Poaching drives huge 30% decline in Africa's savannah elephants

Ambitious Great Elephant Census finds nearly one-third of continent’s largest elephants were wiped out between 2007-14, largely due to poaching for ivoryPoaching has driven a huge decline in Africa’s savannah elephants with almost a third (30%) wiped out between 2007 and 2014, the first ever continent-wide survey of the species has found.Around 144,000 animals were lost over a seven-year period in 15 African countries, declining at a rate of 8% a year. The population across those cou