was preparing to reverse the ban on elephant trophies, conservationists sounded alarm. it s thrill killing, bragging rights, trophies for a threatened species, the largest land animal in the world. shooting an elephant is like shooting a parked car. there s no sport in it either. from 2007 to 2014, elephant populations in the african savannah plummeted 30%, according to the great elephant census. in some places it s dropped more than 75%, due to ivory poaching. only about 350,000 remain, down from the estimated 20 million that roam the region before africa was colonized by european countries. but the rational from fish and wildlife was it would help elephants, legal, we well-regularitied sport hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit the conservation of certain species
so let s talk this over with rob branford, the executive director of the wildlife trust which rescues elephants. bob, what do you make of all of this? thank you for having us. the situation as we read it is that obviously trump is holding that decision at the moment to lift the ban which is fantastic news. there is a slight concern that he has said holding it with a view to review it, as far as we re concerned in the conser conservation world, any lifting of that ban would be devastating for elephants. governments including the u.s. put a lot of man hours and millions of dollars into the protection of this species. ivory poaching is slightly different, but it s all about saving lines. we re still losing elephants. we lost about 30% in the last ten years of african elephants.
there has been a lot of talk and research done that some of the funds generated from ivory poaching and again i stress ivory approaching is different to legal hunting. some of the funds from ivory poaching have gone to recognized terrorist organizations and that i believe is what the are from the house said on a day when trump reversed the decision, royce said now is the wrong time to be doing this and he himself cited the issue with funds from the ivory trade going into terrorism and therefore it being a question of national can security for the u.s. again, poaching different than hunting. very. but let me ask you about this, because this is an issue that has at least a personal connection to the trump family. his sons eric and donald jr. were photographed with big game trophies in 2012 after a hunting trip. trump speaks openly about his family s history of hunting. what do you think is behind his indecision on this ban? do you think that there is a
more than 75% due to ivory poaching. only about 350,000 remain from the estimated 20 million that roamed the region before africa was colonized by european countries. in 2014 the u.s. government specifically banned the import of elephant trophies from zambia and zimbabwe, two popular destinations for big game hunts, because the obama administration administration said their governments were failing to protect the endangered animals. as far as zimbabwe goes, it s also a bizarre time to do this with the country in upheaval. the military just took over the government there and the trump administration is arguing that the government in zimbabwe is in a position to ensure hunting and conservation efforts are well governed. don? brianna, thank you so much. when we come back, is there any merit to arguments that legal, regulated hunting can benefit elephant populations or will the already dwindling populations shrink even more? i m going to ask wildlife expert jeff corwin. that s next. if y
paul ban ba, now the head of safari club international, the main champion of the elephant ban reversal. the move is questionable considering elephant populations plummeted 30% from 2007 to 2014 according to the great elephant census. in some places it has dropped more than 75% due to ivory poaching. only about 350,000 remain from the estimated 20 million that roamed the region before africa was colon iced by european countries. in 2014ment u.s. government specifically banned the import of elephant trophies from zambia and zblim ban with a, two popular destinations for big game hunts because the obama administration administration said their governments were failing to protect the endanger erred animals. as far as zblim ban with a goes it s also a bizarre time with the country in over hooefl. the military just took over the government there and the trump administration is arguing that