Gentle giant poached in the Kruger

The Kruger National Park (KNP) has confirmed its first case of elephant poaching in more than a decade. The carcass of a bull elephant was discovered by rangers on Thursday May 15 in Pafuri, in the park’s northern region. According to SANParks Maj Gen (retired), Johan Jooste, forensic evidence suggests that this animal was killed for its tusks, which had been hacked off.

The incident occurred on the same day that authorities in Hong Kong had begun a two-year program to destroy 29 tons of confiscated ivory.

Elephant poaching is widespread in Africa but this country has yet to experience the same onslaught. Four of these gentle giants are killed in Africa every hour and their population has dwindled from roaming in 46 to only 35.

Conservationists have issued warnings that the routes used to poach and smuggle rhino horn will most likely be utilised for elephant poaching. The only reason this has not yet occurred as frequently as it does in other countries, is due to the extended time it takes to remove the tusks. This time factor is presently severely limited by the active anti-poaching initiatives in South Africa’s parks.

About eight per cent of 470,000 African elephants are poached annually, according to the African Wildlife Foundation. An estimated 300,000 of these are located in southern Africa. In 2013, roughly 400 tonnes of ivory was trafficked, representing the tusks of 50,000 elephant – a trade that generates about a billion US dollars a year. The price of ivory in China, which is by far the largest market, has skyrocketed from US$6 a kilogram in 1976 to US$3000 today.

While these animals have been hunted for several centuries, the exploitation of elephant herds on a massive scale began during the 1970s. Organised poaching gangs used automatic weapons, and laundered tons of elephant tusks through several African countries to destinations in Eastern and Western countries.

It was a result of this trend and the fact that elephants in the wild were facing extinction that the global ban on all ivory trade was implemented in 1989.

“It was a matter of time before South Africa got targeted as well, given the situation in the rest of the continent in relation to rampant poaching of elephants,” said Abe Sibiya, acting CEO of SANParks.” Though our focus has been largely on curbing rhino poaching we have also been preparing ourselves to fight the poaching of elephants. “