China, one of the biggest consumers of ivory product has now imposed a ban on the selling and buying of ivory. As of December 31, 2017, the ivory trade has now become illegal in the country responsible for 70% of the global demand for ivory. While this is certainly a victory in the fight to save African elephants, wildlife researchers estimate that 30,000 African elephants are murdered by poachers every year for their ivory tusks. Poaching dates to the early 1900's, during which wealthy white males would shoot elephants on site, seeing it as the highest representation of their masculinity. Identified as white gold, an ivory frenzy began with elephant tusks being used for items such as combs, brush handles, piano keys, and pool balls. By 1913, the United States was consuming an average of two hundred tons of ivory per year. This came at the expense of the elephant, whose population plummeted from its estimated 26 million in 1800 to then ten million.
President Daniel Moi o Kenya, setting fire to ivory in 1989
By 1979, even the western world began to understand the high consequences of the ivory trade, but the demand for ivory in Asia continued to increase, and by 1989 the elephant population had dwindled to a mere 600,000. Noted anthropologist and conservationist Richard Leaky,who at the time was the director of Wildlife Conservation and Management Department of Kenya, began a campaign to stop the poaching of elephants. He convinced then Kenyan President, Daniel arap Moi, to burn the entire accumulated stock of the country’s ivory. The image stirred human consciousness and the ivory trade was banned world-wide, causing the demand to decline. The elephant population recovered and grew to an estimated one million. Until 2008, when a special sale of stockpiled ivory was allowed, with Japan buying 55 tons of ivory from Zimbabwe and Namibia. This became the catalysts for the reemergence of a rise in elephant poaching that has grown to epidemic proportions. The one time legal sale triggered an increase of 66% in black market elephant ivory.
African Elephant herd at water hole, Kruger National Park image: Clive Reid/Flickr
While China’s ending of the legal ivory trade is certainly promising, calling for 100 percent closure of all licensed carvings and retailers, connections to the ivory trade must be stopped to end the butchery of elephants. This includes all facets, from poachers to those trafficking in ivory tusks, and the sheer demand for ivory. The current numbers for the elephant population are estimated at 450,000 - 700,000 for African elephants and between 35,000 - 40,000 for wild Asian elephants. These decreasing numbers heighten the urgency to preserve and protect elephant life.