200 Elephants Poached in Africa

Poachers have killed 200 wild elephants in the last five weeks said wildlife activists. They were poached for their tusks in Cameroon, though the number of elephants in this nation is very low. In 2007 it was estimated there were only 1,000 to 5,000 remaining in the wild. A number of elephant calves have been orphaned due to the loss of their parents, and they also could die. Some have been spotted in Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park.

“The ivory is smuggled out of West and Central Africa for markets in Asia and Europe, and the money it raises funds arms purchases for use in regional conflicts, particularly ongoing unrest in Sudan and in the Central African Republic,” said an official from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. (Source: Boston.com) IFAW was founded in 1969 and now has projects in over forty countries. They work to save animals and their habitats from destruction just as poaching and habitat loss.

A person would have to be very uninformed in this day of huge numbers of elephants losing their lives for the ivory trade, to purchase any ivory products. Isn’t the ivory used only for rather frivolous trinkets also? Why should elephants die so consumers in foreign countries can have a rather pointless impulse purchase for an object they put on a shelf and probably quickly forget about rather quickly?

In December about 14-15 tons of elephant tusks were confiscated by authorities in Malaysia. It has been noted recently this nation could be sort of a distribution point for illegal ivory headed for Asian nations.

Image Credit: Charlesjsharp

Related Links

$100 Million for Elephants

Elephants Decline 50% in the Congo

Read more: Conscious Consumer, Nature & Wildlife, Wildlife

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Ans W.

1:11PM PDT on Mar 26, 2012

‎"The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be determined by the ways it treats it's animals."
Mahatma Gandhi

send a green star

Eternal G.

5:27PM PDT on Mar 18, 2012

GODVERDOMME!!!!!!!!!

Sarah M.

5:31PM PST on Mar 4, 2012

This is so terrible! Why?!

Salina L.

8:43AM PST on Feb 25, 2012

Happy EVERY Day Honey!..Are you still single?? it's the most effective site in the world to connect with, date and marry rich, whiteand black and big people.. It's worthy a try. M`i`x`e`d`s`i`n`g`l`e.'C O M -Ｔｈｅ　ｂｅｓｔ　c o m m u n I ty　ｆｏｒ　ｓｅｅｋｉｎｇ　bi s e x u a l and b I –c u r Io u s In d I v I d u a ls 　 You’ll find hundreds of thousands of open-minded singles & couples looking to explore their bisexuality.．Join it right now and have fun…join! it is so nice

Cindy B.

6:57PM PST on Feb 24, 2012

As the world becomes more difficult, complex, specialized, corrupt, competitive and depleted, more and more people will fall by the wayside, lose their ability to survive, lose their habitat and/or food/water sources... There is absolutely nothing the world can or will do about it -- considering global warming, the global economic crisis and other massive, multifaceted crises that demand global agreement, cooperation and mobilization that simply isn't forthcoming.

And so, we may as well resign ourselves to this: Nobody is gonna care about anything. People will do terrible things to survive and compete, and there won't be enough money/resources to stop them. IT'S GONNA BE EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND THE DOLLAR WILL REIGN SUPREME. THEREFORE THE NATURAL PLANET, ALL THE WONDERFUL ANIMALS IN IT, AND THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL AND UNCORRUPTED HUMAN SYSTEMS WILL ALL BECOME HISTORY.

And so: beautiful, intelligent and sensitive elephants will continue to be slaughtered wholesale as long as the Chinese are willing to pay thousands of dollars per tusk to poor ignorant farmers with umpteen hungry kids 'cuz they just can't figure out how to put a cork in Mr. Happy.

I've given up being outraged and now just feel grateful that I am kinda old and before the worst of it comes I'll be dead.

Humans are a very stupid species, very flawed. And Malthus was totally right, of course.

Paula B.

9:21AM PST on Feb 23, 2012

jus reading the title makes me sad. Elephants are so majestic

Janet K.

10:09PM PST on Feb 22, 2012

Heartbreaking!

Catalina D.

6:25PM PST on Feb 22, 2012

where are the authorities!!!!! they suposse to be protecting these magnificent animals!

Alex M.

6:16PM PST on Feb 22, 2012

I totally agree with Virginia E. Elephants have brought us a lot of help for centuries. Look at Thailand. It's their national symbol for their help from lifting logs to transporting tourists. Now, I can't even tell you how sick I am being human just because humans are like betraying these magnificent giants by killing them just for their tusks. All for human benefit, nothing else.

Darla G.

6:11PM PST on Feb 22, 2012

It breaks my heart that these smart and sensitive animals are being killed for something totally unnecessary (tusks). The poor babies see their mothers murdered - I'm sure it's something they remember their entire lives. It's horrific.