Death whisperers: Elephant poaching for ivory remains unabated

Poachers kill 41 jumbos in 5 yrs; activists warn against India taking a softer stance on international ivory trade

The heartwarming Indian documentary The Elephant Whisperers won the Academy Award for showing the true story of a lovely human-elephant friendship and the pursuit of protecting the latter. Beyond this, however, the reality becomes considerably harsher, with elephants in India still being poached and slaughtered for a piece of 'status symbol': Ivory. 

Despite a nationwide ban on ivory trafficking in India since 1986, the illegal trade of tusks thrives. According to Wildlife Crime Control Bureau data, around 475 kg of raw ivory and 385 ivory artefacts were confiscated from poachers or traders in the country over the past five years