You would be surprised to know that this is very much true. It’s the middlemen and not the poachers who profit as much from the ivory tusks of killed African elephants. Greed and not poverty is pushing poachers to kill!

Zakouma, a remote region of southern Chad after Michael Fay’s efforts has formed a Zakouma wildlife refuge for elephants. However, poachers still try their luck at a kill during the rainy season when elephants drift beyond the rough-hewn boundaries of the refuge in search of food.

Conservationist Michael Fay is campaigning to save African elephants. With backing from the National Geographic Society and the Wildlife Conservation Society back in the U.S., he now spends much of his time in the African bush.

In the March issue of National Geographic, Fay writes,

Officially, guards are allowed to defend themselves if poachers shoot. Unofficially, it is shoot-to-kill on both sides, so better to be the first to pull the trigger. In the past eight years, six guards have been killed by poachers, and at least six poachers by guards.

The efforts of these guards, who are on the hit list of poachers has paid off. The numbers of the elephants have stopped dwindling. The smart animals seem to know so themselves since except when food shortages send them foraging, they tend to stay in the Zakouma refuge, even though it has no fences.

It is sad that the world market for illegal ivory is huge and growing, even more so after stringent measures under CITES, have driven the price of ivory higher and higher. For starters all of us could help by not coveting carved ivory works to pamper our endless vanity.

Source: ABC News62193