How poaching and the legal mammal trade impacts African wildlife
By Rashmi Shivni
Africa, one of few areas on Earth with nearly intact wildlife populations, faces serious threats from both legal and illegal mammal trade. Hundreds of species have landed on the the endangered species list in the last two decades, and African nations are moving to restore population numbers. Here’s how we got here.
South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a favorite target for poachers, has about 17,000 elephants total. South African officials reported 451 poached elephants between 1980 and 2017, according to data from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Poachers killed 68 elephants in South Africa last year. Of those, 67 dwelled at Kruger National Park.
Based on a 1969 survey, African elephants numbered as many as 1.3 million across the continent. Today, 415,000 of those elephants remain. Some experts debate those figures. But if the numbers are accurate then these surveys put poaching at the at the forefront of conservation action.
South Africa is home to the largest rhino population. According to CITES data, poachers didn’t target rhinos as much in South Africa or other southern nations until 2008, when demand for rhino horn and elephant ivory surged in Asian markets. In 2014, poachers slaughtered 1,214 rhinos, and by 2015, they illegally killed 1,175 rhinos. Since then, poaching incidents steadily decreased.
Poaching prevention systems, such as Kruger National Park’s intensive protection zones (IPZ), played a major role in bringing down poaching incidents. The park houses more than 8,000 rhinos with about 5,000 living in its IPZs, where security gates and scanner cameras prevent poachers from entering the grounds.
And what about legal animal trade?
Poaching and illegal trafficking continue to grow in many African nations. According to studies conducted by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), African animals are most often exported to nations such as the United States, Russian and China. These wild animals are primarily used in research and transported to zoos. More often though, animals are purchased for commercial use, such as for entertainment, as pets or for clothing. So for three-quarters of African nations, there is an economic incentive to selling in this market. However, many of these species are endangered.
The legal animal trade in Africa influences multiple industries, ranging from conservation purposes to research, hunting trophies to zoos. The AWF reports that the medical and science sector makes up about 75 percent of the legal animal trade, and the sole import is the Crab-eating Macaque--an invasive monkey species in Africa. However, mainstream culture can predict which animals will get poached. From 2001 to 2015, 15,745 live mammals went toward commercial areas such as the pet market. The Saharan Fennec Fox ranked second in imports in 2016 after the movie “Zootopia” released. Though this species isn’t endangered, some conservation organizations worry about these surges in commercial sales going unchecked. And if that happens, vulnerable species face greater risks of endangerment.
Balancing the market with conservation
In the last three decades, African governments joined forces with local communities and conservation groups, such as the AWF, Honeyguide and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to protect Africa’s most threatened species. In some areas, poaching and illegal trade dropped due to monitoring programs like IPZ. Data-driven surveys help these conservation groups and governments balance both animal populations and growing economies in modern Africa.
