Anti-poaching activists carrying placards with various messages against poaching arrived in Dar es Salaam yesterday after walking more than 800 km for about 22 days from Arusha. Poaching is not only aTanzanian problem, but is everywhere in Africa and the rest of the world, elephant being the most victimized wildlife. According to http://african.howzit.msn.com/8-facts-about-elephant-poaching website, Elephant populations are declining at a staggering rate. In the decade between 1979 and 1989, their numbers fell from 1.3 million to 600,000 - more than half. Today it is estimated there are as few as 400,000 elephants roaming the wild. Despite a global ban on ivory trade in 1989, numbers keep declining. In 2011, between 17,000 and 25,000 elephants were killed and on average at least 50 elephants are killed every day. Two thirds of the world’s forest elephants were killed in just the past ten years. According to WWF, “Tens of thousands of elephants are killed every year for their ivory tusks, which are made into everything from knickknacks to souvenirs,” Picture credit: Pascal Shelutete facebook.
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