Ivory

            Elephants are amazing creatures. They roam Africa acting like a boss with their sharp and masculine tusks weighing in around 5 tons. They are heading into extreme endangerment though due to poaching and this is not just the African elephant. Elephants have very large tusks, which are ivory.  Ivory is derived from the teeth and tusks of animals. Elephant’s tusks have some of the largest amounts of ivory making them worth tremendous amounts of money.  They are in high demand for making all kinds of art in Eastern societies and are very valuable because of how rare it is to find them due to it being illegal to obtain and elephants are dieing at outrageous rates.

            Ivory has been used for thousands of years as a luxury material. It is used mainly for sculpting figurines and other novelty things. Gigantic and intricate sculptures could be made with this material due to the toughness yet ease of carving a piece of ivory. Ivory from tusks has also been used to make dominoes, dagger and sword hilts, and smoking pipes. Ivory used to be quite a bit more abundant until about the mid 1900’s when animals producing this sought after resource became endangered.  Today we only see ivory used in jewelry and other types of small objects. Ivory smuggling and harvesting is illegal in most countries around the world making it expensive, hard to find, and morally and legally wrong to have possession of it.

            Poachers are evil people killing endangered and helpless animals just to make quick cash. They are killing off multiply species other than elephants such as rhinos, lions, and other beautiful animals by not only hunting them until extinction, they are destroying animal habitats and causing mass deforestation. Fish and birds also are being hunted for eggs, oils, and other materials. Parrots, Bald Eagles, and rare fish are examples of species that are under serious watch and still need major protection from poachers.  A lot of animals are at risk with over-hunting and action needs to take place. The poaches are the real animals in these situations, some poachers are so desperate to make money, they have been fending off and shooting rangers so they don’t have to be punished for the horrid things they've done to our world.

            Luckily, countries are now taking action to stop these heinous crimes. Smuggling is being cracked down on in most African countries, plus imports are being searched as well in most Eastern Asian countries where the ivory craze is the greatest. Rangers and hunters who track poachers are also increasing in numbers and are become better and better at their jobs at stopping poachers. Hunting poachers is becoming easier and easier with country’s military supply of highly advanced equipment. Although poaching is still destroying our nature habitats, countries are taking steps in the right direction in preserving the animal kingdom.