where elephants historically occurred but are no longer present in these habitats. reporter: killed for their ivory, in seven short years, up to 2014, elephant numbers dropped by a staggering amount. almost one-third. across africa, their numbers are crashing. if nothing changes, the elephant population will halve in less than a decade. in some areas, they will go extinct. some landscapes we saw more dead elephants than live elephants. it seems like there s a disturbing up tick in the poaching on the borders of botswana and namibia. this one was killed just a few days ago. three days. three days, max. and you can smell it all the way from here. wow. he was spectacular. look how big he was. this is awful. in fact, not even three days. there you have a clear evidence
a way. that is allowing this idea how can it be done in a way that ensures that the elephants are not going to be killed to extinction well when you look at the history of thoughts one has conservation policies from independence in 1966 to the hunting down in 2014 the elephant population went up from under 50000 elephants to somewhere in the region of 132160000 elephants and that was while hunting was taking place so hunting far from damaging the elephant population create conditions in which local people tolerated other terms there was less there was still human elephant conflict but less local people were opposed to poaching because if they were selling the hunting quotas they didn t want poachers coming in killing their wildlife and so the system worked and
growing here nature reserves are fenced in and equipped with manmade watering. protected and well provided for the elephant population has flourished so much so that they ve become a problem the elephants stripped trees and shrubs naked often uprooting them in the process and destroying the habitat other animals and plants in the park rely on. elephants are particularly partial to one of the park s largest trees the roula. trees are a highly sought after tree by elephants and that s because they ve got a lot of forage for the elephants and we re seeing a lot of impact on these trees and for example in this study site here we ve seen a decline of around thirty five percent of the military since elephants have being in the system trees are very important in our ecosystems they provide a lot of fish for species they provide habitat and so we know them as a keystone species the elephants often flatten number of the trees just so they can
that s right. asked extremely emotionally charged in part because the science isn t settled yet. the whole question centers around whether or not big-game hunting actually helps support conservation efforts. it really depends on the location on how well these programs are implemented. bret: the president tweeting: put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as i review all conservation facts. under study for years. will update soon with secretary zinke. that was the 17th. big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of elephants or any other animal. is it, how does it affect the elephant population, places like zimbabwe, zambia. from zimbabwe, it was one of the most popular spots for americans to go and hunt
push to him to help educate him perhaps about the elephant population in zambia and zimbabwe. what do you want him to know right now about the population, the consistent problem of poaching, conservation overall? unlike so many species that sportsman have helped bring back across the u.s., things like deer and water fowl and wild turkeys, the pressure is on because of the poaching, because of the ivory trade, is so much greater. the technology being used by poachers today is so much more advanced than ten years ago. folks using drones. folk using long-range rifles. it s a very different technology, landscape than before. we really can t afford to have these populations decrease any further if we hope to have them live for future generations and right now we re trying to get every kid in this country inspired to care about elephant conservation, because if we do that, hopefully we can get kids to care about a whole range of species, things like monarch