ELEPHANTS & IVORY

While poaching and illegal trade undeniably
represent serious threats to elephants, habitat
fragmentation, deterioration and loss continue
to impact elephants virtually everywhere. These
threats are not so immediately obvious – there
are no dead bodies or piles of seized ivory to
photograph. Yet elephants, like all species, cannot
survive without viable habitats.
IFAW – the International Fund for Animal Welfare
– believes wild animals belong in the wild. IFAW is
opposed to the commercial exploitation of wildlife,
based on the historical and scientific evidence
that such activities invariably cause a variety of
animal welfare and conservation problems. Such
problems include the unnecessary and avoidable
suffering of individual animals, and the depletion of
wild populations. We also understand that as their
habitats disappear, so too do the elephants. And
so, we sponsor research aimed at understanding
elephant ecology, and work to protect viable habitats
where elephants can continue to live and thrive.
Our aim, in producing this little book, is to
provide some relevant facts about elephants as
they are known today, including their taxonomy,
distribution, population trends and conservation
status, and the current threats to their continued
existence in the wild. We discuss some of the issues
that continue to hinder elephant conservation today
and then examine what a new, knowledge-based
approach to elephant conservation might look like.
We end with some suggestions as to what needs
to be done to protect and conserve elephants if we
really want to give the largest remaining land animal
reasonable prospects for survival.
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© IFAW/D. Willetts/Tsavo West National Park, Kenya