Newsgroups: bit.listserv.biosph-l
Date:         Thu, 13 Aug 1992 09:20:49 EDT
Reply-To:     "Norman C. Saunders" <NYS@NIHCU.BITNET>
From:         "Norman C. Saunders" <NYS@NIHCU.BITNET>
Subject:      Elephant populations stabilizing
X-To:         biosph-l@ubvm.BITNET, NZPEM001@SIVM.BITNET,
              chuckw%evax2@arizona.edu, David.A.Merker@mac.dartmouth.edu,
              LLARSON@PUCC.BITNET, econet@igc.org

Fish and Wildlife Service
For release August 10, 1992


Georgia Parham  202-208-5634


            African Elephant To Remain Listed As Threatened;
                  Conservation Efforts Prove Effective


   Citing significantly  reduced threats  to elephants  as a  result  of
international conservation  efforts, the  Department of  the  Interior's
U.S. Fish  and Wildlife  Service has announced the African elephant will
remain listed  as threatened  rather than  be reclassified to endangered
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

   John Turner,  Service director,  said new information obtained during
the public  comment period on a 1991 proposed reclassification indicates
that  enhanced   protection  and   the  current  ivory  trade  ban  have
drastically reduced the illegal kill of elephants.

   Widespread poaching  for ivory  during  the  1970's  and  1980's  was
severely impacting  elephant populations  in much  of their  range.   In
1989, the  Bush Administration imposed a moratorium on ivory imports and
the Service  submitted a  proposal to  the Convention  on  International
Trade in  Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to list the
species as Appendix I which was adopted later that year.

   In 1991,  the Service  proposed to  reclassify  most  populations  of
African elephants as endangered, a status indicating a species likely to
become extinct.

   "We knew  it would  take time  to see  how elephant populations would
respond to  international conservation  efforts," said  Turner, "and our
1991  proposal   acknowledged  this.    The  final  rule  retaining  the
threatened status  reflects both the success of the U.S.-led ivory trade
ban in  reducing poaching  pressure as  well as the improved management,
law enforcement,  and  general  protection  programs  underway  in  most
African countries.  Today, I am encouraged by these conservation efforts
and pleased reclassification to endangered is not necessary."

   The Service's  decision, to  be published  in  the  August  10,  1992
Federal Register,  still prohibits  the import of African ivory into the
United States,  underlining the 1989 ban imposed by President Bush under
the African Elephant Conservation Act (AECA).

   Interstate trade  in ivory  legally imported  before the  1989 ban is
permitted, as  is the  importation of  sport-hunted elephant trophies as
long as strict CITES permit conditions and AECA requirements are met.

   In making  its  final  determination,  the  Service  considered  more
complete  information  on  elephant  conservation  programs  in  African
countries, updates  on poaching activity, and reports from a CITES panel
of elephant  experts that  became available  at the  CITES conference of
parties  held  last  March.    This  information  indicates  that  over-
exploitation of  elephants, which so severely affected their populations
in the  1970's and  1980's, has  been controlled  through  anti-poaching
campaigns, assisted  by the  ivory ban.   Many elephant populations have
stabilized and some are increasing.

   Turner noted  that the  dramatic reduction  in illegal elephant kills
and the stabilization in elephant populations occurred while the species
was listed  as threatened,  and the level of protection afforded by that
designation will continue.

   The current African elephant population numbers approximately 600,000
animals occupying  about 2 million square miles of habitat.  As in 1978,
when the  African elephant  was first listed as threatened, habitat loss
continues to  affect the  species.  Habitat in west African countries is
fragmented, and  habitat  loss  still  occurs  throughout  much  of  the
elephant's range  due to  the pressures  of increasing human populations
and agricultural encroachment.

      ===========================================================

The foregoing information is provided as a service of The Osprey's Nest,
a computer  bulletin board run for birders by birders.  It is located in
Colesville, MD,  a suburb  of Washington,  D.C.   The system answers the
phone at  300, 1200, or 2400 baud, with communications parameters set at
8N1.   The Osprey's Nest phone number is (301) 989-9036 and it is avail-
able 24  hours per  day, 7  days per  week.   The bulletin board is also
accessible via PC Pursuit.

The Osprey's  Nest is not in any way associated with the U.S. Department
of Interior or the Fish and Wildlife Service.  The opinions expressed in
this press release are generally not those of the system operator of The
Osprey's Nest.
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