Good news: elephant slaughter down. Bad news: they still face total doom
- In 2011, poachers in Africa killed some 40,000 tuskers. Last year, the kill rate was about 15,000
- On current trends, the African elephant is in danger of being ‘virtually wiped out’, researchers say
The illegal slaughter of African elephants to feed Asia’s demand for ivory has decreased by more than half in eight years, but the majestic mammals are still threatened with extinction, researchers warned.
In 2011, poachers killed some 40,000 tuskers – about 10 per cent of the continent’s population, according to figures from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), based in Geneva.
Last year the kill rate was about four per cent, or 15,000 animals, according to new research published in Nature Communications.
“We are seeing a downturn in poaching, but it is still above what we think is sustainable,” co-author Colin Beale, a conservation biologist at the University of York, said.
On current trends, the African elephant is in danger of being “virtually wiped out”, surviving only in small, heavily protected pockets, he said.
