Elephants have roamed the African savannah for 50 million years, but if the escalating poaching problem isn’t stopped, elephants could be extinct in 12 years.

Elephants have roamed the African savannah for 50 million years, but if the escalating poaching problem isn’t stopped, elephants could be extinct in 12 years.

That information comes from Daphne Sheldrick who runs the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.

She also said that on the African continent every 15 minutes an elephant is slain for its ivory tusks.

Ivory has been banned worldwide for quite some time, but last year alone 36 thousand African elephants were killed for it.

Trinkets made from the material remain popular in many areas in the Far East, and customs officials have been reporting significant seizures of tusks and objects.

In Kenya, two recent raids turned up 4 and-a-half tons of ivory that was headed for the black market.

At about the same time, officials in Hong Kong confiscated over 1100 tusks.

Ms. Sheldrick said that only about 10 percent of what is being introduced to the market is discovered by authorities.

She urges people to stop buying anything made of ivory, even if it’s legal and predates the global ban.