"International gangs are making a fortune by slaughtering African elephants and selling their tusks. Tens of thousands of the majestic creatures are being killed every year. The illegal market can be tracked from Tanzania and Kenya north to Cairo, Egypt."
The number of elephants been killed by African poachers are appalling. The elephants are been killed for ivory, which ends up as illegal lucrative merchandise in Cairo, Egypt. The drive behind the trade is money. Wealthy Chinese men buy the ivory for thousands of dollars simply to show status. The interesting part of the story is that even Chinese officials are involved, when ivory is illegal in China. China seems to be increasingly the final destination for African ivory.
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Meghan has posted many blogs about this topic, but it is still so disheartening. This animals should be prized and protected (and are starting to be), but to only put value on them based on their tusks is so sad. I am glad to see that the poaching laws are getting stricter, but still there are still so many that have not been caught.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so sad that this is happening - my heart breaks every time I see an article about this. It's one thing to kill an animal for food or for culturally significant events like rituals or ceremonies. It's completely another to kill them to gain status and popularity in Chinese society. Absolutely pathetic and I hope that these men who own ivory are eventually condemned in their own societies and not just outside societies.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Meghan. It's most bothersome that subsistance isn't a reason behind poaching, but rather its based on the fact that people want the elephant tusks to gain status. In order to change this, we'd have to stop it from its source, which is the popularity in China.
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