http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140818-elephants-africa-poaching-cites-census/
Brad Scriber
August 18,2014
Brad Scriber
August 18,2014
“During 2011 alone, roughly one of every twelve African elephants was killed by a poacher.” The most endangered area is central Africa where most of the killings take place. It is happening mainly because of the search for ivory although there has been a ban on the trade in this precious material. The main problem is that the survival of elephants is in danger, since there has been a 64% decline in elephant population in recent years. However, it is very difficult to know the exact number of killings since there is no precise information on the total number of elephants in Africa. There is some data but it is over a decade old. In 2002 a program called MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal killing of Elephants) was created to try to establish the number of elephants killed. There will also be the Great Elephant Census in 2015 which will try to determine the total elephant population. However, it is very difficult to make aerial estimates since it is difficult to spot forest elephants from the air. The latest analysis claims that the elephant population is seriously declining and that even without the killings it is getting lower by 3% every year. Besides the obvious, the disappearance of elephants could have serious negatives effects on Africa’s animals and plants. It will reduce genetic diversity and the distribution of this species and its ecological role. Also, elephants are considered “megagardeners of the forest” because their lifestyle benefits their habitat.
Personally I feel sorry for the elephants because they are one of my favorite animals and they are beautiful, majestic creatures. Obviously, killing animals for profit is bad and everyone knows that. If we take a deeper look, we have to wonder what we are doing to our planet. Besides things such as wars and pollution, killing innocent animals is the worst thing to do. If we continue like this there will be no animals left on this planet. Not only it will disturb the natural balance that we have, it will also make the Earth a very sad, deserted place. Without the animals, the plants will disappear too and there will be nothing left.
Good job dijana, this is a big threat to the environment, this can lead to the extinction of the elephants. Hopefully someday this will stop because this is a serious threath.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you involved statistics and facts, I felt that that was very effective in sending the story of the event across to the readers. Also I think that your opinion is very true and I agree with it -- if we continue this way with killing innocent animals for simple profits like only looking for ivory, we might as well just start killing people and sell their fingers for decoration...
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