Elephants & The Ivory Trade: The African elephant has been hunted by past and present civilizations both for its meat and for the ivory of its tusks. Two different grades of ivory can be found in Africa: bush elephants have shorter, more curved tusks that are softer, while the tusks of forest elephants are longer , straighter, and harder. Throughout centuries, ivory has been used in a variety of ways, for knife handles, billiard balls, bangles, spear tips, and fish hooks.

As trade routes were established throughout Africa in the Middle Ages, elephants were increasingly hunted for their ivory. Traders on camels transported tusks across North Africa and, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, slaves were used to carry the raw ivory for central, southern, and western Africa to coastal ports for export to Europe and the Far East.

In this century, some of the heaviest elephant losses accurred between 1970 and 1977, when Kenya lost more than 60,000 of its 120,000 elephants chiefly through slaughter and poaching. Such great losses prompted many African states to ban commercial ivory trading. Some people argue, however, that a commercial ban will simply increase the black market value of ivory and increase the illegal trade.

Poachers: Poaching is a serious problem, and many poachers are more intent than ever, despite severe penalties, to obtain ivory. In addition to killing elephants with firearms, grenades, or poisoned arrows, poachers also lace watering holes with insecticides, killing elephants and any other animal that drink there.  Poaching teams enter protected areas after dark. They work fast to avoid being shot by the wardens that guard the park borders. To remove the tusks from an elephant carcass, they must hack away much of the skull.

Habitat Loss: Elephants are sociable animals. They form close family units led by a female, called a cow. Bulls leave the family group when they mature, returning only to breed. Elephants naturally forage over a huge area. Prolonged drought or loss of habitat may force families to migrate in large herds, sometimes over hundreds of miles, to find new feeding and watering grounds. In the process, they often move onto agricultural development and trample crops, which makes them pests to residents and farmers.

Local conservation departments attempt to drive them back to their former habitats, but this is usually unsuccessful. In 1974, four fifths of Rwanda's elephants were shot because they could not be controlled. Land development, too, is continually increasing. Land used for cattle grazing and for growing maize and coffee crops infringes upon the elephants habitat, as do new housing and roads. Still, space remains for African Elephants to roam in the wild, provided that poaching stops.

Threats facing the elephants:
Route habitually used by elephants migrating or leaving barren habitat.
New land development obstructs elephants usual route; elephants trample farmland. This often results in their being shot by farmers.
Forced from their usual feeding grounds, elephants enter overcrowded national parks, and may eventually starve there.
Poachers are everywhere, operating even inside national parks.

Conservation Measures: The survival of the African elephant depends on three condition: safety from poachers, availability of habitat, and public awareness of the elephants plight.

Stopping the Ivory Trade: The majority of conservationists agree that the most important step in protecting elephants is to stop the illegal commercial ivory trade. The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, or CITES, monitors trade in all endangered species and their produces and, before the commercial trade ban in 1989, sought to control the legal ivory trade.  Enforcing the ban on the commercial trade of ivory is very difficult for several reasons. The value of ivory increased so drastically in the 1970' was, reaching the price, in weight, of gold, that it is now used illegally as hard currency. Also, traders smuggle uncut ivory from the filling grounds, usually through African countries that are not members of CITES, so false papers may be supplied in place of legal CITES permits.  Still, despite the persistence of ivory are becoming more effective. Between 1985 and 1988, the annual turnover of the ivory trade fell for 700 to 200 tons.

Establishing Game Reserves: Elephants have more protection from poachers if they are in game reserves, such as the Charger National Park in South Africa. Highly trained and fully armed game wardens are needed to watch over the reserves, to monitor herd movements, and to patrol the borders where poachers enter the reserve illegally.

How Can You Help: The most important thing you can do is to refuse to buy or accept ivory in any form, and to explain why to retailers and friends. By educating people about the role of the ivory trade in the destruction of African elephants, you can help to ensure their preservation.

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