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Tania Sarabia
Professor Lynda Haas
Writing 37
March 8, 2015
Poaching Effects
The number one leading cause of the near extinction of African elephants is poaching, the
act of illegally hunting wild animals, usually on land that is not ones own. Elephants tusks are
composed of ivory and that is what poachers are primarily in search for. Elephant ivory is
commonly used in large amounts to make piano keys, chopsticks, and other items that consumers
value nowadays. According to Pro Wildlife, every 14 minutes one elephant dies because of
poachers. A conservationist and long-time ranger, Rory Young claims that if the slaughter
continues there will not only be anymore ivory, but elephants will cease to exist. Kathleen
Gobush, who conducted a research on elephants with the Center of Conservation Biology of the
University of Washington, focuses on the specific of effects of poaching that lead to the decline
in the African elephant population. Research and statistics show that poaching is contributing to
the extinction of elephants in Africa; experts in the field, however, agree that its greatest impact
is in the social and physiological functions of the elephants.
One particular aspect of elephant poaching that authorities focus on is how the death of
so many elephants has changed the social structure of the kinships. Poachers target herds of
elephants, hovering in helicopters over a specific area and dropping grenades or shooting from
up high with their AK-47s and then come down and cut off their tusks with machetes or axes.
Other elephants in the herd witness the gruesome killing and are left traumatized, says Gay

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Bradshaw, a psychologist who researches the effects of violence on elephants and other animals
(Young and Hobson). Therefore, the death of a single member of the kin has an impact on the
family and the community as a whole. Elephant packs are generally led by a matriarch.
According to the Kathleen Gobushs doctoral dissertation research, old matriarchs are
particularly vulnerable because their tusks are large and their groups were easier to find than
solitary adult males (Gobush). Females typically stay in their families from birth until death.
Gobush says that a female elephants death is more so disruptive because it effects all members
of the herd. Bradshaw agrees with Gobush because based on her observations from the animal
shelters orphaned elephants have demonstrated the necessary needs and attentions they lack from
their mothers. When the mother is poached, babies dont get the kind of care and mentoring
they need and traditionally receive, and are eventually left orphaned (Young and Hobson).
Charles Siebert, from National Geographic, adds on to the aspect concerning the struggle of
orphaned elephants and states that orphan infant elephants are a challenge to raise because they
remain fully dependent of their mothers until about the age of four. Without a doubt Bradshaw,
Gobush, and Siebert argue that poaching completely disrupts the traditional social structure of
elephants.
Through close studies, experts have witnessed a negative effect on the physiology of
elephants due to poaching. Gobush discovered that there was a connection with the social
disruption and the physiology of elephants. Apparently, stress levels were highest in groups that
lacked an old matriarch (Gobush). Also, the social bonds resulted to be weaker. The increase in
stress levels can in a way relate back to the studies conducted by Bradshaw about the impacts
that violence has on elephants, to be specific a sustained physiological trauma (Young and
Hobson). Bradshaw adds another aspect to the conversation by describing the similarity humans

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share with elephants when it comes to cognition, consciousness, and especially emotion. If you
look at models of science, says Bradshaw, elephants and humans really share the same
components of structures and the processes (Young and Hobson). Another conclusion of
Gobushs research was that female elephants who lived near areas where poaching was
historically common had fewer young calves (Gobush). According to Gobush and her research
team their findings on the effects that poaching has on the physiology of elephants will result
long term considering the fact that very little has changed throughout the years concerning the
social structure of elephants.
All in all, the effects of poaching are the real factors that are leading to the decrease of the
elephant population in Africa. Poachers are unaware that they are negatively and directly
impacting the lives of elephants. The high demand for ivory is destroying elephants social and
physiology functions. Ivory-seeking poachers are failing to look at the long term consequences
for the mass slaughters they routinely plan out. Without elephants there is no ivory, and that is
the big picture that poachers fail to illustrate in their plans. The extinction of African elephants
can be halted if poachers become aware of the serious effects they are imposing on the elephants
population as a whole. Experts have come to a scientific estimate that if poaching continues to
increase in Africa elephants will become extinct by 2020, five years from now to be exact.

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Work Cited
Gobush, Kathleen. "Effects of Poaching on African Elephants." Center for Conservation
Biology. N.p., 2009. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.
Siebert, Charles. "Orphan Elephants." - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine.
N.p., Sept. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.
Young, Robin, and Jeremy Hobson. "Psychologist Says Elephants Suffer Post-Traumatic
Stress." Here Now RSS. N.p., 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.