Usra Hussain
The Samburu National Reserve located in Kenya has experienced a high rate of elephant poaching this year in comparison to the past 11 years. Although, elephants do not have any natural predators other than lions, elephants are threatened by human beings. African and Asian elephants are hunted for their ivory tusks and illegally traded for money. The conservationists of the Samburu National Reserve have been actively fighting poachers in order to protect the elephants in their reserve. However, even with their efforts, the elephants in this reserve are continually being killed for their tusks.
One elephant in particular has been attacked twice for her tusks. Khadija, an elderly elephant from the Samburu National Reserve has been one of many elephants this year that have been killed by poachers. She suffered bullet wounds which were treated by an elephant organization, but again Khadija was targeted by poachers again. Unfortunately, she did not survive the second attack, leaving behind 8 orphan children.
Although, it is often illegal to part-take in the ivory trade, many poachers have continued to brutally kill elephants. Elephants are slow breeding animals, and it is hard for them to hide due to their large size, thus, they are more susceptible to overhunting than other animals. Legislation has helped to improve the chances of survival for African elephants. The African Elephant Conservation Act helps to regulate ivory sales. Ivory trade with countries with a considerable poaching problem, like Kenya, is prohibited under this act. The Endangered Species Act protects the transport of elephants and protects conservational locations, like the Samburu National Reserve, from poaching and commercial use. Unfortunately, it is hard to enforce these laws, and legislation needs to be altered so it can protect more than just the elephants in the reserves. While, there are many organizations that have attempted to protect elephants all over the world from illegal poaching, elephants continue to face the dangers of being killed for their lucrative tusks.
Filed under: animal cruelty, animal ethics, animal law, environmental law | Tagged: animal abuse, animal law, animal welfare, elephants, environmental advocacy, environmental law, hunting, Kenya, poaching |
Animal Blawg 
Humans are the lowest of the animal species any way you look at it! We are not the so-called intelligent species, but the lowest of the low!
My heart breaks for the animals who don’t have a chance against mobs of people with guns and spears. It’s against the law but still it is said that legislation is needed – and we know it doesn’t work. We need the poachers to be shot and speared who perpetrate these transgressions.
What breaks my heart is the fact that when these animals get caught (the poachers not the elephants) they basically get a slap on the the wrist. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. This makes no since when the government makes hundreds of thousands of dollars off tourist to see live elephants and zero off of dead ones. These beautiful giants should be treated as live beings instead of something humans own and have rights to.