Over Poached Animals: on the Verge of Extinction

African Rhinos

There are two types of African Rhinos, the black rhino and the white rhino. Both of these animals are illegally poached for the horn on their nose. This horn when ground up is prized for its healing ability in Chinese medicine and is most prized as a dagger handle in the Middle-East. The population of these animals have dwindles to 6% of what they were about 100 years ago. The only part of the rhino that the poachers take is the horn, they just cut it off, wrap it up, and leave the body just lying out there. The horn is sold on the black market and usually fetches a very high price. But if you get caught with a rhino horn in Africa, then you are in big, big trouble. The African government will probably break the law itself by beating you down and then throwing you in jail.

Minke and Grey Whales

Norway and Japan are two countries that have been fighting for their right to hunt these whales. Both of these countries have been hunting whales for hundreds, or thousands of years. It is a huge part of their food culture. But the hunting of whales was made illegal about 10 years ago. People still poach these animals for their blubber which is eaten in Japan and their meat with is made into sushi and steaks in both Norway and Japan. Whale meat costs a whole lot of money on the black market fetching up to $250 a pound. (Most whales weigh about three tons.) People have been poaching these whales so much that they are on the highly-endangered list. If the level of poaching that is going on now continues than these two species of whales will likely be extinct.

Elephants

The population of elephants has declined massively over the years. This is due to the overboard poaching of this animal. Most of this poaching occurs in Africa. Many Africans are I such poverty that they don't have time to think about animal conservation and they will try anything to make a quick buck to help out their family. Elephant meat is worth about $5.50 a pound, and one elephant has about 1000 pounds of edible meat. They are mostly hunted for their ivory because it is much easier to kill an elephant and to cut off its tusks and not get caught than it is to butcher the whole thing and not get caught. The ivory can be sold for about $14.00 a pound making them around $200. The average African makes $1 a day, therefore this is a very easy way to make money. Both the meat and the ivory are on high demand in the black market making it even more tempting for these African people to poach elephants. But if this over poaching continues than elephants will be extinct very, very soon.