“Only when the last of the Animals Horns, Tusks, Skin, and Bones are sold, will mankind realize that Money can never buy back our Wildlife. ” – Mild at Heart. This quote strongly puts reality out there with the fact that once most animals go extinct, they will most likely never come back. Poaching is a huge problem because most animals like rhinos, lions, and elephants are being poached. Their tusks and horns are said to cure certain diseases or have medicinal properties. This affects not only animal populations, but the human population and the black market trade.
Rhino horns are sold on the black market for thousands of dollars, in fact, it costs $60,000 per kilogram and a rhino horn weighs roughly 2. 9-3. 7 kilograms. One rhino horn is more expensive than gold. Poaching affects the human population by influencing more and more people to poach because of the benefits that come from selling rhino horns or elephant tusks of the black market. Not only is this bad for the animal population, but it also endangers the wildlife around these animals because the ecosystem may depend on these certain animals for certain things.
This essay will explain why and where poaching started and the statistics of poaching, it’s causes and effects. And lastly, how poaching can be solved /prevented. Poaching is the illegal practice of trespassing on another’s property to hunt or steal game without the landowner’s permission and the illegal taking of wildlife within the violations of local, state, federal, or international law”. An example, could be killing an animal out of season. In 2007, a number of almost 700,000 elephants were recorded worldwide, but now that number has been reduced by 62% due to an increasing need for ivory which is accomplished by poaching.
Poaching is the illegal taking of wildlife, in violation of local, state, federal or international law. Activities that are considered poaching include killing an animal out of season without a license, with a prohibited weapon, or in a prohibited manner such as backlighting. Killing a protected species, exceeding one’s bag limit or killing an animal while trespassing is also considered to be poaching. In the four years up to 2014, the wholesale price of raw ivory in China tripled, reaching a dollar price of $2,100 per kilogram.
Between 2010 and 2012, around 100,000 elephants were killed for their ivory to then sell on the black market. The killing and murder of rhinos or any wildlife species is poaching, which is done for a profit. Killing a protected species of animals can be punishable by state or country (Unknown Author “Poaching” Dictionary. com Random House). Nevertheless, poaching is not a favorable thing and is sold illegally as well as hunted illegally. Killing and hunting endangered animals has caused a huge decline in animal populations.
Since 2007, a number of 5,940 rhinos have been killed in South Africa. Awhile ago, there were an estimated 500,000 rhinos worldwide, but now because of poaching three out of five rhino species were put on the verge of extinction. One of the highest cities in which poaching occurs is Vietnam. With studies proving that 4 out of every 6 poachers use high-tech equipment to poach animals. There are also many cops who in return for not arresting poachers will get a part of the benefit a poacher would, selling ivory or a rhino horn on the black market.
The elusive wildlife and plant trade is estimated to be worth $70-213 billion a year (PDF) and damages the natural resources of countries and wealth of businesses around the world. The animals that get poached the most include bears, rhinos, tigers, elephants and much more. Leatherback sea turtles are nearing extinction, while their eggs are being sold on the black market as an aphrodisiac. Amur leopards which are very close to extinction with an estimated 30-40 of them left in the world because of poaching, they’re killed for their fur and skin to be used for clothing and decoration.
Siberian tigers have been classified as endangered with 3,000-3,200 left in the world. They have become so rare that anyone can purchase a small Siberian tiger on the black market for $50,000. The saola, an animal known to the Asian civilians as a mythical creature or its nickname the Asian Unicorn, is an animal that was first discovered 22 years ago, but is now down to only a few dozen or up to 200 in existence now all thanks to poachers. These animals are poached for their horns which are prized as trophies. (author unknown “Poaching statistics” Save the rhino).
Overall many animals have been poached for different reasons which include skin, fur, bones, meat, tusks, horns, and other things causing the animal population to decrease even more. This will only benefit the poacher and buyer, not the organizations that try and stop poaching or animal populations because it only makes them decrease even more. There are various animals that get poached on the other hand, one of the animals that is unquestionably sought after by poachers is the Pangolin. Pangolins are prized for their meat, medicinal properties, scales and to be kept as pets.
The Pangolin has been poached 82 times more than the rhinos and 1000 times more than the tigers. 100,000 pangolins are poached every year. The illegal trading of this animal is called booming. Pangolins are sold to restaurants for an estimated $11,00. Pangolin numbers have plummeted in the last few decades. At the current rate of poaching, pangolins will be extinct in 25 years or less, but it’s hard to tell since these animals are so small. Brutality extends to poaching as well many pangolins are boiled alive to remove and soften their scales to then be sold on the black market.
Poaching of pangolins for their meat and then being turned into a Pangolin foetus soup is a rare delicacy in countries like China and Vietnam. (“Meet The World’s Most-Traded, Least Known Mammal. ” Iflscience). Overall pangolins can be a prized possession to some people because they are killed for their meat, however they’re proposed to go extinct in 25 years if the poaching persists. Animals are poached illegally in many ways. First, elephants are poached for their ivory tusks by being intimidated into traps and pitfalls, then their tusks are painfully removed.
In addition, sea turtles are tricked into nesting on a beach when they’re actually being lured into a trap. Sea turtles are poached for their eggs and meat. Next, blue whales are another animal which is poached and are near extinction because of poachers. They are mainly poached for their blubber and oil, which are later used to make candles and fuel. They are harpooned as a way of capturing them and are reeled into the boats. In other countries around the world like Iceland and japan explosive grenade harpoons are being used for whaling.
Lastly, rhinos are poached and killed because they’re bones are believed to have aphrodisiac properties and are used in traditional medicine, they are also lured into traps like elephants and then killed. (“animal poaching” Poached Animals. ) Thus, poaching of animals is only making things worse by making animals go near extinction or even extinct since some animals have already gone extinct. Poaching has a huge negative effect on other animals because in the 1900’s, poaching caused an enormous decline in African elephant population.
This is hard to recover from and potentially puts African elephants at risk of extinction. The youngest offspring often died along with their mothers, which were killed in large amounts. The old mothers (matriarchs) had the biggest tusks; therefore, they were hunted and killed and had no way to produce offspring. This made it harder to keep the population increasing without the mothers to produce offspring. The loss of a country’s wildlife reduces the number of wildlife tourists or visitors to an area or place especially if those countries are poor.
The ivory profits the poacher, but not the country in which poaching takes place. Lots of African countries have noticed that tourism plays a big role in their economic growth, employment creation, and poverty reduction and without it these countries wouldn’t have as much money as they do now. Elephant and rhino poaching remove a state or country’s natural wildlife. Also, it reveals the unsustainable economic development and reduces an animal’s population. (“political Implications “Poaching prevention 2016).
Not only do animal populations suffer from poaching, local communities, and countries around the world also suffer because they rely on tourism and the natural wildlife to power their economy and poaching makes it harder for these countries to function. Long term poaching has a huge negative impact on several animal populations which include many species of animals. Lions used to be a dominating animal, but now the illegal hunting of lions has caused the lions to become extinct in seven different African countries and will come closer to extinction if the poaching persists.
The illegal practice of hunting animal has caused the mountain gorilla population to decrease to fewer than 900 in Africa. Poaching overall has caused many animal species to either go extinct or be placed on the endangered list because they have assets that hold medicinal properties and serve for one’s own greediness and selfishness. Habitat loss is also causing poaching because these animals are starting to go closer to humans and human’s reaction to them will be killing them if these things persist the animals that are now endangered will be extinct in no time.
This will make humans poach other animals which will lead to a huge cycle that’ll make things worse. Poaching also causes animals to be classified into 3 categories which are vulnerable to extinction, which is when an animal could potentially be at risk for endangerment, but is not yet, There is also endangered and that is when an animal population is seriously at risk of extinction, and finally critically endangered is when an animal is at a very high risk of extinction. (“Africa is home to the world’s most iconic wildlife”African Wildlife Foundation).
Therefore, poaching is just going to continue until humans realize that these animals are needed for other purposes rather than to be killed. Who knows how many animal species will be extinct from now on if all the poaching that is happening now persists. Poaching impacts local communities because the demand for ivory and horns forms a huge economy for items on the black market. Rhino horns are so rare that for just one horn people can expect to pay up to $60,000 that this is causing people to be inspired to poach and increases the black market sales meaning less natural wildlife.
These items which are taken of animal species such as rhinos and elephants for their ivory tusks the items are illegally shipped, which could make someone go to jail if they are caught, but the profit of selling is enough to encourage poachers to keep poaching. Money doesn’t help the community only the poacher, an illegally bought rhino horn is 100 times the average earnings of a villager next to them. Poaching is a lucrative business many people have gone to jail and this affects local communities because it can inspire other people to want to poach and this only makes the problem worse unless the people care for these animals.
Poaching is a crime and it’s driving species to extinction ( “Collateral damage: The effects of poaching on local communities. ” Youth 4 African Wildlife). The benefit a poacher receives from selling rhino horns influences them to continue killing endangered species until they become extinct or they get caught and are sent to jail. Poaching impacts the environment because poaching is run by a lucrative black market trade of animal parts which doesn’t benefit the government only the poacher.
Animal parts are sold as novelty items, for their “medical properties”if that isn’t true, then the demand for ivory is making animals die off for the absurd beliefs of some people. The extinction of a species can have a negative economic effect on a local communities tourism industry. Extinction is the greatest threat to animals that are victims of wildlife poaching, without certain animals, some ecosystems can’t live without them and will corrupt. Our ecosystems are sensitive and must be preserved. The economic challenges of a community can lead to poaching therefore, it can lead to endangerment and near extinction.
Huge populations are decreasing of animals that are close or near extinction, which can lower tourism if those animals are big tourist attractions (Estrada “The Devastating Effects of Wildlife Poaching”). The environment around the animals that get poached are also affected because these animals could be important and of use for many purposes other than only for their tusk, horns, meat, or skin. Poaching also affects biodiversity because the loss of endangered species can have a huge impact on the ecosystem that these animals live in, can unbalance the predator to prey situation, and the prey populations could go out of control.
Extinction can make animals that are prey lose their predator and have their population dramatically increase. Some animals such as pandas were once found in many regions of the earth, but due to poaching they are leased out for zoos, and if they have any offspring all the pandas will be sent to china. Illegal sales increase the price for items of rarity like rhino horns and elephant tusks to gain profits for their kills. That is the only reason they poach for, and that is the money that they earn from selling ivory or any other rare item on the black market (Kumar “Threats to Biodiversity”).
Thus, poaching affects biodiversity by killing animals that could potentially play a big role in their ecosystem and without them their ecosystem will be corrupt and the prey populations will dramatically increase. Other countries and nations also try to stop poaching and one way they accomplish this is by having improved security. Some countries have improved their security at their borders which will make it harder for poachers to trade from country to country. Also, some organizations have dehorned rhinos, yet in a safe way which helps some rhinos from getting poached since their prized possession is gone.
Although, this has helped to prevent poaching, many hornless rhinos are still poached regardless of whether they have their horn or not. Several countries have destroyed ivory stocks to help send a message that poaching will not be tolerated and supported in hopes that this will intimidate poachers to stop. Technology is also being used around the world to help prevent poaching because they can use drones to get a bird’s eye view and could potentially spot poachers and catch them. Also modified horns and tusks are used to make the horns or tusks on animals worthless by either dying them pink or injecting them with poison.
The dye used can be easily detected by airport security and if this ivory is consumed it will make the consumer very ill. The horns are consumed because they can help overhang and cancer (Argall. “Africa’s Poaching Crisis: How Do We Stop It. ”) Foreign countries aim to try and prevent poaching because it’s wildlife is going extinct. The president can help prevent poaching by doing many things. In Nanyuki, Kenya three African presidents and 200 people attended a meeting to discuss about the future of elephants and its habitats.
African presidents have set a goal to stop the slaughter of African elephants and protect at least 50% of the elephant population and protect their landscape by 2020. A solution that a Kenya wildlife service spokesperson brought up is to kill the market, which means that the price of ivory is so much that destroying ivory stockpiles is a way to solve this problem. Elephants are gonna go extinct soon if all the poaching keeps happening. If the message to stop poaching is spread more widely elephants and other poached animals could flourish again and have their population boom.
Presidents have to support the idea to stop poaching or it will continue in a huge cycle and there will be no end to it. If presidents help improve promoting, fund for protected areas and help organizations then, there will be no poaching and allow those animals to rebuild their populations (Craig “African Presidents pledge to stop elephant poaching”). Presidents and big leaders can help influence and encourage people to stop poaching because a lot of people look up to them and respect their opinions on things. People can help prevent poaching by donating to certain organizations.
The International Anti-Poaching Foundation, Chengeta Wildlife, and other organization help to try solve and prevent poaching. Volunteering at these organizations can influence poaching in a good way. Also if everyone spreads the word about poaching it can help others know about the issue with poaching. Security plans, anti-poaching operations, and many more help to prevent poaching with volunteers that also want to help the problem. The best thing that people could do is to learn ways and techniques to end poaching then share them across the world to spread the issue.
People can also help by not purchasing ivory which helps out the problem (Good. “10 Simple Ways YOU Can Stop Poaching”) Therefore, anyone can help stop poaching , just speak up and find ways that anyone can help around or donate to organizations that try to solve this problem. Technology helps poaching by having drones that fly around. A group called air Shepard created a computer controlled drone to stop poaching and capture poachers. “In the past six months where we’ve been operating in Africa, we’ve arrested a lot of poachers,” said Dr.
Thomas Snitch one of the founders of this company who developed this drone. This proves that the drone idea that has been presented by air shepherd, has shown its efficiency and is worth it since it helps stop poaching. The benefit of the drones is that they cover a lot more ground than just rangers and can see over a larger area than a human can. Computer data are vital in telling the drones where to fly and control them. The computer’s processes data to tell where the animals and poachers are staying and hunting the animals.
The drones fly to the high traffic area and use their infrared cameras that are built in to send the footage back to the drone operators. If poachers are spotted then the operator alerts any nearby ranger to stop the poaching and the police can track them down. The drones don’t just help the rangers find the poachers easier, they also give them the additional data of the habitats of the animals where they are most poached (Elisha “Drones Used To Stop Elephant and Rhino Poachers in Africa”).
Poachers can be caught using drones, which are manufactured by some companies and have the latest tracking devices and features added to help prevent poaching. Many organizations are fighting against poaching by tracking and hunting poachers. The International Anti-Poaching Foundation is one of the biggest organizations trying to stop poaching. This organization was founded in 2009 and it works to find new technology to stop poaching so that poachers can be charged for their crimes. The IAPF(The International Anti-Poaching Foundation) is a non-profitable organization that creates strategies or solutions to poaching.
The WWF is a fundraising organization that tries to help prevent wildlife crime and poaching. They go to the government and convince the senators to to fund and help with their projects to help prevent poaching. The Wildlife Conservation Society the WCS is an organization that helps protect bison in the us. They have saved over 200 million American bison. The humane society in the U. S. is also trying to prevent poaching by terminating any crimes against wildlife (Bardroff “10 Groups Working To Protect Animal Targeted By Poachers”).
Many Organizations aim to help this problem diminish as much as possible around the world and also gets supports by many individuals that want to stop poaching of endangered animals. In conclusion, poaching is a huge problem that not only affects animals, but humans and the environment surrounding the endangered and poached animal. Poaching is the hunting and killing of animals that are endangered. While many species are at risk from extinction poachers still doing what they have always done.
This not only reduces the animal populations, but it diminishes and affects the way the surroundings of this animal behaves towards one animal’s extinction. If poachers knew the damages an animal The animals that are hunted and killed hold medicinal properties according to many people. Elephants, rhinos, sea turtles, pangolins, and other endangered animals have had their populations decrease. They are sought after for a variety of reasons, including meat, skin, fur, horns, and tusks. If poachers knew the damages they inflict upon the world by illegally hunting and killing animals it could possibly help them stop.
Not only do the people illegally hunt animals, they also sell it on the black market and get heaps of money for their kills. These animals may go extinct. How do people know that animals hold medicinal properties? Hunting animals can cause a ripple in the ecosystem and make it corrupt with the extinction of an animal. This also puts the poachers at risk for being caught and put in jail if they are found killing endangered animals. Also, people can help this problem by donating to organizations that try to solve and prevent poaching all around he world. If only people had stayed with the traditional meat and this problem would’ve never happened.
The Humane Society as well as the Youth 4 American Wildlife comes up with ways to solve illegal hunting of endangered animals. Dying horns pink or injecting with poison are several ways organizations have made the people who consume them very ill or worthless if sold. Rangers risk their lives and protect the animals they can. As A. D. Williams said “The earth is large enough for all to share, but mankind’s heart is not large enough to care”