IN AFRICA: POACHING OF WILD ELEPHANTS: Compared to the 1970s, the elephant population has declined by 70%. Each year, up to 30,000 elephants are illegally slaughtered by poachers, both for their skin and for their ivory. In Central Africa, there has been a 62% decline in elephants in only 9 years, and in Mozambique and Tanzania respectively -48% and -60% in 5 years. It is the ivory markets (decoration and jewellery) that create this demand and are at the origin of this transnational traffic. To capitalize on this demand, criminal networks are becoming increasingly involved in the illegal ivory trade. The WWF estimates that each year there is a loss of $25 million in tourism revenue in Africa due to elephant poaching. At this rate of extermination, in 15 years there will be no wild elephants left in Africa. In Europe, the European Commission has taken steps to end the ivory trade in the European Union at the end of 2021, but some exceptions remain, and in Asia no steps are being taken to actively combat this trade. Another difficulty is that these gangs are internationally organized and therefore operate across borders. They easily escape sanctions in the country of origin. And when a gang is located, the punishment is usually derisory. For example, "Save the Forest" obtained information from an interview with the Virunga National Park administration that poachers who are arrested are released after three days at the latest. Added to this is the fact that gangs and traders are becoming increasingly subtle. Bones and fur are removed to prevent identification of the elephant. The meat is sold as beef or goat meat. Another problem is the deforestation of virgin forests by multinationals, mostly from abroad, especially China. The sophistication of the forest clearing infrastructure not only allows poachers to penetrate further and further into protected forests, but company employees also buy meat for their own consumption or for resale at a higher price in the surrounding towns and villages. This is essential information, as it shows that the exploitation sectors support each other and create a common prosperity.

IN ASIA: CAPTURING WILD ELEPHANTS FOR MASS TOURISM:In Thailand, Asian elephants are captured in their natural environment at a young age. Elephants are very protective of their offspring. One elephant's calf is also the calf of all the other elephants in the group, and their conservation instinct is one of the strongest in the wild. 1 to 4 elephants are commonly killed to capture a single baby elephant. Once captured, the elephant calf undergoes a training technique called phajaan, to make it forget its basic instincts. A submissive elephant (which has undergone phajaan) is worth between $15,000 and $20,000. The Asian elephant is thus locked up for several days in a small cage. The animal is then taken out to be chained. It is under-nourished and can be, depending on the means available to the "trainer", electrocuted, suffocated, and/or beaten (on the ears, head, joints, cheeks and genitals) with a hammer resembling an ice pick. Approximately one out of two animals dies during the phajaan, the survivors carry the trauma for life and are forced to carry tourists on their backs without rest; they will receive precarious care. They will be tied to an iron chain about 2 m long when they are inactive, and will be beaten if they rebel. Everything the elephant will do for the tourist is unnatural: carrying logs, playing soccer, painting with its trunk (which it needs to breathe). In the wild, an elephant eats 200 kilos of food and drinks 200 liters of water per day in 18 hours. It is easy to understand why this business is a torture. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were about 100,000 elephants in Thailand. Today, it is estimated that there are a little less than 5,000 left (half being "domesticated"). At this rate, the breed could become extinct within 30 years.

IN EUROPE: THE USE OF ELEPHANTS AS CIRCUS ANIMALS: In Europe, circus elephants have the distinction of having been kidnapped as babies, while their parents were being slaughtered for their ivory. This is an essential piece of information, because once again we see that criminal networks have an exponential scope of action and that, yes, the ivory trade also generates other types of exploitation of elephants. Circuses, like zoos, took advantage of the wild until the 1980s, at the cost of slaughter, agony during transport, and all kinds of deprivation.The trauma of being torn away from their families is far from being the only thing that the baby elephants suffer through. They are isolated and kept in traveling structures and spend their lives tied up and locked in trailers during transport. A circus travels up to 10 cities per month, which represents thousands of kilometers each year and long hours without food or water. Added to this is the proximity to other species such as tigers or primates, forced interaction with the audience, loud music and applause, and aggressive lighting during performances.This situation is all the more worrying because elephants are animals with great sensory and emotional sensitivity, comparable to orcas. The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe, which brings together 46 organizations in 38 countries,recommends a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses, stating in a press release dated 06 June 2015: "Their physiological, mental and social requirements cannot be adequately met". Today, only 23 countries have banned circuses with animals (including 9 European countries). Let's remember: Not only do circuses not currently participate in any conservation or preservation of species, but they have also had, like zoos, their share of responsibility in the depopulation of ecosystems. Currently, the use of animals as consumable goods, which are deprived of their freedom and exhibited, only indirectly encourages the exploitation that continues in the wild.