January 25, 2015

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The elephant poaching business in numbers

From the pittance paid to local poachers to a multi-billion dollar industry, here are some of the key numbers related to Africa's endangered elephants:

$100: The amount local poachers, often from the impoverished villages that border and reserves, are paid for a kilo of ivory in Kenya, according to AFP sources.

$2,100: The amount a kilo of raw ivory sells for at market in China, according to Save the Elephants.

13,000: The estimated in Tanzania's Selous reserve in 2013, according to TRAFFIC.

70,000: The estimated elephant population in Tanzania's Selous reserve in 2007, according to TRAFFIC.

100,000: The number of African elephants killed by poachers between 2010 and 2013, according to scientific research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

420,000-650,000: The number of African elephants left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

42 TONNES: The estimated weight of ivory intercepted in large-scale (over 500-kilo) seizures in 2013, according to wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. This figure represents a street value of $88.2 million.

$19 BILLION: The total value of the global illegal , according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

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