Up to 35,000 elephants and 434 rhinos were slaughtered for their ivory in 2012 alone. As the ivory trade is booming and one rhino horn is worth 40,000 dollars on the black market, these intelligent animals are being brought (and bought) closer to extinction every day. In the 1950s, as many as 3-5 million elephants roamed the African savannah freely. But in the wake of intensive hunting for ivory, elephant numbers plummeted dramatically, and population decreased by as much as 85%. The bloody carcasses of elephants and rhinos now fill African forests and savannahs, and despite efforts from rangers to protect these peaceful animals, greed continues to wipe them out.
In 1989, CITES passed a ban on international ivory trade to combat the massive illegal trade. As the ban came into force, many major ivory markets were wiped out, and elephant population began to recover in some areas. However in countries with dramatically under-funded wildlife conservation authorities that are unable to cope with the relentless poaching, the slaughter continues. The battle between the hunger for money-no matter how bloody it is-and the preservation of nature is massive, and in the grand scheme, the latter is invariably losing. Turn the tables, take action, and stop the ivory trade!
