Poaching is wiping out Africa’s animals

By Gianna Ursone, Chief Copy Editor

Poaching has driven some of the world’s most beautiful and awesome animals toward the brink of extinction. 

Poaching is the illegal killing, hunting and capture of animals and plants. Poaching, still largely practiced in Africa, has been going on for centuries and has caused thousands of animals and plants to be driven close/into extinction.  

Poaching started as a subsistence hunting by peasants in medieval Europe to supplement their diet or defy strict feudal laws. Nowadays, poaching is often used for medicine or as a trophy. Individuals who are poachers usually don’t have a license and often hunt during closed seasons. Closed season is a period where the animals can repopulate, and hunting is forbidden during that time. However, despite there being multiple signs and regulations put in place to prevent overhunting, poachers continue to be a massive problem in the world. 

There are two primary categories of poaching. The first is ivory poaching, which is often seen happening to elephants and rhinos. Ivory poaching is when poachers cut off the horns of an animal and use it for commercial sale. This type of poaching leaves the animal without any sort of defense, and in most cases, it leads to the animal’s death. About 20,000 African elephants and rhinos are killed annually because of ivory poaching. 

The next category is regular poaching. Regular poaching has multiple categories, including commercial, subsistence, trophy, medicinal and plant/resource poaching.  

Commercial poaching is used to illegally transport exotic pets, ivory and rhinoceros’ horns. It is considered an organized, large-scale crime involving large international networks of people. Subsistence poaching is the illegal poaching of small- to medium-sized animals to meet demands for food, protein and local income.  

Trophy poaching is in its name already; it’s poachers who hunt just for the fun of it. Medicinal poaching is somewhat similar to ivory poaching, but it’s where some individuals believe that certain parts of an animal or plant have some health benefits. Lastly, plant poaching is the process of illegally removing wild plants from their natural habitats. 

All these forms of poaching have brought many animals toward the brink of extinction. Animals such as the black rhino, mountain gorilla and Cross River gorilla are now facing extinction as their populations decline rapidly. There are about 5,500 black rhinos, 300 Cross River gorillas and 1,000 mountain gorillas left in Africa. 

Petitions have been made to help protect these endangered species against poachers and help revive their population in the wild. The African Impact is a petition that has been trying since 2004 to help preserve the African wildlife. The organization provides volunteer opportunities and internships to help inform others about the dangers of poaching and what it has done. By signing this petition or even spreading the word about this program, you are helping to keep Africa’s wildlife alive. 

These animals are not only important for the survival of their species, but for the survival of their entire ecosystem. Killing these animals means that they’ll become just another myth, and it will mean that another beautiful ecosystem falls to poaching. 

Sources:
worldwildlife.org
gorillas.org
boucherlegacy.co.za
savetherhino.org
britannica.com 

Photo credits:
Black rhino - Bernd Dittrich/Unsplash 
Black gorilla - Paula Robinson /Unsplash