The latest census of elephants in Tanzania shows a drop of just over one percent since 2014, when a rapid drop of 60 percent in five years was recorded.
Some areas in northern Tanzania show elephant numbers rising while southern Tanzania is still deep in the red; the report also indicates traces of poaching are still evident.
The Tanzanian elephant population has dropped by just over one percent since 2014, says a recent report. Experts have warned that the African elephant could be wiped out in 20 years. Photo: Daniel Hayduk
According to the Citizen, Natural Resources and Tourism minister Jumanne Maghembe criticized the report as misleading.
“It is misleading to allude that Tanzania is not seriously waging the war against killers of elephants. We have done a lot and the number of elephants has started increasing not dropping as depicted in the report,” says Maghembe.
The census was compiled by spotters flying in planes crisscrossing nearly 500,000 kilometers across 18 countries — that’s further than flying to the moon.
Across the continent, there has been a 30 percent decline in elephant population between 2007 and 2014.
There are 352,271 African elephants left.
