Save the Elephants (STE), recognises the rapidly increasing demand for ivory as a threat to elephant survival. Seizures of illegal ivory, and ivory prices reached an all time high worldwide in 2011, accompanied by record levels of illegal killing of elephants in the four regions of Africa, which continues to escalate in 2012. A major increase in poaching has been reported from study sites in East Africa, symptomatic of an Africa wide problem. Governments, conservationists and the general public need to react fast to counter, with new ideas, this poaching surge both at the demand level and in the field.

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Poaching

Black ivory

Last year was dreadful for African elephants. This year may be worse

Mar 10th 2012 | from the print edition

IT IS a bad time to be an elephant, particularly in Africa. Almost 24 tonnes of illegally harvested ivory were seized by investigators in 2011—the largest haul since records began in 1990 and more than twice the amount in 2010. Traffic, a wildlife watchdog, reckons around 2,500 elephants must have died to produce so much ivory. This year could be worse. More than 200 elephants were killed in a single state of Cameroon in the first six weeks of 2012.

“Educating Chinese shoppers about the bloody origins of their purchase would help. There is currently an advertising campaign in China to do so. It features Chinese celebrities, like Yao Ming, a basketball star, and Ding Junhui, a snooker player, urging people not to buy products from endangered species. “When the buying stops,” they say, “the killing can too.”

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Founder, Save the Elephants

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