The year of the elephant this was not. Demand for ivory continues to rise and elephants continue to be slaughtered for their tusks at increasing rates. While the year saw several gains for elephant conservation, including increased public awareness of the illegal ivory market, increased conservation efforts and counter-poaching financial assistance from major countries, the world's elephants are fighting an uphill battle for survival. Some of the year's leading elephant stories are listed below, in no particular order.
The Great Elephant Census: A Pan-African Survey of All The Continent's Pachyderms
For the first time since the 1970s, conservationists in Africa will conduct a census of every elephant on the continent. Goals of the elephant census include identifying where elephant populations are increasing, decreasing or fragmenting, as well as to provide data on the pachyderms' distribution and range. The aerial survey will begin in February 2014. By the time it is finished more than 18,000 flight hours will be logged by the Great Elephant Census.
US Crushes Ivory Stockpiles, Offers $1 million to Bring Down Poaching Network
The US government crushed its entire stockpile of seized, illegal ivory in November. The largely symbolic move came at the same time as another more meaningful attempt to curb illicit elephant poaching: a $1 million reward to dismantle the Laos-based poaching network known as Xaysavang. The first-of-its-kind reward was announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Elephant and Rhino Poaching Increasingly Linked to Terrorist Groups
Demand for elephant ivory for its use in traditional medicine and folk art is one aspect of the illicit ivory market, but a recent surge in elephant and rhino poaching is that the revenue generated from the illicit sale of their parts goes to fuel militant groups such as al-Shabaab, the group responsible for the terrorist attack that killed at least 62 people in Kenya's Westgate shopping center. Also this year, a United Nations report linked elephant poaching to terrorism and weapons proliferation.
Poachers Use Cyanide to Poison 87 Elephants in Zimbabwe
Poachers in Zimbabwe have poisoned a watering hole with cyanide, leading to the deaths of nearly 90 elephants in the nation's largest game park. "Industrial cyanide used in gold mining was put in remote water holes and on salty ground that the elephants like to lick after drinking the water," said one park official. "The poison was killing them and they were taking the tusks." Nine people were arrested in connection with the crime.
Notorious Ivory Trafficker Arrested in Gabon
A man responsible for the death of hundreds of elephants was arrested in Gabon in August. When Messimo Rodrigue and his accomplices were arrested, they were in possession of enough ivory to fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the black market. At the time of his arrest, Rodrigue faced up to one year in prison and a fine of as much as 20 million Central African francs ($40,400 USD).
Russian scientists unearthed an adult female mammoth so-well preserved that muscle tissue is still remaining in the carcass and some of the creature's blood is perfectly preserved in the ice around it. It is being called the best-preserved mammoth in the history of paleontology. The Siberian mammoth was discovered frozen during an excavation on Novosibirsk Islands, located in the frigid seas of northeastern Russia, where the temperatures were 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 C).
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