The world's largest elephant, Satao, was recently brutally killed for his enormous tusks. With, however, the increasing awareness of just how precious these majestic and intelligent creatures are, a greater public effort today is both possible, and necessary. Poaching and the ivory black market are on the rise, according to the 2013 IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group report. Tens of thousands are poached every year.
In 2012, for example, the illegal ivory trade grew 2.5 times than that of the 1998 rate. At the turn of the 20th Century, there were 10 million African elephants, and now there are less than half a million. Within a decade the current population will decline by 20%, and at this rate there will be no wild elephants in Africa in the not too distant future.
Unite!