Elephants risk extinction as poacher's greed escalates
An estimated 23 000 elephants are killed each year for ivory.
Despite a global ban on the sale of ivory since 1989, more than 23 tonnes of illegal ivory were seized between August 2005 and August last year, though scientists think this figure could be up to ten times larger. Worryingly up to 5% of Africa's elephants were slaughtered last year, scientists believe that poaching of African elephants has returned on a scale unseen for decades and if continued would certainly lead to extinction of many regional populations.
Dr Wasser of the University of Washington in Seattle has been conducting research in this area, and published the report, places the reason for the growing trend down to increasing demand in the Far East and the involvment of organised crime. He said recently on the topic "Our only hope we have of stopping it is to stop the ivory at the source, because once its in the international market, the trade is very hard to stop," and " policing this trafficking has been hampered by the inability to reliably determine geographic origin of contraband ivory."
Help is needed for countries like Zambia, to deal with the organised crime driving this market and trade. Dr Wasser's team have discovered a contraband of savannah elephant tusks, originating from the narrow east - west band of Sourthern Africa, centered around Zambia. Some of the tusks weighed up to 11kg, twice the weight normally seen on the black market, indicating they came from a large number of older animals.
The demand of ivory is the main driving force behind the growth of the industry, suggesting the blame should be placed perhaps with the buyers rather than the poachers. A particularly major boosting factor to the trade has been the growth in the Far east, Asian and especially Chinese economies. The price of a kilogram of good quality ivory doubled from $100 in 1989 to $200 in 2004, but worse still last year the price of a smuggled kilogram raised to $750, which would only act to increase the incentive for poachers.
Dr Wasser of the University of Washington in Seattle has been conducting research in this area, and published the report, places the reason for the growing trend down to increasing demand in the Far East and the involvment of organised crime. He said recently on the topic "Our only hope we have of stopping it is to stop the ivory at the source, because once its in the international market, the trade is very hard to stop," and " policing this trafficking has been hampered by the inability to reliably determine geographic origin of contraband ivory."
Help is needed for countries like Zambia, to deal with the organised crime driving this market and trade. Dr Wasser's team have discovered a contraband of savannah elephant tusks, originating from the narrow east - west band of Sourthern Africa, centered around Zambia. Some of the tusks weighed up to 11kg, twice the weight normally seen on the black market, indicating they came from a large number of older animals.
The demand of ivory is the main driving force behind the growth of the industry, suggesting the blame should be placed perhaps with the buyers rather than the poachers. A particularly major boosting factor to the trade has been the growth in the Far east, Asian and especially Chinese economies. The price of a kilogram of good quality ivory doubled from $100 in 1989 to $200 in 2004, but worse still last year the price of a smuggled kilogram raised to $750, which would only act to increase the incentive for poachers.