poaching elephants
Poaching was a major problem between 1979 and 1989. This was because of a worldwide demand for ivory, which caused the elephant population to greatly decrease. It almost cut Africa's elephant population in half. Savannah elephants have the largest tusks and therefore had an ever lesser population. Recently though, due to the 1990 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, there has been a ban on ivory sales. Although it is illegal to kill elephants in Africa, people continue to do so. People are also killing elephants for revenge. For example, if the animal destroys the season's crop, he will be hunted down and slaughtered. Scientists are starting to develop remedies. A pepper-spray bomb wards off elephants by hurting their eyes. The elephant will eventually recover and realize not to go by the fields. Michael Fay, an elephant researcher from the Wildlife Conservation Society found more than 300 poached elephants, all without their tusks. Then two months later, Fay found 1,000 more bodies. By 1997, Fay had stopped illegally hunting elephants in the Nouabale-Ndoki region. Poaching has killed millions of elephants, sadly even whole families.

poaching tigers
Tigers are being poached for two valuable things. They are poached for their beautiful skin and their useful bones. Scientists have found phosphorus, calcium, iron, mercury, and arsenic in tiger bones, which are all needed in medicines. They say these medicines could cure rheumatic pain, bite from rats, typhoid fever, dysentery, and other minor illnesses. Due to this, over twenty companies started selling tiger bones. As scientists found more medicines that could be made from tiger bones, the tiger population declined. Because of this crazy demand, the Bali tiger became extinct in the 1940s and the Javan tiger in the 1970s and 80s. The skin of tigers is extremely precious to poachers and can cost as much as $30,000. The sad thing is that the penalties for tiger poaching are minor. If the poacher gets caught, he or she only has to pay a fee of $140, and is sent to jail for one to six years.