Poaching still continues, however, authorities have taken a more assertive role to ensure that bans lessen the threat of extinction and have revised acts to make them more fluid and fair. Many of the proposed regulation changes included restricting sport hunting of elephant trophies. Hunters would be limited to just two imports per year, per person. Regulation changes also proposed removing the African Elephant from the endangered species list all together. Instead, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed issuing a publication with a revision rather than a revocation to reduce the effects of restrictions on the import and movement of musical instruments and other non-ivory related elephant part.
Both of these revisions were expected to be published in 2015, however, an update has yet to be made on the official website.
Other regulations such as revisions to US CITES (reinforcing international controls on wildlife trade domestically in particular), have already been followed through on, in this case on May 27, 2014; this became effective in June 2014. This revision straightened the laws regarding intrastate sale and trade of elephant ivory in the US.
President Barak Obama issued Director's Order, which was a revision to the AECA (African Elephant Conservation Act); it narrowed the restrictions on ivory trade and allowed for the movement of ivory in household moves, inheritances, musical performances and traveling exhibitions. Prior to this, those with items acquired and used for these purposes were in limbo. Restrictions also included the definition of the term antique, to reduce the types of ivory that could be moved.
These restrictions are not flawless, but they have helped increase the populations of African Elephants over the years. High-profile public demonstrations have also aided in awareness efforts, such as the massive illegal ivory burn in Times Square this year.
The Dwindle of African Elephants
In the early 1800s, African Elephant populations were booming at about 26 million across the continent. As Ivory demands grew in western countries, hunters began hunting and killing elephants solely for their ivory; as a result, African Elephant populations dropped to just 10 million by 1913. In 1979, African Elephants were scarce across the terrain with just 1.3 million left.
Today African Elephants are estimated to have a population of about 500,000.
While the restrictions have slowed the extinction decline, in 2014 it was reported that over 100,000 elephants were killed in just three years, promoting requests for more action. The past few years have seen a horrific and heartbreaking surge in ivory trade and demand. Africa has been thrust into a modern day conflict-diamond style battlefield with poachers and mercenaries battling over the survival of these magnificent and docile creatures.
Find out what you can do to help in our next article about how we can help save elephants.
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