Ivory poaching on the rise thanks to Asian demand and a legal loophole

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Tranquillising elephants to remove their tusks does not ensure their survival. Elephants tusks are teeth, they have nerve endings & blood vessels. There is a large amount of ivory that is attached inside the head and attached to the skull, which has to be carved out of the head in order for the tusks to to be completely removed. Whether completely removed or sawn off part way down, the wound can become badly infected, needless to say extremely painful. This can (and is likely to) lead to a slow and torturingly painful death due to spread of infection, loss of health, inability to feed comfortably and it affects the usual behaviour of an elephant (they use their tusks for digging up soil at salt licks, ripping off bark from trees, for resting a heavy trunk, and as weapons). Their tusks can be removed under sedation, but is only successful for the animals survival if carried out by properly trained Veterinary Surgeons and elephant specialists.

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