China Claims They Have Banned Ivory, But News That Just Leaked Is Very Upsetting

Considering the effects of the ivory bans, have elephants really been spared?

With huge tusks that got to the ground, Satao was head and shoulders above the others in is herd. The beast, which is considered one of the last great “tuskers” and is estimated to be about half a century old, was hailed as the biggest, oldest and arguably most iconic elephant in all of Kenya.

In his prime, tourists from all over the world would come in to see Satao. Sadly though, not even his celebrity status- as well as the added security that is got him- could save the most beloved elephant. He was found dead on the 30th of May 2014, and he was apparently a victim of poaching. His face was hacked off, and his ivory was gone.

Satao is just a single victim of the awful ivory trade that is decimating the elephant population of Africa. Currently, the ivory trade is costing the continent about 20 to 30 thousand elephants on a yearly basis. The population of elephants on the continent is about 415, 000; a decline of well over 100,000 in the past decade.

Sadly, this isn’t all the bad news.

On the 31st of December 2017, the elephant ivory trade in China was ground to a standstill. The country is seen as the largest consumer of ivory in the world.

This move is in accordance with the announcement of Former US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both leaders committed to enact “almost complete” bans of ivory in their respective countries.

That of America came to effect in June 2016.

In November of 2017, the Trump Administration announced that the ban on importing elephant ivories from Zambia and Zimbabwe would be lifted, but the decision was eventually put on hold after a series of backlash.

Craig Millar, head of Security and Field Operations at the Big Life Foundation, said, “The rate of poaching hasn’t dropped since China’s ban on ivory, but prices of ivory have”

“The rate of poaching has been steadily declining in Kenya for the past three to four years, and it is hoped that the trend would continue”

Millar also added that this drop in prices is actually a good thing.

“As soon as the announcement was made, we witnessed the price of ivory drop by as much as 50 to 60 percent. This just means that the poacher on the ground here is getting much less than anyone else who is on the supply chain, so there’s even less of an incentive for him to keep on risking his life.

Apart from being faced with some brutal scenes, Millar and his colleagues place their lives in danger to protect the animal at Big Life. The foundation manages an area just over 2 million acres.

The biggest impact of this ivory ban, however, has been on the animals themselves. Millar says that Big Life’s elephant hides his tusks from humans by shoving his head into a bush.

“The animals are actually very clever. I’ve seen quite a few changes in the animals that we can attribute to poaching. The behaviors change drastically depending on the environment that they’re in. They know where they’re safe, and they’ll be more relaxed. If they feel threatened, they get nervous and unsettled”

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