Poaching - Blog Posts

Demand for ivory in Asian markets is driving illegal elephant poaching, with China posing the greatest threat.

Elephant populations are in decline throughout Africa largely due to poaching. Poaching is a problem in all regions of Africa, but especially severe in western and central Africa.

Effectively combating rhino poaching means dealing with both supply and demand on a global level.

A recent study looked at the demographics of an elephant population in Samburu, Kenya, and the impact of poaching. This graph shows the annual PIKE, or Proportion of Illegally Killed Elephants. PIKE is calculated as the number of illegally killed (poached) elephant carcasses divided by the total number of elephant carcasses discovered that year. The graph shows a recent dramatic increase in poaching.

The authors state:

Illegal human killing caused over half the recorded mortality in the Samburu elephants over the age of 9 (and indirectly caused the deaths of all victim’s dependent calves under 2 years). The high illegal killing in the latter part of the study had serious ramifications for the structure and organization of the population... the illegal killing appeared to select adult individuals in Samburu and particularly males resulting in increasing skew in the sex ratio over the course of the fourteen year study. Social disruption also resulted, with numerous well known and stable family groups being completely lost (i.e. no surviving breeding females) causing increased numbers of unaffiliated juveniles (orphans)

According to the New York Times, the recent spike in poaching, the greatest in decades, is driven by rising demand for ivory in Asia.