Unit5-Part2-Reading

The price of ivory.

Elephants continue to roam across Africa,

but these magnificent animals are under threat from poaching,

which will likely lead to their extinction.

Poaching is the illegal hunting, killing,

or capturing of animals for their skin,

ivory, horns, teeth, and bones,

which are sold to dealers for making jewelry and other products.

Africa has lost more than 60 %

of its elephants to poachers in the past two decades.

Experts say poaching has gone up to its highest levels recently

because of the high demand for ivory products in Asia.

Thousands of African elephants are being killed for their tusks every year.

In 2012 alone,

30 ,000 elephants were killed in countries across Africa.

Why are so many elephants being killed?

The answer lies thousands of miles away from Africa

in a few Asian countries.

In China, for example,

shops that sell expensive statues

and jewelry made of ivory are booming.

Vietnam, Thailand, and Korea

also have markets for elephant tusks.

The illegal hunt for ivory is not a new problem.

In the 1980s,

about one million elephants were slaughtered in Africa.

This continued until 1989,

when a ban was brought on ivory trade between countries.

After that,

elephant populations began to increase,

but the increase didn't last long.

Despite the ban,

the poaching of elephants and selling of ivory

still continues illegally in Africa today.

That's why conservationists are now forcing China

to control the sale of ivory in their country.