$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.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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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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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.