Habitat loss and the demand for ivory are the two main threats elephants face. Being such large animals they need a lot of land to live on. As the population increases, homes for elephants are harder and harder to come by. Regardless of the international ban on the ivory trade, there is still a demand for ivory. This leads to many elephants being killed for their tusks.
The protected areas for elephants unfortunately are just not large enough to sustain the largest land mammal in the world. As the human population continues to climb, the demand for land also increases. A majority of this land is being used for agricultural purposes, meaning there is in growth in the number of interactions between humans and elephants. Elephants sometimes venture onto farms and damage farmer’s crops or in extreme cases even kill people. Farmers, as you can imagine, are not very happy about this and sometimes kill the elephants in revenge.
More threatening than habitat loss is the ivory trade. “Tens of thousands of elephants are being killed every year for their ivory tusks.” (Elephants, WWF Conserves our Planet). Jewelry and ornaments are the most common uses of ivory and China has the biggest market for these products. In Asia, only male elephants have tusks so the poaching in this area is focused on males only.
The ban on the international trade of ivory was first introduced in 1989 by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Before this there was no regulation so there was an estimated 100,000 elephants being poached every year. Around 80% of herds were lost in some regions due to the high demand of ivory.
The ban has helped some herds recover but there still is more work that needs to be done. Recently, there has been an expansion in poaching and illegal ivory trade. The anti-poaching efforts are not sufficient enough to end the illegal trade. Weak law enforcement and corruption are also reversing the efforts that have been done to stop poaching in some countries.
Here is a video that talks a little more in depth about the ivory trade:
Other threats that face elephants include the huge industry of tourism. In Thailand, you may have heard about elephants being a form of transportation in the city. This is very bad for the elephants to be taken out of their homes into a city full of cars and trains. People travel to Thailand to ride elephants, and while some of these places are ethical in the way they treat their elephants, many are not. This is a subject I will speak more about in a later blog post.
In Myanmar, more commonly known as Burma, elephants are caught and traded each year for the timber industry. Some of the tactics people use to catch elephants can also lead to death for the elephants. There are efforts being made however to encourage captive breeding rather than just taking elephants from the wild.
So what are some solutions to all these threats? Organizations such as Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) are working hard to reduce ivory trafficking and protect elephant habitats. Spreading awareness of this issue will also help consumers be smarter about the way they purchase ivory products and hopefully reduce the number of illegal killings.
Next week I will talk about elephants in captivity.
kamoon the elephant 