| Asian Elephant |
| Written by Wildlife1 | |
| Tuesday, 29 May 2007 | |
 Elephant hunt Nepal, circa early 1900's © 2007 Kiran Man Chitrakar Large numbers of Asian Elephants were once found in the forests and jungles of India, Northern China, SE Asia and the islands of Indonesia.  © 2007 Patrick Brown Today, they are more endangered than the African Elephant with the population in the wild declining from an estimated 200,000 at the end of the century to around 40,000 today. Loss of habitat and deforestation continue to threaten existing populations. Elephants are also brutally slaughtered for their ivory tusks to supply the international ivory market, especially in Japan, the world’s largest ivory consuming country.  Ivory for sale Bangkok © 2007 Patrick Brown In 1989, The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) introduced an international ban on all ivory trade. But whilst the ban has had a noticeable impact, especially in the US and Europe, in Asia awareness of the problems caused by the ivory trade is less widespread and ivory products continue to be found on sale at major hotels and tourist markets. |