Elephant poaching rates in Africa are declining according to a new study, although the number of elephants being killed by poachers is still alarming to conservationaists.

Researchers from the University of York, University of Freiburg, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) analyzed data from 53 protected sites across 29 countries between 2002 and 2017 for teh study which appears in Nature Communications.  The discovered that the continent's annual poaching mortality rate went from 10 percent in 2011 to 4 percent in 2017.

But even that rate is not sustainable, as poachers kill 10,000 to 15,000 animals in Africa's remaining elephant population of 350,000.

"This is a positive trend, but we should not see this as an end to the poaching crisis," said Dr. Severin Hauenstein, from the University of Freiburg.  "After some changes in the political environment, the total number of illegally killed elephants in Africa seems to be falling but, to assess possible protection measures, we need to understand the local and global processes driving illegal elephant hunting," he added.

The reduced poaching rate may be linked to the Chinese economy.  As it cools, there is less demand for the main product of poaching, elephant ivory.

Co-author of the study Dr. Colin Beale of the University of York said, "The poaching rates seem to respond primarily to ivory prices in south-east Asia and we can’t hope to succeed without tackling demand in that region."