Death god stalks African elephants

The fate of African elephants is becoming the most fragile in the last 20 years due to the reckless and aggressive activities of poachers.

The corpses of three elephants were piled up together in the scorching heat of Kenya. In a panic, surely the elephants clumped together to find safety. A thick black stain helped people find the place where they took their last breath, the BBC reported.

Nine elephants were killed outside Tsavo National Park, southeastern Kenya, last month. This month, a group of 12 elephants were shot dead in the area. In both massacres, the elephant's face was slashed for ivory; maggots, flies and mosquitoes cover the rest.

'It is a big number for a single incident. We have not seen the same incident in recent years, even before I joined the wildlife protection force , 'said Samuel Takore, a member of Kenya Wildlife Protection Force ( KWS) comment.

Mr. Takore worked in Tsavo National Park in the 1980s. His stories show a more general trend: throughout Africa, elephant hunting is at its highest level in the last 20 years. .

In the 1980s, more than half of African elephants were wiped out. Most of them died from elephant poachers.

The bodies of three elephants were murdered by poachers in mid-January in Kenya. (Photo: BBC)

But in January 1990, many countries around the world signed an international ban on trade in ivory. Demand for ivory in the world is reduced thanks to a worldwide awareness campaign. The number of elephants has started to rise again. However, in recent years, these developments have been reversed.

Conservationists estimate that 25,000 elephants were murdered in 2011. People are still comparing data in 2012, but this figure will certainly be higher.

Advocates for elephant protection are blaming China.

'China is a major consumer of ivory in the world,' said Dr Esmond Martin, a research and conservation expert who has been tracking illegal trade in ivory worldwide for decades. determined.

Recently, he returned to Nigeria, where he conducted a tour of the ivory trade in Lagos City. His findings were startling.

Martin and his colleagues counted more than 14,000 ivory or ivory products in the Lekki market, Lagos city.

In the previous survey in 2002 at the market, they discovered about 4,000 items of ivory. Thus, this number has tripled in 10 years.

The results of the survey show that Nigeria is central to the illegal trade of African ivory.

In 2011, the Nigerian government issued a strict ban to control ivory trade. Displaying, advertising, buying or selling ivory are all illegal acts.

However, according to Dr. Martin, Lagos has become the largest illegal ivory retail market in Africa.

'Ivory is transported by many roads from East Africa, from Kenya to Nigeria. Nigerians export ivory to China. Neighboring countries export a variety of ivory items to Nigeria. Therefore, this is a centralized and distributed center of ivory as well as products from them , 'he said.