IVORY BELONGS TO ELEPHANTS

Perhaps one of the most iconic land mammals on the planet, the elephant is one of the most distinguishable animals on earth. These mammals are believed to have been roaming the earth for thousands of years but in the 20th century large demands for ivory and a massive increase in ivory trade has led to the drastic decline in population . This has affected the two main species of elephants which are the African elephant and Asian elephant.

African elephants weigh up to 8 tonnes while their counterparts the Asian elephants are much smaller. The ears of Asian elephants are flat at the bottom while African elephant ears are fan-shaped. Only some male Asian elephants have tusks while for African elephants both males and females have tusks.

Elephants are herbivorous ,found in different habitats including Savannah, forest, deserts and marshes. They are a keystone species due to the impact they have on the environment. Elephants stay in family groups led by a female called a matriarch who is often the oldest. Males (bulls) leave their family groups at puberty in such of a mate. Elephants communicate by touch,smell and infra-sound which travels over long distances. The average life span for elephants in the wild is approximately 70 years.

Previously it was thought that there was only one species of African elephants but new scientific research has come to prove that there are two species of African elephants. The larger Savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) which roams grassy plains and woodlands and the smaller forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), which leaves in the equatorial forests of central and western Africa.

There are 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with elephant populations.Savannah elephants are found primarily in Eastern Africa (8 countries) and Southern Africa with forest elephants living mainly in the Congo basin of Central Africa (7 countries). West Africa (13 countries) has both Savannah and forest elephants with some uncertainty over the exact taxonomic status of individual populations in areas of distribution overlap.

Closer home the map below shows elephant distribution in the country.

Despite the majestic nature of these creatures they posses a very lucrative resource in the name of ivory. African elephants are mostly targeted more than Asian elephants because both male and female African elephants have tusks and which are larger in size therefore ensuring a higher price based on the weight of the ivory.

Illegal killing of elephants for ivory decimates global populations . Estimates indicate that each year poachers slaughter close to 20,000 elephants , mostly for their tusks. Fueling this rampant poaching is the demand for ivory in East Asia, South East Asia with the greatest demand in China , Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Wildlife direct ,KWS and other organisations are working to shut down illegal markets in Thailand and help end the legal ivory trade in China.

Given there are a number of organisations working for protection of elephants i will mostly focus on Wildlife direct(Kenya), Elephant Conservation Fund(Africa) and World Wide Fund for Nature(Kenya) . However notable mention should be given to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) which is the legal enforcer of all matters to do with wildlife conservation therefore partnership with them is essential for all other non-governmental wildlife organisations.

The wildlife direct , previously called "Africa Conservation Fund" was founded in 2006 by Dr.Richard Leakey who was a prominent Kenyan conservationist and a former World bank representative to Kenya , Harold Wackman.

Following the mass poaching of elephants wildlife direct launched " hands off our elephants" which is a flagship project for the conservation of elephants.

The hand off our elephants campaign has generated massive public and political awareness and support for protection of elephants. Since its inception in 2013 elephant poaching in Kenya has declined by 80%.

The government failure to acknowledge the crisis of rapid escalation of elephant poaching was the major reason for the start of the campaign as well as ineffective laws and inadequate anti-poaching efforts.

before 2014 the most severe penalty for convicted poachers was ksh 40,000 and less than 4% of offenders were convicted. This was due to poor investigations , inadequate technology to chemically analyse samples from ivory confiscated from poachers leading to poor trials and convictions mostly due to insufficient evidence.

In 2014 president Uhuru Kenyatta signed new laws which had the most severe penalties for wildlife crimes in the world. A new watchdog system supported by Elephant crisis Fund (ECF) in kenya`s courtrooms has now led to multiple life sentences and fines up to $225,000.

ECF is a joint initiative between Save The Elephants(STE) and Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) focused on ending ivory poaching crisis by bringing partners to address issues strategically . ECF identifies and funds high priority projects to stop poaching, trafficking and end the demand for ivory through NGO`S, media ,leaders and goverments.

Over the recent years poaching of elephants for ivory has risen to historical levels. In 2013 alone atleast 33,000 elephants were illegally killed. That translates to one elephant every 16 minutes. ECF has made powerful impacts to stop poachers, dismantling smuggling rings and ending markets for ivory through partner collaboration. The strategy for ECF is

Anti poaching: Reduce poaching of elephants across Africa through deployment of anti-poaching teams , providing supplies and transport to support these teams in the field and innovative community engagement to support anti-poaching efforts.

Anti-trafficking; Reduce trafficking of ivory at national, regional and global scales through judicial reforms and anti-trafficking tools such as detection dogs and forensic technology.

Demand reduction: Decrease demand for ivory in Asia through targeted media outreach, international and national policy work and by influencing key governments and decision makers.

Wildlife direct on the other hand has also identified three strategies to secure kenya`s wildlife:

Strengthening the rule of law: Enacting new legislation, ensuring compliance, transparency and accountability for elephants, ivory and all stages of judicial chain. They ensure this through a strategy named "eyes in the courtroom"which tracks all wildlife related trials in Kenya.

Education and outreach: Mobilizing public opinion to win hearts and minds of Kenyans in support of elephant and wildlife conservation.

Community development: Working with communities to develop conservation strategies to benefit them.

WWF which is one of the largest and most experienced independent conservation organisation has also developed an elephant program to help in their conservation.

The main strategies of the program include:

Implementation of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Technology( SMART). This involves equipment and training in order to monitor the impact of our investment in enforcement and monitor progressively the trend of poaching in elephant priority landscapes.

Implementation of new technology on Human Wildlife Conflict

Advocacy for the endorsement and the implementation of the PANAFRICAN strategy for the control of illegal wildlife trade.

Protection of the elephants is not just the duty of organisations but us the citizens as well. By participating in programs, volunteering, taking part in walks ,signing pledges for protection of wildlife and elephants in particular ,donating funds to various wildlife organisations and projects, adopting an elephant and visiting elephant orphanages such as David Sheldrick we will be helping to protect them. It is about time we take responsibility of protecting these majestic beasts through our own actions.

As mentioned earlier elephants are a keystone species. This is because elephants play a keystone role in shaping forests, woodlands and Savannah , creating spatial heterogeneity and landscape-level diversity, dispersing seeds and facilitating access to water for a range of other species. The loss of such keystone fauna from ecosystems could have long-lasting negative effects on the ecological structure and function. When confined by artificial barriers such as fences or land uses which block movement corridors this habitat modification role may be seen as locally excessive in relation to the conservation of desirable plant and animal species. Attention should therefore be given to elephants not only to protect them but so as to ensure other plant and animal species that benefit from their role survive as well.

Extinction is here with us ,action needs to be taken.

Below is powerful video documentary on elephants in Botswana done by national geographic for your enjoyment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXdtFptuOGg