By ELIYA AHMAD, age 11
In September, in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 22 elephants were slaughtered for their tusks, worth millions of dollars in ivory, The New York Times reports. Both old and young elephants were left dead on the savannah with nothing missing but their tusks. Every year, 23 tons of tusks are smuggled around the world, 70 percent of which goes to China according to The New York Times. That’s more than 100 elephants killed for ivory, despite measures taken to prevent it. “We have enacted corresponding laws and regulations, and made significant efforts in enforcing them,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. Illegal ivory poaching has been compared to the “blood diamond” trade in which people get killed over mining and selling diamonds.
- PHOTO: Flickr/gmacfadyen
