Elephants under threat
For centuries, elephants have been exploited for ivory, as weapons of war, for ceremonial purposes, by the logging industry, and by zoos and circuses.
Population plummet
In the last century elephant populations massively declined due to habitat destruction, increased agriculture and the bloody ivory trade. Rampant ivory poaching from 1979 to 1989 halved Africa’s elephant population from 1.3 million to 600,000. Today numbers may be as low as 450,000.
Ivory ban enforced
- Tonnes of ivory, stockpiled in Kenya
After the 1989 ban the price of ivory crashed and markets in Europe and USA closed down. But some African countries called for a resumption of trade with Japan. In 1997, CITES* approved the sale of up to 60 tonnes of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to Japan. Elefriends predicted a rise in poaching.
Reopening trade
Poaching escalated and Born Free’s evidence showed at least 6,000 elephants were killed and 17,000kg of illegal ivory was seized by customs in 1998-1999. Born Free estimated this represented just 10-20% of the total slaughter. In 2000, CITES agreed ‘no more trade’, but in 2002 gave Botswana, Namibia and South Africa permission to sell a further 60 tonnes of ivory stockpiles to Japan. In 2004 a proposal to further relax current restrictions on trade was put forward.
*Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
Conservation Status
Africa’s elephants
1900 – 10 million
1979 – 1.3 million
1989 – 600,000
2007 – 400,000; IUCN¹ status: ‘Vulnerable’
Asia’s elephants
1900 – 100,000
1995 – 50,000
2007 – 35,000; IUCN¹ status: ‘Endangered’
¹International Union for Conservation of Nature
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