Whenever an elephant is orphaned in Kenya, often as the result of poaching, rangers alert The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust running the orphanage.
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He said: “We have the opportunity to end, once and for all, the mixed messages we have sent for too long about the value and desirability of wildlife products”.
The researchers used computer modeling to create an imaginary elephant herd of 1,360 animals and applied the principles of managed ivory harvesting.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will hold its 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP 17) from 24 September to 5 October 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The number of Africa’s savannah elephants dropped by about 30 per cent from 2007 to 2014 – to 352,000 – because of poaching, according to a United Nations recent study.
It was a deliberate act to shock the world into stopping the slaughter of elephants.
“We are going to review trade controls of close to 500 species of wild animals and plants”. Scientists estimate that 2-3 million African greys were captured from the wild from 1975-2013. But the 18 countries covered by the census now only contain about 350,000 savannah elephants. The current rate of decline is primarily due to poaching for ivory that ends up in China, Thailand, Vietnam and other markets, mainly in the Far East.
While our survey suggests that public education efforts could reduce demand for ivory, as was the case for shark fin, it is not clear public opinion on its own will change fast enough to prevent a further crash in elephant populations.
JOHANNESBURG-Thousands of conservationists and top government officials went into talks in Johannesburg Saturday to thrash out worldwide trade regulations on elephant ivory, rhino horn and hundreds of endangered wild animals and plants.
There are worries that if the elephant question becomes so divisive, it may disrupt attempts to protect other, less glamorous species such as pangolins and the African Grey parrot.
Now, the global ban on ivory trade is set to end, putting the dwindling population of elephants and rhinoceros at further risk.
Selling ivory from elephants which died of natural causes, they argue, would generate resources to fight poachers. Kenya wants all ivory stockpiles destroyed.
For decades, conservationists and governments have argued over the merits of the 1989 ban.
As the12-day conference got underway, South Africans joined the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos, with more than 120 cities uniting across the globe shifting the focus on the most endangered species across the planet.
Suggestions that legalising the world-wide trade in ivory would reduce poaching have been strongly refuted by experts and economists.
Poaching syndicates shipped large amounts of African elephant ivory past year despite global calls to dismantle the trafficking networks that often collude with corrupt officials, conservationists said as an worldwide wildlife conference opened Saturday in South Africa.
But there is also concern that a stricter ban could backfire if it prompts countries opposing it to enter a so-called reservation, a move allowed by CITES rules.
Environmentalists fear that would encourage poaching on the heels of some success against it.
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The number of wildlife rangers was increased by 500 to about 2,000 previous year, while 105 tons of ivory were set on fire in April. As the number one donor for wildlife conservation with a total support of 24 million Euro covering 71 protected sites in Africa and Asia, the European Union supports the creation and management of protected areas which host the most emblematic species of the African continent.
