Horns and Tusks

Illegal Poaching

And

Wildlife Trade

ELEPHANT AND RHINO POACHING IS ON THE RISE

Loxodonta Africana

in Kenya, 2010 - 2012

Ceratotherium Simum

in South Africa, 2010 - 2012

ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE

African ivory is sold at $200 an ounce, which makes $1.44 a year in trade.

billion

Elephant Ivory Seized

The targets are the elephants’ tusks, made of ivory that can be shipped abroad and sold for more than $1,000 per pound in rapidly growing Asian markets.

In Garamba National Park in the northeastern corner of Congo, thousands of elephants are being killed for their tusks.

Wildlife trafficking is valued at $7-$10 billion a year, making it the fifth most lucrative illegal activity after the drug trade, human trafficking, oil theft and counterfeiting.

Rhino horn has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. It is classified as a ‘heat-clearing’ drug and was typically combined with other medicinal ingredients to treat a variety of ailments from fevers to convulsions and epilepsy.

Trade of rhino horn has a centuries-old history in China, where it is used as medicine and for jewelry.

HUNTING METHODS

The most common poaching gun in east Africa is the AK47. Increasingly poachers spot elephant herds from helicopter and target their prey from above. On-the-ground poachers have been known to use machetes, spears and watermelons spiked with cyanide.

How Can You Help

BE RESPONSIBLE

Don't buy ivory products. Illegal trade in elephant ivory is a continuing problem, posing one of the greatest threats to elephants today.

Ask questions and get the facts before buying any wildlife or plant product.

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Sources:

http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/rhinoceros

http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/elephant

http://www.soselephants.org/about_elephants.html

http://science.time.com/2013/09/26/at-cgi-a-commitment-to-stop-the-bloody-slaughter-of-african-elephants/

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/rhinoceros-rhino-horn-use-fact-vs-fiction/1178/

http://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/tackling_the_demand_for_rhino_horn

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iv-drip/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-elephant-poaching-8983276.html

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/elephants/african_elephants/

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/african_rhinos/white_rhinoceros/

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/15/world/africa/rhino-horn-trade/index.html