BBC News, 8
January 2013
Related
Stories
 |
An Asian
appetite for ivory, seen here
in Hong Kong, is fuelling poaching in
Kenya
|
The family
was gunned down on Saturday in the single worst incident of ivory poaching
recorded in the country.
Kenya has
recently taken a more aggressive stance against poaching as it tries to combat
a surge in demand for ivory from Asia.
About 100
elephants are killed each year in Kenya by poachers.
Despite a
long-standing ban on the international trade, ivory from elephants is often
smuggled to Asia for use in ornaments, while rhino horns are used in
traditional medicine.
Saturday's
killings took place in Tsavo National Park, Kenya's largest single continuous
ecosystem, which is home to some 13,000 elephants.
"[It]
shows the great lengths these criminal cartels are ready to go to get ivory.
It's really tragic," Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Udo told
Reuters news agency.
He said the
poaching gang is believed to be made up of 10 people and was being hunted by
rangers on foot and from the air.
In a
statement, the Wildlife Service said that all the elephant carcasses had bullet
wounds.
The Kenyan
government banned trade in ivory in 1989, and levels of elephant poaching
subsequently declined, but there has been a rise in the illegal practice in
recent years.
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