The Ivory Trade is Still Flourishing
I remember in grade school when we began learning about other parts of the world, most classmates were so enthralled by Africa and its grand variety of wildlife. Every little third-grader was shocked when we heard that people kill some of these majestic animals for their fur, or in the case of the elephant, their ivory tusks. We hated these poachers for taking away these beautiful animals that we had never even had a chance to see.
Today the poachers still have a large market to work with. The southwestern African country of Angola carries the largest trade market for ivory. Out of all of the countries that contain elephants, Angola is the only one that has not signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is an organization that regulates the trade of endangered and threatened species. The countries number of wild elephants has gone from 12, 400 to 246 after their civil war, in which ivory was traded in order to make prophets to buy weapons. About 12,000 elephants are killed yearly in Africa, to make all sorts of ornamental pieces out of their tusks.
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The greatest demand for ivory comes from the United States, Europe, and especially China, who views ivory as an ancient symbol of wealth. This is all despite the ban on trade of elephant ivory. In Angola, ivory is sold openly on the street, ignored by the police, because of how ravaged the country was by war. People are desperate to bring back economic stability, at any cost. Angola is a country whos priorities are backwards. They are killing one of their most precious organisms so they can make some money in the present, instead of preserving these majestic creatures for the future.
