Population of African elephants drastically down due to loss of habitat and poaching

A study has revealed that the population of African elephants has reduced drastically due to not only poaching for their ivory but also due to loss of habitat. This has, in turn, raised questions about the failure to protect one of the world's largest mammals.
The study has shown that there are now only 352,271 savanna elephants in nearly all of sub-Saharan Africa. This is as per data furnished by Elephants Without Borders, a research organization that just completed an 18-country census.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 1 September 2016.

The study has found that between 2007 and 2014, the elephant population has declined by at least 30 per cent, or 144,000 elephants. The study, which was funded largely by billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has also revealed that Tanzania's elephant population declined by 53 per cent between 2009 and 2015, from about 109,000 in 2009 to 51,000 in 2015.
The researchers had spend 10,000 hours in the air traveling across Africa in helicopters and bush planes and the National Geographic has called the study "the largest wildlife census in history". Incidentally, some of the countries like Angola had never before covered by any earlier survey.
One of the reasons for this decline with regard to savanna elephants is dramatic loss of habitat - their land was destroyed and their range "shrank from three million square miles in 1979 to just over one million square miles in 2007" - this is as per the World Wildlife Fund.
Poaching is another known threat. The animals are killed for their ivory and most of the ivory ends up in Asia, where it fetches as much as US$1000 per pound and is frequently used in unproven medicinal treatments. Kenya had set fire to 105 tonnes of ivory in an attempt to prove, in the words of President Uhuru Kenyatta, that "for us, ivory is worthless unless it is on our elephants". The United States has also announced a near-total ban on the ivory trade.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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$100-million worth elephant tusks go up in flames in Kenya

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya set on fire a huge pyre of elephant tusks worth $100-million to show to the world that his country is serious about ending the illegal trade in ivory which is threatening to push wild elephants to extinction.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 1 May 2016.

Heavily armed poachers, using military tactics, have wiped out tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of elephants across Africa. They are killed for their tusks which, then, enter an underground pipeline to Asia, especially China, where there is a huge demand for ivory. It is used to make eyeglass frames, combs, statuettes and other trinkets.
In the opinion of wildlife experts, the street price of a kilogram of ivory is around $1,000. And, Kenya set fire to 105 metric tons of ivory. It was a stockpile of confiscated and recovered tusks and was the most amount of ivory ever destroyed at one time - it represented 6,000 to 7,000 dead elephants.


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100 elephants killed in 2 years in India, the country that worships the elephant as God

India is a country that worships the elephant as a God and temples down south proudly display their elephants decorated in all their finery on special festive occasions. However, the elephants are regularly killed for their tusks by gangs of poachers as narrated by a man who had been associated with such gangs over a period of time.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 13 August 2015.

The gang was active in the forests of Vazhachal, Munnar and Parambikulam in not just Kerala, but in neighboring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as well. Investigators in Kerala have unearthed more than 20 deaths over a period of 10 months and believe that it could go to as high as 100 following the gunning down of the forest brigand Veerappan in 2004.
The saddest part is the involvement of some forest officers with the poachers. Out of 40 persons arrested so far, there is a forest range officer and a deputy range officer. There was a poachers' dens in the Vazhachal forest and at least 17 country-made guns.
Forest officials had identified the mastermind but before they caught up with him, he was found dead in a farmhouse in Dodamarg in Maharashtra – with a suicide note. They have recovered some 50-Kg of ivory.
There are suspicion of links with some ayurvedic drug makers because some of them have been selling potions with ivory content claiming it as a magic remedy for baldness.
(Image courtesy wikimediacomons.org)

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Smuggling of ivory, gold and timber responsible for conflicts in DR Congo

#drcongo #wildlife #gold #timber #ivory A report of the UN has indicated that large scale smuggling of ivory, gold, timber and other natural products worth over a billion dollars per year is fuelling war by funding dozens of rebel groups as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 17 April 2015.
It seems militarized criminal groups who have transnational links are involved in the large-scale smuggling activities. The range of items include gold, minerals, and timber, charcoal and wildlife products like ivory.

The earnings are in the region of up to $1.3 billion each year from eastern DR Congo as revealed by the UN Environment Program (UNEP). This revenue goes to finance at least 25 armed groups. Some other reports put the figure at 49. These are increasingly fueling the conflict in the war-torn region.
Control over the mineral-rich areas appears to be the dominant factor in the conflicts that have raged in eastern DR Congo for decades. For example - gold forms the largest section, with organized crime gangs earning up to $120 million a year from the trade. Most of this income goes outside the impoverished region and the estimated two percent that goes to the armed groups (works out to roughly $13 million a year), provides the funds necessary to prolong the war.
This sum can sustain at least 8,000 armed fighters for one year.
Obviously, there are many interested parties to ensure that peace does not get a chance to return to the strife torn region.

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A decision has been taken to remove all such items from view in keeping with the feelings of the age of political correctness – hence, the Queen’s Norfolk estate has removed from public display every last piece of hunting memorabilia. These have now been replaced with what one visitor called ‘trinkets and bric-a-brac’.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 6 April 2015.

There were 62 exhibits in all and these included an Indian tiger, a leopard, skins and tusks – these have been moved into storage. The blood-red walls have been painted white, and a sign outside the Sandringham museum indicates the need to fall in line with changing times which has necessitated end for some exhibits.
The museum had opened in 1928 to house George V’s collection of ‘big game trophies’, but, in the world of today, the gun has been replaced by the camera to capture the beauties of wild animals.
It may be recalled that Prince William had denounced the illegal wildlife trade in ivory, rhino horn and endangered animal parts during a speech in Washington DC. And, he had also called for the Royal Family’s ivory collection to be destroyed.

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Terrorists in central Africa poach elephants from the air and saw off their tusks

#elephantpoaching #garamba #LRA #ivory #tusks Elephant poaching by terrorists in central Africa is assuming unimaginable proportions – reports in foxnews.com dated 3 February 2015 indicate that the extremist groups shoot the animals from helicopters and then use chainsaws to saw off their valuable tusks.
As per information, in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a total of 131 elephants were slaughtered since last April.
Poachers normally relied on “low technology,” and used to kill one or two elephants at a time. However, with the emergence of heavily armed groups like the Lord’s Resistance Army and Al Shabaab, right now the count is up to eight animals at a time. The tusks are then sold on the black market to be converted into luxury goods in places like China.
It seems the Lord’s Resistance Army, which is a vicious guerilla group, is the biggest offender. Elephant poaching has helped to breathe new life into the militant group. Ivory trafficked through Sudanese-held territory, apart from gold and diamonds, has become a major source of financing for this group.
As per rough estimates, nearly 100 elephants are killed across Central Africa every day for their ivory tusks. In 2012 around 35,000 elephants were believed to have been killed by poachers. As a result, the elephant population is on the decline – it has reduced more than 50 percent in the last 30 years.