Elephant conservation news 17 July - 24 July
Kenya's elephant population has doubled in the 20 years that have passed since a dramatic gesture to highlight the threat posed to it by poaching, wildlife officials have said.
On 18 July 1989, 12 tonnes of ivory were ceremonially burned to increase awareness of the damage poaching was causing to Kenya's elephant population, which had fallen from 167,000 in 1973 to 16,000 and "the brink of extinction" in 1989.
Elephant numbers in the country have since doubled to 32,000. However, Kenyan wildlife officials fear this progress will be undone by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species' 2007 decision to partially lift the international trade ban on ivory, which they say has "stimulated poaching".
The ban was lifted to allow for a one-off sale of ivory to China and Japan by a number of African countries.
Kenya Wildlife Service director Julius Kipng?etich said that the moratorium and a lack of strong enforcement laws in neighbouring countries has led to an upsurge in poaching which is claiming an estimated 90 elephants a year.
"Wildlife anywhere should concern us all, as any loss is a loss to all of us," he said.
Two elephants killed by Indian trains in two days
Just over a month since a female and a calf died on Indian railway tracks, two adult elephants have become the latest victims to be killed by an Indian express train, the Times of India reported.
A male elephant, or 'tusker', was fatally injured by an express train in Kerala, South India, on Friday morning, less than 24 hours after a female elephant was killed on tracks just a few kilometers away.
The area has become notorious for elephant casualties, and local forest officials are now calling for the speed of trains passing through the elephant corridor to be reduced.
