-THE MAIN TOPIC-
Poaching started in 1979 and had a humungous impact on the continent of Africa.It also has had a huge effect on the world. How, you ask, it effects the environment, local communities, and wildlife populations. Sadly, every twenty-six minutes, an elephant or a rhinoceros is poached. This "sport" is very illegal, and will keep you in prison for six years! On the right, there is an image of ivory,( but made into "jewelry".)Approximately, every one out of poachers are arrested each year. There used to be over five-hundred thousand rhinos, but in the past fifteen years, we've lost almost all of them. Ivory is very expensive, a single pound of ivory sells as much as $1,500! The animals that are being poached the most, include, tigers, elephants, gorillas, parrots, rhinoceros, sea turtle, lemurs, the Javan rhinoceros, and the most poached animal in the world, the pangolin.
Rhino horn has been highly prized by several cultures for over a thousand years and trade records suggest that the intercontinental trade in African rhino horn to the Far East has existed for centuries. Their horns are prized as a status symbol, used in the handles of traditional Yemeni daggers. Many myths surround the use and utility of rhino horn, but practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine still use powdered horn to attempt to relieve high fevers. Rhino blood, urine, and skin is also collected for use in some folk medicines, but acquiring rhino horn is the main goal of African poachers.Who are the buyers of tiger and leopard skins?"Animal poaching" is when an animal is killed illegally. It usually occurs when an animal possesses something that is considered valuable.
With only a couple thousand tigers left in the wild several Asian nations have turned to large-scale captive breeding techniques to supply their commercial farming industry. These businesses, especially within China, provide consumers with tiger skins, bones, and "medicinal" tiger bone wine. Although trade in tigers is prohibited internationally, as well as domestically within many countries, there is a persistent black market for fresh tiger meat for the rich.What wildlife species are being targeted by poachers?
In Africa and Asia the high-value targets are elephants for their ivory tusks, rhinoceros for their horn, and leopards for their beautiful skins.
Unique poaching targets in Asia include the Asian black bear which is captured and harvested for years for its bear bile and considered to be an essential traditional folk medicine. Bear paw, along with tiger parts, shark fin, sea turtles, pangolins (scaly anteaters), and manta ray are fashionable delicacies in Asia and the South Pacific and many are inhumanely farmed or illegally hunted. Many countries believe that the rhino horn is an important ingredient for many medicines. This is false. Rhino horn has the same medicinal effect as chewing on your fingernails aka none.
In 2012, 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa. As of January 2013 it increased to 946, these animals were being poached at a rate of 2 per day. Send them a note to thank them for their work.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were a few million African elephants and approximately 100,000 Asian elephants. Today elephants are now considered endangered, there are about 450,000-700,000 African elephants and 35,000-40,000 Asian elephants.
Typically the largest adults, with the biggest tusks are poached – putting the matriarchs of elephant herds at the greatest risk. Poaching is hunting without legal permission from whoever controls the land. Legal hunters kill tens of millions of animals per year. Big-horned sheep antlers can cost $20,000 on the black market. Wildlife officials are noticing a recent increase in poaching infant gorillas. Baby gorillas are sold for up to $40,000 each. Since 1960, the black rhino population has decreased by 97.6% due to poaching. Conservationists estimate that between 30,000 and 38,000 elephants are poached annually for their ivory. Despite protests, bear farming is still practiced in several countriesIn China, nearly 10,000 bears are kept in farms where they are regularly drained of bile (while alive) through devices implanted in the animals.
Below, there is an image of an ivory bracelet.
Rhino horn has been highly prized by several cultures for over a thousand years and trade records suggest that the intercontinental trade in African rhino horn to the Far East has existed for centuries. Their horns are prized as a status symbol, used in the handles of traditional Yemeni daggers. Many myths surround the use and utility of rhino horn, but practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine still use powdered horn to attempt to relieve high fevers. Rhino blood, urine, and skin is also collected for use in some folk medicines, but acquiring rhino horn is the main goal of African poachers.Who are the buyers of tiger and leopard skins?"Animal poaching" is when an animal is killed illegally. It usually occurs when an animal possesses something that is considered valuable.
With only a couple thousand tigers left in the wild several Asian nations have turned to large-scale captive breeding techniques to supply their commercial farming industry. These businesses, especially within China, provide consumers with tiger skins, bones, and "medicinal" tiger bone wine. Although trade in tigers is prohibited internationally, as well as domestically within many countries, there is a persistent black market for fresh tiger meat for the rich.What wildlife species are being targeted by poachers?
In Africa and Asia the high-value targets are elephants for their ivory tusks, rhinoceros for their horn, and leopards for their beautiful skins.
Unique poaching targets in Asia include the Asian black bear which is captured and harvested for years for its bear bile and considered to be an essential traditional folk medicine. Bear paw, along with tiger parts, shark fin, sea turtles, pangolins (scaly anteaters), and manta ray are fashionable delicacies in Asia and the South Pacific and many are inhumanely farmed or illegally hunted. Many countries believe that the rhino horn is an important ingredient for many medicines. This is false. Rhino horn has the same medicinal effect as chewing on your fingernails aka none.
In 2012, 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa. As of January 2013 it increased to 946, these animals were being poached at a rate of 2 per day. Send them a note to thank them for their work.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were a few million African elephants and approximately 100,000 Asian elephants. Today elephants are now considered endangered, there are about 450,000-700,000 African elephants and 35,000-40,000 Asian elephants.
Typically the largest adults, with the biggest tusks are poached – putting the matriarchs of elephant herds at the greatest risk. Poaching is hunting without legal permission from whoever controls the land. Legal hunters kill tens of millions of animals per year. Big-horned sheep antlers can cost $20,000 on the black market. Wildlife officials are noticing a recent increase in poaching infant gorillas. Baby gorillas are sold for up to $40,000 each. Since 1960, the black rhino population has decreased by 97.6% due to poaching. Conservationists estimate that between 30,000 and 38,000 elephants are poached annually for their ivory. Despite protests, bear farming is still practiced in several countriesIn China, nearly 10,000 bears are kept in farms where they are regularly drained of bile (while alive) through devices implanted in the animals.
Below, there is an image of an ivory bracelet.
