New initiatives generate hope for the end of elephant poaching
By ALEXIS BENVENISTE
The human desire for ivory has always existed, and as long as the demand remains, elephants will continue to be poached for their tusks. While poaching has always been a prominent issue, the elephant poaching rate has recently increased, and now it is higher than ever. The elephant poaching issue is clearly indicated by the alarming decrease in the elephant population throughout the years. The population has decreased from 26 million elephants in 1800 to fewer than one million elephants today.
While the elephants are clearly experiencing the most negative impact from this practice, poaching is also effecting the vulture population in Africa. Poachers poison the elephant carcasses after they kill them, and this means a lack of food for the vultures, pushing the vulture population closer to extinction.
Recently, scientists have been able to identify and locate poaching hotspots through a matching process that links the DNA fingerprint of seized ivory to find DNA profiles from the feces of elephants living throughout the continent. After analyzing the DNA, researchers found that poaching was the biggest problem in Tanzania and nearby parts of Mozambique.
Although the poaching is the biggest issue in those two areas, other countries such as China are facing elephant poaching issues, as well. China has recognized the issue and taken steps towards eliminating elephant poaching in the country.
While the issue is extremely prominent in African countries, some African communities are beginning to take action in an effort to decrease poaching rates and put an end to poaching altogether.
In Tanzania, tracker dogs are trained to lead game scouts to armed poachers. Last fall, the tracker dogs led game scouts to a group of armed poachers who were on the run after shooting and killing a well-known elephant just outside of Tarangire National Park. The tracker dogs in Tanzania have led many other successful operations, so the process is proving to be helpful and effective in preventing poaching in East Africa.
Damien Bell, the director of Big Life Tanzania, the conservation organization that manages the Big Life Tracker Dog Unit, said:
"Apart from their incredible tracking abilities, dogs are wonderful to work with because they don't have any political agenda—they can't be compromised."
American's are also taking a stance to end elephant poaching. Recently, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe and U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell crushed more than a ton of confiscated illegal ivory in Times Square in an effort to end elephant poaching and ivory trafficking.
While elephant poaching continues to be an issue, the first step to stopping it altogether is understanding the issue and it's impact on the elephants and our ecosystem.
See the gallery below for pictures of other endangered species:
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