I was saddened to read this article about the plight of the African elephants, in Telegraph, UK. If urgent steps are not immediately implemented the animals could be gone in another 15 years time. What a shame.
The population of African elephants currently standing at 600,000, is diminishing at the rate of 38,000 each year. This clearly exceeds the birth rates. In 2006 alone 11 metric tonnes of illegal ivory were seized from ships bound for Taiwan and Japan. Chad’s Zakouma National Park had 3,885 elephants in 2005 but by 2009 the figure had come down to 617. 11 rangers were killed by poachers during the same period.
Stopping the legal ivory sales worldwide is must if we are to come out of this vortex. Kenya’s proposal to extend the current “resting period” on elephant and ivory sales from nine to 20 years at the next CITES meeting in March 2010 should also be actively pursued.
Tahrcountry exhorts environmentalists’ worldwide to raise their voice.
1 comment:
It is really very sad to see the numbers diminishing ....
Ivory sales is still frolicking....
The government seems unable to put it on hold.
Pity a rich country like Africa , in terms of teeming biodiversity, is being manhandled by a bunch of people who don't know what their country is worth.
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