The Elephants Last Stand

You would think these large mammal beasts could protect themselves....

SOURCE: ?

However, using the information from the Chicago Tribune’s article on the effects of elephant poaching, I will tell you about the African Elephant and its fight for survival. I will answer the question: Do we need to step in and help fight for the elephant population and why?

There are many articles that supply bountiful amounts of information on the living conditions and population decrease of the African elephant. The one that I found most useful was the one that I found in the Chicago Tribune. Poaching has traditionally been defined as the illegal hunting, killing, or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Unfortunately many countries currently struggle with the war on poaching. One of the worst cases that the world is dealing with today is the mass poaching of wild elephants in Africa. The reproduction of the African elephant simply can’t keep up with the slaughtering of the innocent animals.

In a place where female elephants are scarce it does not help when in only a decade one hundred thousand elephants are killed by poachers. That’s sixty four percent of the entire population. A devastating blow to the African elephants total population and it is said that in less than fifty years we could see the species go extinct. This issue is one that needs to be resolved somehow. It may not be possible to completely stop poaching; however there have to be more rules in place and more strict consequences if we want any chance of preventing the inevitable extinction of the beautiful elephant species. The reason poaching is so prevalent in Africa is because of the pricey Ivory tusks found on the elephant. This ivory is sought after because of its extremely high price. On the black market ivory goes for about one thousand dollars per pound. With only one elephant being able to yield 22 pounds of ivory you can see why the industry is continuing to grow every year and see why the numbers of the elephants are rapidly declining.

Fortunately for Africa, there is still hope. The Democratic Republic of Congo the government has assigned teams to protect poaching as a whole. They patrol the wild life in the Congo and risk their lives to protect the lives of the wild animals. Africa should have more of these tactical teams in order to protect the elephants that are being slaughtered. Killing elephants for their ivory stems as far back as we have records. However, it is only in the last couple decades that we have started to realize the devastation that it has brung to the African elephants population. The ivory that is taken from the elephant is used for many things but its most predominant usage now is jewelry and souvenirs. Before poaching was a problem the ivory was used for many things like a substitute for plastic, piano keys, weapons, sculptures, and more. Sometimes the elephants are even being killed for the sole enjoyment some people get from killing these animals. Now it’s time that we discontinue our support to these poachers by no longer purchasing ivory products. By doing so I believe we can actually fight the poachers but in a non-violent manner that may be even more effective.

For my next article I'd like to research what the parts of the animals that are being poached are used for and why they are so popular.