Save the Elephants

Elephant poaching is a problem that is becoming increasingly worse, unfortunately, it is a problem that doesn’t hit home for most people. It is easy to brush it off and think it will solve itself, or that there is nothing that can be done, but that is far from true.

For those who do not know, poaching is the illegal hunting of an animal for any reason. Even though hunting elephants is illegal, it occurs thousands of times a year, simply because an elephant's tusk is very valuable. Elephants' tusks are made of ivory, and each tusk could easily sell for $200,000 or more, depending on the size of the tusk. The transport of ivory is being better regulated, but there are still many ways to obtain and sell ivory illegally, without being caught.

Unfortunately, elephant poachers are becoming more vicious with their attacks. The elephants are tracked and hunted for days by poachers. Some poachers have even taken to harming the people trying to protect the elephants.

In 2012 alone, more than sixty park rangers have been murdered by poachers while trying to protect the elephants. This has to be stopped. Even one ranger being killed is too many. These poachers have been given the feeling that they are above the law, but thankfully, members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are proving to them that they are not.

Members of the IUCN are pushing a new motion that will provide protection for the rangers, more funding to get an adequate number of rangers to protect the elephants, and help educate people about their cause. The IUCN also hopes to get more help from legal officials so they can penetrate an ivory smuggling ring.

The IUCN recently launched a new website, Elephants in Peril, which promotes their cause and has lots of great information about the war against elephant poaching.