Journal five The ivory trade in Africa from Cynthia

Ivory has always been desired. Because it's relative softness made it easy to carve into decorative items for the wealthy or religious purposes.  For the past one hundred years, the ivory trade in Africa has been closely regulated, yet the trade continues to thrive even after facing a number of elephants that have been killed just for their tusks. Ivory just doesn't come from elephants it also comes from hippopotamuses and some whales. In the past years, there has been an increase in ivory but a very noticeable decrease in elephants. Because of the decline in their population, ivory trade has become a threat to all elephants in Africa.

Even if people are trying to put a stop to the ivory trade just to save the elephants. It just doesn't work out no matter what they try to do. Poachers find a way around the system of not getting caught. Why do they do it? Well because people seek to put a stop to it by using dogs that can find ivory. So they mix two different types of ivery together. One type is ivory that is legalized and the second type is the ivory that they collected from their kill of the day, or it could be however many they kill.

This is what poachers do to the elephants.

With poachers doing this and still getting away with it is just wrong. it is not fair that they have to be killed just for something that we find beautiful or just want I because we have the money for it. there are ways of getting ivory the proper way, and that is one wait till they pass away or two tusks brake off. that would be a more humane way to do it but no. in Africa and just like anywhere else in this world that does ivory trade is horrible about it. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/37373034