'Elephants in the Dust' report - UNEP

ILLEGAL KILLING OF AFRICAN
ELEPHANTS – TRENDS
AND DRIVERS
The last seven years have seen a clear increase in the level of elephant poaching across all
African sub-regions. The year 2011, and probably also 2012 saw an all-time high in poaching
since systematic monitoring began more than a decade ago. It is estimated that in 2011,
approximately 7.4 per cent of the total elephant populations in elephant sites across Africa
were killed illegally. These sites represent 40 per cent of the total African elephant population,
which means that 17,000 elephants were killed in these sites alone.
TRENDS IN POACHING
The data compiled by the CITES – MIKE Programme (see box
for more information) is used to measure trends in levels of
illegal killing of elephants and is currently the best quantitative
data available on the illegal killing of elephants in Africa.
The MIKE Programme bases its analyses on data collected by
conservation area rangers on the ground in 60 sites spread
across 31 African elephant range States in all four sub-regions.
The rangers collect detailed data on all elephant carcasses they
come across, including the cause of death, age and sex of the
animal, and the location and state of the carcass. The information
reported to MIKE is used to calculate the Proportion of Illegally
Killed Elephants (PIKE) from that site, which is defined
as the total number of illegally killed elephants found divided
by the total number of carcasses encountered per year for each
site. The PIKE value ranges from 0.0 (all carcasses identified as
natural deaths) to 1.0 (all carcasses identified as illegally killed).
A PIKE value of 0.5, for example, would mean that half the carcasses
encountered on patrol were identified as illegally killed.
Although the projected trends based on these estimates are
only representative of poaching in MIKE sites, the total number
of elephants currently estimated to occur at these sites is
more than 230,000, which represents 40 per cent of the total
The Monitoring the Illegal Killing of
Elephants Programme
The Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) Programme,
which was established in 1997 following the CITES
COP 10 in Harare, Zimbabwe, is tasked with collecting and
disseminating information on trends in elephant poaching
across African and Asian range states. The objective
of MIKE is to establish a standardized monitoring system
and to measure trends in the illegal killing of the African
and Asian elephants. The information collected is used to
inform decision-making regarding elephants.
MIKE data comes from the information received from
ground patrols in designated MIKE sites, which include protected
area s and other elephant range areas. When the rangers
come across an elephant carcass, they identify the cause
of death as either natural or killed by humans by looking for
bullet holes and missing tusks. They also take note of the
site’s GPS coordinates and fill in standardized carcass forms
that are then submitted to the MIKE Programme. Although
there is room for improvements in the quantity and quality of
data submitted to MIKE, rangers have so far collected data on
more than 9,000 carcasses and reported to MIKE, providing
a substantial statistical input for further analysis.
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