The Poaching and Eating of Animals

Poaching is the hunting or killing of animals that are not either in season to be hunted or are protected by animal rights laws. There are many hunting laws and seasons that one has to comply with in their own country. Many countries have outlawed the hunting of animals that are close to extinction. Other countries; such as the United States use hunting to control the numbers of animals whose numbers are more than plentiful. There are many reasons for poaching, mostly financially motivated. The costs or effects of Poaching can be deadly not only to the animals themselves but also to human beings. There are measures being taken to stop and regulate the act of poaching.

There are many reasons why animals are poached, food, the Ivory of their tusks, Witchcraft and, Medicinal purposes, and just for their skins or furs. Some animals such as the Gorilla and other primates in Africa are being hunted for their meat, so that families and tribes can eat. These same animals along with the wild cats, such as Lions and Leopards, Elephants, hyena, and buffalo are considered to be sources of what is called bush meat. These animals are killed, skinned and striped of their meat to be smoked and shipped to restaurants in Africa, Asia and Europe. The Asian and African Elephants are hunted for the ivory of their tusks. More than 2,500 tusks and 14,600 pieces of ivory were seized worldwide between January 1, 2000 and May 21, 2002. That might not seem like a lot but that equals out to over 2,000 dead elephants, in less than a year and a half.

In some African tribes animals are thought of as having magical and medicinal value. Many tribes in the Congo believe that the leopard is a highly magical creature and is killed so that the witch doctors can wear the skins to show just how magically powerful they are. Other animals are used as sacrifices to cleanse away bad omens or curses. If it is a dry year the gods might require an animal's blood in order to grant the rains to come. If you have skin disease you could digest a Lion's liver- be careful though that same liver is used to poison rival tribe members. Snakes are beheaded so that the venom from their fangs could coat an arrow tip or two, by the Mbuti pygmies of the West Uganda and East Congo.

The seals on the eastern coastline of North America are culled at a number of 180,000 a year. These seals are clubbed to death for designer purse manufacturing companies. Fishermen in the area are frustrated by the vast number of seals eating or scaring the fish away.

Extinction! This is the obvious effect of poaching, however there are other effects. Diseases, and the disruption of the animal's social abilities; especially in the African elephant. The elephants that are most sought after are the ones with the longest tusks. Those elephants are typically the longest living female matriarchs. Elephants are very social creatures and weave a very tight bond with each other. Matriarch elephants are the glue of that social bond, they are the leaders, and are relied upon by the rest of the herd for keeping the family together. When a matriarch elephant is killed for her tusks, her youngest offspring typically died along with her. The older sisters of the heard were left orphaned and either ended up rooming alone or eventually began bonding with another herd.

The eating of the bush meat and of the primates in the African Congo is believed to have brought about the Ebola virus. The people who eat or have eaten from the monkeys, and gorilla contracted the virus and then passed it on to other human beings. An outbreak of Anthrax in 2000 is thought to be linked to the eating of infected animals that were being transported from Queen Elizabeth National Park

In Uganda alone the population of the elephant, Rhino, and Hippopotamus have dwindled down to either near