WASHINGTON - An international effort to halt the illegal killing of elephants for their ivory tusks has all but collapsed in most of Africa, leaving officials and advocates alarmed about the survival of the species. A study released yesterday estimates that as many as 23,000 of the animals were slaughtered last year alone.
A team of wildlife and law enforcement experts concluded that a widely hailed 1989 ban on international sales of ivory has been overwhelmed by exploding demand for ivory in Japan and newly rich China and declining support for anti-poaching programs.
"Right now, things are really much worse than before the ban," said Samuel Wasser of the University of Washington, lead author of the study, funded jointly by the U.S. government and several nonprofit groups. |
