African elephants are in danger of disappearing forever. The results of the Great Elephant Census are, in fact, not at all encouraging. Between 2007 and 2014 their number decreased by 30%, or more than 140 specimens have disappeared. At the current rate they could reach their definitive end in just 9 years.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
African elephants are in danger of disappearing forever. The results of the Great Elephant Census are, in fact, not at all encouraging. Between 2007 and 2014 their number decreased by 30%, i.e. they disappeared further 140 thousand specimens. At the current rate, their definitive end could be reached in just 9 years.
Research data was published in the Continent-wide survey reveals massive decline in African savannah elephants.
“The census results clearly show that the poaching is decimating herds of elephants in Africa. A practice that makes no sense on a moral, political or economic level. Elephants are already locally extinct in my country, Mauritania, and I don't want to see this happening elsewhere: it is an imminent possibility in Cameroon and Mali and it has already passed the mark in other countries, unless action is accelerated " , he said in a press release, Ibrahim Thiaw vicedirettore dell’United Nations environment programme (Unep).
To arrive at this bitter finding, researchers have been collecting data on the elephants they live in for years 18 different African countries. The GEC planes have flown for more than 400 kilometers, estimating that there are currently 352.271 specimens. Comparing with the present number between 2007 and 2014, it was concluded that there are 144 fewer elephants, most of them exterminated by poachers. Only in Tanzania there is 60% less, while in Mozambique 53%.
READ also: THE SHOCKING TRUTH BEHIND ELEPHANTS TOURISM IN THAILAND
If you also count the forest elephants, which by now would be reduced to less than 50, the population of the two species of African elephants is only 434. If you consider again, they lived before colonization 20 million elephants, the data are even more tragic. Already in the 70s there were a million fewer; in 2005 an epidemic had led to 30 deaths.
However Thiaw said:
“There is reason for hope. Populations in some African nations are only slightly decreasing or even increasing. And support to tackle the crisis is increasingly supported by a growing public opinion, by politics and the private sector, by forces for change, such as the Wild For Life campaign. Across Africa, nations are beginning to understand that wildlife is worth more alive than dead and that it can generate income, for example through tourism, to fund education, health and infrastructure that can improve. human well-being and driving economic growth "
To then conclude:
"As depressing as it is, I hope this data serves as a spark for change, but we need to act now."
Dominella Trunfio
