There are now more African Elephants being killed every year than are being born, and the killing is being driven by Asia’s appetite for illegal ivory.  A new report is warning that if this rate of poaching continues, the animals could be wiped out in 100 years.

They found that Africa lost seven percent of its elephant population each year from 2010 through 2013.  But elephant birth rates boost the population only by about five percent per year.  Meaning that overall, more of the animals are being killed than are being born.  And the animals being targeted by the poachers are the elders with large tusks – the leaders that lead and socialize the younger animals.

“That means removal of the primary breeding males and removal of family matriarchs and mothers,” said the report’s lead author Professor George Wittemyer of Colorado State University. “This leaves behind orphaned juveniles and broken elephant societies.”

“We are shredding the fabric of elephant society and exterminating populations across the continent,” he added.

The losses aren’t evenly distributed around Africa. 

“There are still healthy growing populations in parts of Africa, Botswana for example,” said Julian Blanc of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).  “But in other places the poaching levels are devastatingly high,” he added, “and that is particularly the case in Central Africa” where the elephant population has crashed about 60 percent over the last decade.  South Africa has a terrible poaching problem. 

John Scanlon, secretary-general of CITES says, “In terms of concrete actions, we need to move to focus on the front-line and tackle all links in the illegal ivory trade chain – improve local livelihoods (for those living with elephants), strengthen enforcement and governance and reduce demand for illegal ivory.”