Many people who are searching for money have been hunting African elephants in Africa by poaching them and cutting off their tusks since 1990.

Elephants are known for their tusks that hold ivory. Many people who are searching for money will kill African elephants and will take their tusks.

Ivory tusks can sell for about 92 dollars a kg. According to many sites in Tanzania there are roughly 30 poachers a day. And according to WWF 20,00 elephants are killed a year! 

Having elephant tusks taken is like the equivalent of having our hands taken. They use their tusks to accomplish many tasks such as gathering food, digging, stripping bark, and fighting. Taking them away is a ripple in their lives especially because they will be killed.

People are taking the initiative to stop this illegal poaching. The governments of many places are enforcing this law harder. 

This issue is not just affecting elephants it is also affecting rhino’s, Tiger’s, etc. This could lead to possible extinction. 

Many people have been caught in the act of poaching. On the 31st of march in 2013 A 20 year old man tried to cut the tusks off of Louis XIV the elephant. This was the skeleton of a real elephant, it was on exhibit in the Paris National History Museum. He tried to flee the area, but french police arrested him. This just shows the type of challenges these people will go through.