Animal rights groups have estimated that over 100 elephants are killed everyday by poachers. Poachers are bringing the elephant population close to extinction, the population has decreased by 50% in the last 35 years. Poachers are illegally killing elephants in Africa and Asia to use their ivory for objects such as piano keys and billiard balls. In 1989, an international ban was put on the ivory trade. The ban made it legal to trade in one’s own country, but illegal to export the ivory to other countries. Even with the ban, tourists buy ivory trinkets when visiting Africa and Asia, and some people believe it would be okay to export some ivory to help the economy in Africa. Ivory poaching should be stopped due to animal cruelty, extinction,
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The number of elephants worldwide has dropped by 62% over the last decade and they can be extinct within the next decade. Over 100 African elephants are killed everyday by poachers who are looking to take their ivory, meat, and body parts, today there are only 400,000 remaining. These poachers are tearing apart these herds and families of elephants so that they can have more money than they would know what to do with. The demand for ivory is now higher than ever, so the illegal ivory trade is more profitable that it has ever been. With such a high demand, poachers have killed tens of thousands of elephants to satisfy the illegal black market. Some people think that we should make ivory trade legal, to cut down on elephant deaths and help the African economy. But if we made ivory trade legal it would only increase the elephant death rate, because it would be legal and not a lot of people would be scared to kill elephants. If the ivory trade became legal, everyone would start to kill these animals, because there wouldn’t be the fear of being caught. Right now the rate of elephant deaths is so high that the world is losing more elephants than it can reproduce, they can’t even mate fast enough to keep up with the death rate. The bull, male elephants, have the biggest tusks, so they are the main targets and their numbers have now decreased to half of the females. The female elephants also have large tusks and with their numbers also rapidly decreasing, there are more orphans now than ever. When the orphans are left alone, they can not reproduce and rebuild the herd until they are at least 14 to 15 years-old. Even when the elephants can start to reproduce, they stay pregnant for 22 months and can only carry one calf at a time. Soon African elephants will be extinct if we don’t find a way to stop illegal ivory poaching. Researchers have stated that because everyone is eating with
The number of elephants worldwide has dropped by 62% over the last decade and they can be extinct within the next decade. Over 100 African elephants are killed everyday by poachers who are looking to take their ivory, meat, and body parts, today there are only 400,000 remaining. These poachers are tearing apart these herds and families of elephants so that they can have more money than they would know what to do with. The demand for ivory is now higher than ever, so the illegal ivory trade is more profitable that it has ever been. With such a high demand, poachers have killed tens of thousands of elephants to satisfy the illegal black market. Some people think that we should make ivory trade legal, to cut down on elephant deaths and help the African economy. But if we made ivory trade legal it would only increase the elephant death rate, because it would be legal and not a lot of people would be scared to kill elephants. If the ivory trade became legal, everyone would start to kill these animals, because there wouldn’t be the fear of being caught. Right now the rate of elephant deaths is so high that the world is losing more elephants than it can reproduce, they can’t even mate fast enough to keep up with the death rate. The bull, male elephants, have the biggest tusks, so they are the main targets and their numbers have now decreased to half of the females. The female elephants also have large tusks and with their numbers also rapidly decreasing, there are more orphans now than ever. When the orphans are left alone, they can not reproduce and rebuild the herd until they are at least 14 to 15 years-old. Even when the elephants can start to reproduce, they stay pregnant for 22 months and can only carry one calf at a time. Soon African elephants will be extinct if we don’t find a way to stop illegal ivory poaching. Researchers have stated that because everyone is eating with