Tracy Horvath
Sustainability Studies student
Uncontrolled hunting of elephants in Africa during the mid-1970’s for their ivory caused widespread devastation. Corruption, politics, war and an inability to enforce poaching laws blocked African governments to stop the killing. Poachers with submachine guns who were backed by military conflicts throughout the continent added to the countries problem of stopping poaching. Government officials and the wife of the former Kenya president were also greedily involved in the devastation of elephants.
Closing the ivory consuming markets was the only chance for the elephant’s survival as 80 to 90 percent of the ivory came from poached elephants. In 1977 the elephant was listed on the endangered species act which banned imports of ivory coming into the country. Tusks of elephants can weigh up to fifty pounds but the bulk of the ivory being sold weighed twenty pounds—this meant that the larger elephants had already been killed. The price of ivory during this time had a lot to do with it. The going price was $30 per pound, a 1,000 percent rise from the price of $2.80 per pound in 1969. It appears greed is alive and well again during the poaching of elephants! These animals suffered awful deaths for their tusks.
I am sickened by this photo which caused some deep emotion for me. What on earth do humans need tusks for? Is it a show of power and prestige or maybe they want something they can’t have and love the game of figuring out how to get it. I personally think the tusks look better on elephants than hanging on someone’s wall!
The data on elephant losses are overwhelming. It is well documented that in Kenya 90 percent of elephants were wiped out, in Zambia, 80 percent and in Mozambique 75 percent. This massive destruction was halted after trade in ivory was banned. Many are working to have the ban lifted and the killing will start again. While researching for this paper I did a Google search on ivory tusks and couldn’t believe the websites that popped up. It appears that ivory tusks of any kind, elephant, walrus and woolly mammoth are popular. Tusks for sale, trade, carving and decorating are available on numerous sites. Why is there demand for this? I’m very tired of greed calling the shots on what animals get to live.
A website shed some light on a rather bleak project, I was overcome with worry and frustration on how one person can make a difference in the lives of these animals but he did. http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/
Leave a Reply