Our World

Elephant poaching is a rising concern

NationalGeographic.com recently published an article concerning the rising illegal market of ivory in Africa. Researchers walked through a market in Luanda, Angola and identified enough ivory to account for the deaths of 250 elephants. This becomes even more staggering when one notes that the estimated number of elephants in Angola is only 240. Many assume that the ivory is being smuggled in from nearby countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. The reason Angola has such a large market for ivory is that it is not part of the CITES program as all of the other countries with elephants are. This organization monitors the illegal sale of protected species. I don’t find it fair that a country such as Angola won’t accept this organization and as a result is hurting not only its own elephant population but that of other countries who are trying to protect them. I think that more global pressure should be put on Angola to accept the CITES organization and hopefully help slow the illegal poaching of elephants. Another thing that is causing an increase in poaching is a high demand for ivory from the eastern region most notably China. In these markets ivory can go for as high as $750 per kilogram. This demand is doing substantial damage to the elephant population. More security should be put in place to stop the sale of this item and an effort should be made by China to discourage the high demand. If something isn’t done soon we will see the population of this amazing species continue to decrease in many African counties, and I find this extremely sad.

posted by Anonymous @ 10/30/2006 04:45:00 PM