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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1981)
Portland Observer January 1,1981 Page 3 Human greed endangers elephants 9100 total move In to vat*. low down FHA, FHA 246, and conventional term* also, model open Sat. & Sun. noon to 6 p.m. 92nd Ave. at Burton Road. Vancouver, Washington. Call for a showing anytime. By Barbara S. M offet Elephants -- the largest living land animals -- are dying at abnormally high rates in A fric a , squeezed between an insatiable world demand fo r their ivory and the march o f human encroachment. In much o f th e ir 35-nation African habitat, elephants are being k ille d faster than they can reproduce. Spurred by a 1,500 precent rise in ivory prices in the last decade, poachers are claim ing 50,000 to 150,000 elephants a year -- by poisoned arrows in Kenya, fires in Sudan, pitfalls in Zaire, horse men’ s spears in Chad, and a newer technique o f laying poisoned fruit along elephant's pathways. The greatest slaughter, though, has been by guns — high powered rifles and automatic weapons used by poachers, soldiers, guerrillas, and even the rangers paid to protect the animals. Mountains o f ivory are leaving Africa -- much o f it illegally — and being used fo r currency, jewerly, and art objects, writes Oria Douglas-Hamilton in the November National Geographic. She helped her husband, African elephant a u th o rity Iain Douglas- Hamilton, direct the first census o f the animal, surveying by air and on foot from the continent's southern coast to the forests o f central Africa and the northern deserts o f Mali and Mauritania. The survey, made from 1976 to 1979, concluded that only about 1.3 million elephants survived in Africa. Once widespread south o f the Sahara, they have been nearly an nihilated in western and extreme southern Africa and are in trouble in their last strongholds -- central and east Africa. The census, financed by the W o rld W ild life Fund, the New York Zoological Society, and the Internation al U nion fo r Conser vation fo Nature, showed elephants numbers to be dropping in three- fourth o f their 35 countries. M ajor declines were reported in 10 o f them -- Angola, Cameroon, Central A frican Republic, Chad, Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Zaire, and Zambia. A few countries -- Zimbabwe, Malawi, Senegal, and South A fric a , fo r example -- are trying to enforce strict conservation laws. Kenya lost an estimated half o f its elephants between 1970 and 1977 before banning hunting and the sale o f w ildlife trophies. Poachers still roam Kenya’ s wildlife parks, many o f them w ell-arm ed Somali tribesm en who have fled severe drought areas and turned to ivory for survival. Sophisticated poaching also has spread to neighboring Tan zania. Elephants in Uganda have fared worse, firs t under the rule o f President Idi Amin and then at this o verthrow . A t one p o in t troops retreating through the country’ s Kabalega Falls National Park gun ned down scores o f elephants and other animals. A later count in the park’ s southern half found that a 1966 population o f 8,000 elephants has been reduced to a tiny terrified herd o f 160. The herd has since disappeared. Another massacre took place two years ago in Zaire, apparently aided by high o ffic ia ls evading ivo ry trading laws. M ilita ry personnel shot elephants and k ille d whole fam ilies o f them by placing fru it laced with battery acid or insecticide on elephant trails. Even a fte r Z a ire ’ s president declared a moratorium on ivory ex ports, trade continued across bor ders. The country remains a leading ivory producer. Besides heavy losses to poachers - fo r the precious iv o ry and sometimes for the meat - e lephants are being crowded o ff territory by a grow ing human po p u la tio n in search o f land for cultivation. An elephant consumes about 400 pounds o f vegatation a day, sometimes destroying whole trees o f a farm er’ s crop. For the hungry A frican farmer as well as the af fluent rancher, the simplest solution is to kill the offender. And there is great economic incentive: a pair o f 22-pound tusks may fetch S500, more than the average year’ s income for many Africans. Not considered an endangered species, the A frica n elephant is listed under the U .S. Endangered Species Act as threatened, which means its’ products can be import ed, but only with a special permit. A This Model - 4 bedrooms with family room, 2 baths, brick fireplace, w/carpets, double garage, appliances, 10X20 concrete patio. Energy ef ficient with 10 year Home Owner Warranty. Price only $58,800. Other Models priced from $48,500. HAZEL DELL BRANCH 716DN.E. 99th Street Vancouver, W A 98665 Phone 205 574 1522 Vancouver or 503-241 3723 Portland. OR Bv Daphne Shetdnck i9 6 0 National G eographic Society A fric a 's w h ite gold e le p h a n t tusks - g le a m e d alo n g sid e rh in o cero s horns in 1975 in K enya. The b u t tons are still shipped illega y c o u n try bann ed p riv a te ivory sales tw o years la te r, o th e r A fric a n n atio n s. further U.S. restriction allows im- portaion of ivory only from nations adhering to the Convention on In ternational Trade in Endangered Species. U.S. Fish and W ild life officials acknowledge that ivory importation laws are hard to enforce. Raw and w orked iv o ry passes through so many countries before reaching U.S. ports that the origin is often im possible to determ ine. False export papers are readily available in most African nations. A bill pending in the U.S. Senate, the Elephant P rotection A ct o f 1979, would allow im portation o f ivory only from nations that, in the opinion o f the U^S. Government, manage their elephants properly. The United States imports about 1 percent o f the world's raw ivory and about 20 percent o f the worked product — worth a total o f about $6.25 m illio n a year. Most ivory working is done in Hong Kong and Japan, but Singapore, Belgium , France, the N etherlands, West Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States also have ivory industries. The American industry is a small but flourishing one o f about 3,000 carvers o f scrimshaw, jew elery, knife handlers, and trinkets, accord ing to a report by the New York Z oological Society. It is based primarily in New England, Alaska, Washington, and Hawaii. Some o f the world’s ivory goes to cover the keys o f fine pianos, even though plastic substitutes are available. Ivory is believed to ab sorb p e rspiration , enabling the fingers to glide over the keys without slipping. Elephants tusks - actually en larged incisors — are not the only source o f ivory. It also comes from the teeth o f the sperm whale, the hippoptamus, walrus, and narwhal. The elephant tusk can weigh as much as 200 pounds, although one weighing more than 200 pounds is considered large. As much as gold or diamonds, ivory is a hard currency and has been centuries. A fric a n ivo ry trading first blossomed in the 15th century as the continent gradually opened to European traders. By the 19th century the iv o ry trade had spawned a sideline — an increased use o f slaves. Virtual ar mies o f A fricans were forced by Arab traders to haul the hulking tusks from the jungles overland to seaports. Slaves that survived the journey often were sold along with the ivory. Later, when European powers secured and partitioned Africa, they used the ivory trade to subsidize colonial administrations. Parts o f A fric a that had teemed w ith elephants at the beginning o f the 19th century were nearly void o f them by the close o f it. Before World War I, about 1,100 tons o f ivory left Africa every year. Between the two world wars exports plunged and ivo ry values were re latively low . Then, in the in flation-ridden 1970s, ivory’ s value shot upward, even faster than that o f gold. Its prices rose from about $2.30 a pound to about $45 a pound, eventually leveling o f f around $35. k n n u _ and NOW check, save and charge w ith an d d friend. Tafee charge w ith our VISA card. NOW checking accounts earn 5^% / interest! The Benj Franklin has blossomed with all the family financial ser vices you need Like our NOW Ac count a checking account that pays you interest! So even while you re busy wnting checks, the bal ance in your NOW Account is busy earning 5 25% interest from the day of deposit to the day of withdrawal, compounded constantly Effective annual yield is 5.47% No service charge w ith m inim um balance. 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