Describe an animal that people are working to protect. Explain why it Essay

Describe an animal that people are working to protect. Explain why it should be protected - Essay Example Currently, scientists are estimating that more than 2000 animals are at a risk of extinction with African elephants and rhinos being at the top of the list. Most recent findings have shown that about 20 percent of Africa’s elephants could be killed in the next one decade if proper and swift measures are not taken (Faure para3-8). The main cause of the dramatic reduction in the population of African elephants is illegal poaching and human encroachment to the animals’ habitats. According to a report that was released by the Elephant Summit in Botswana as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, more than 22,000 elephants were illegally killed across Africa in 2012 alone, which was a reduction from the previous year where more than 25,000 elephants had been killed. Illegal poaching was found to be more acute in the Central and Eastern African regions where estimated poaching rate was reported to be twice the continental average. Poachers use crooked methods in killing this endangered species such as shooting the animals as well as poisoning them. For instance, in September 2013 cyanide was used to kill more than 300 elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park and led to what was termed as the â€Å"worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years.† This are worrying figures considering the fact the continent has about 500,000 elephants and they can easily be depleted in the next one decade if the current poaching rate is not curbed. The rate of poaching had initially dropped though the exercise has started to boom at an alarming rate. In the past century, African elephants were about to get depleted through illegal poaching whereby an estimated 100,000 elephants were being killed yearly and up to 80% of herds were lost in some regions. In Kenya for instance, the population plummeted by 85% between 1973