eleven community rangers that represents three different ethnic groups. There is a leader that moderates any disagreements between the people of the team. So not only is this team helping the environment, but it’s also bringing people together! =] This team is working with a variety of other conservation efforts, such as the Kenya Wildlife Service. The team follows the elephant migration patterns and also relies on information from locals. By monitoring poaching, the team has indirectly prevented the stealing of livestock in some communities. There are endless benefits to the existence of this team! The team members are so brave to face poachers. It is such a dangerous job to ward off people who could kill you just as easily! (1)
    Another interesting conservation effort by the International Elephant Foundation is the Asian Elephant Education Program going on in 23 Asian area schools. Apart from learning about the importance of elephants, the kid students get to go on field trips and visit rescued elephants. The program is funded by the Kouprey Express. So far a total of 500 trips have been carried out. The effectiveness of this program has yet to be determined because the children learning about elephants are still growing up and have yet to reach adulthood. However, I have hope that awareness will be a great weapon against poaching. (2)
    Overall, it looks like large-scale poaching prevention is basically impossible, but at least the small-scale efforts are having success, however little that may be.

    1. http://www.elephantconservation.org/northern-rangelands-trust-report-2010/
    2.http://www.elephantconservation.org/wildlife-alliance-progress-report-1-2011/

  2. Kevin Deam

    It is such a disgrace that human lust for “precious” materials like ivory affect our environment and cause species to become endangered. I’m afraid that as long as the markets for ivory exists, so will poaching and the destruction of the elephant species. It is good to hear that activist groups are trying to inform the public and crackdown on poachers, but the road ahead is long and bumpy. One reason why poachers have free range of reserves and nature parks is the sheer lack of manpower in those areas. One National Geographic article touches on the lack of resources for park rangers in Africa (1) and their frustrations with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to back up the resolutions it passes. I remember reading another article a couple years ago about the lives of park rangers who are trying to protect the elephants against dangerous, organized poachers. It is a thankless profession, and many of the rangers have substance addiction problems. I believe there needs to be both stronger international responses to poaching as well as support for local governments that want to protect their heritage.

    1. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120919-africa-elephants-poaching-ivory-rangers-animals-environment/

  3. Richie Whitehead

    Great introduction and transition into the rest of the post. It illustrated just how unique the elephant is and how much diversity and beauty we will lose if they aren’t protected from poachers. Sadly there are many more species that have been facing just as difficult situations. According to the WWF, there are 15 species that qualify as “critically endangered” which means they can be anything from “functionally extinct” (because they haven’t been seen in the wild in a long time) to in populations of only 1,000-2,000 to some populations only in the double digits (1). Animals on this list are in serious danger and much like the African elephant are extremely unique and majestic animals such as the Javen Rhino, Sumatran Orangutan, and Amur Leopard. And that’s just the “critically endangered list”, there are another 34 species categorized as “endangered”. Something needs to be done and again the problem seems to be a lack of awareness in the general public. I’ll be the first one to admit that I haven’t thought about endangered animals in at least a year or two. Luckily, the WWF just launched a publicity campaign with a series of posters of endangered animals and tag lines like “I am not medicine” for a rhino and “I am not a trinket” for an elephant (2). These posters which will be put on billboards and in airports across the US are definitely a step in the right direction.

    (1) http://worldwildlife.org/species/directory?sort=extinction_status&direction=desc -THIS is actually a really nicely done sight, visually and in terms of how the information is laid out, check it out for a bit.
    (2)http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/business/media/world-wildlife-fund-anti-poaching-campaign-avoids-violent-images.html?_r=0

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