8 Articles found tagged with “poaching”.
Using population estimates from a wide range of sources, including aerial surveys and elephant dung counts, the findings show that estimates for 2015 are 93,000 lower than they were in 2006. The continental total number of elephants is now thought to be about 415,000.
Habitat fragmentation and loss have played their part, but the main threat the giraffes currently face is poaching.
Sadly, poaching remains a problem, not for food but for Chinese traditional medicine. The translucent, foot-long horns belonging to the males are ground into a powder and used for the treatment of headaches and fever, and a pound of powder can fetch US$2,000.
Poachers are decimating their populations to sell ivory to markets in the Far East. The lesser sized, and lesser known, African forest elephants however are also on the brink of becoming poached out of existence.
The illegal trade is now driven by demand from international markets such as the tourist entertainment industry, disreputable zoos and wealthy individuals who see ownership of an exotic pet as a status symbol.
Traditional methods of deterring and punishing the professional poachers are clearly not working, so conservationists are now trying to fight them on a new front – economics.
This increasing demand has further increased poaching in South Africa, home to around 90% of the world’s remaining white rhino population. The level of killing is now reaching record levels.
The driving force behind this rise is the same culprit that is behind the rise in rhino poaching – increasing demand in Asia.