Could African poachers be about to wipe out elephants?

ELEPHANTS are in danger of being wiped out in parts of Africa, a study has claimed.

Poaching and the ivory trade have driven down numbers by almost a third in the seven years to 2014, researchers said.

They also found Africa’s savanna elephant population is declining by around 8 per cent a year.

The aerial survey, called the Great Elephant Census, covered 18 countries and concluded there were an estimated 352,271 savanna elephants.

Overall, researchers spotted about 12 carcasses for every 100 live elephants, suggesting poaching at a high enough level to cause population decline.

Population decline in Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania was worse than feared, while elephants face extinction in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Zambia.

But there was good news in South Africa, Uganda and parts of Malawi and Kenya, where numbers were stable or on the rise.

The study was funded by Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen, who donated £5million after hearing that there had not been a comprehensive count of African elephants in decades.

Although ivory trading is banned internationally, the trade within countries is legal nearly everywhere. A motion will be considered at a forthcoming conservation conference in Hawaii to close domestic ivory markets as well.