Attention!!!! Elephants are the very definition of charismatic megafauna , they are made of large ears and are emotional creatures with the ability to recognize their death relative from their skeletal remains. they are also important engineers of African Savannah and forest ecosystem and it play a vital role in attracting ecotourism.Also, they are keystone species which mean they create and maintain the ecosystem in which they live and make it possible for a myriad of plants and animals species to live in those environments as well. An estimated 100 African elephants are killed each day by poachers seeking ivory, meat and body parts such as teeth and Tusk etc.

More than 25 years worth of data on elephant poaching within South Africa. In 2014 22 Elephants were killed as recorded in the Kruger national park.This had followed a roughly 14 years period of no recorded elephants poaching within the park (2000-2013). 2016 saw an increase in Elephants poaching within South Africa and particularly Kruger national park when 46 elephants were illegally killed .Throughout 2017, there were 67 poached in the Kruger national park and 1 illegally killed elsewhere in the country. The year 2018 saw a slight rise in poaching with 71 elephants illegally killed in the Kruger national park and 1 elsewhere in the country due to an increased in the price of ivory in China thereby, driving illicit killing through the roof. 

       To lose the elephants is to lose an environmental caretaker and an animal from which we have much to learn.Therefore, to avoid such a big lost, stronger enforcement and legislative measures against poaching and illegal killing and trading of body parts such as ivory, teeth and Tusk etc.

1)http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/08/31/africa-has-lost-30-percent-its-elephants-just-7-years

 2) http://www.poachingfacts.com/poaching-statistics/elephant-poaching-statistics/