Thursday marks World Wildlife Day, which the 68th session of the United Nations General Assemblydesignated as a time to celebrate and raise awareness of the planet’s wild animals and plants. African and Asian elephants will be a main focus of this year’s World Wildlife Day under the 2016 theme, “The future of wildlife is in our hands.” However, people around the globe are always encouraged to highlight wildlife species from their own countries on the March 3 observance.
An estimated 100,000 elephants were slaughtered for their ivory tusks between 2010 and 2012 to meet a growing demand in Asia, where raw tusks sell for around $1,100 per kilogram. Most illegal ivory currently comes from the African elephant. But Asian elephants remain at risk. Thousands of elephants are also taken from their wild habitats and sold in the live elephant trade to be used in the tourism industry in countries like Thailand.

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