not have to kill these poor animals just to get their ivory . Elephants first started
heading towards extinction in the 1980s . Before that in the beginning of the 19th
century , piano sales were booming . Middle-class Americans and Europeans had an
increase in prosperity opening gateways to buying pianos and the instruction of them .
The piano had begun to appear in many public places such as hotels and schools .
Piano production rose up to 310,000 annually . Each piano also needed more than a
pound of ivory to be made . That is why the number of elephants declined so fast in
the 19th century .
Some Illegal and Scary Situations
There has been lots of illegal activity and attacks to get ivory .
In New York
City ’ s sparkling diamond district , a jewelry store was found discreetly selling ivory .
Also there was a mass attack on the elephants in January of 2012 .
Hundreds of
raiders came on horseback carrying AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades . Entire
families of elephants die in the mass killing .
This is a nightmare not just for
elephants that witnessed the killing or survived , but also for the people that worked at
the facility , Chad ’ s Zakouma National Park , where the elephants were slaughtered .
I did a survey on a hundred people to see if they were aware that there were only two
species of elephants left in this world and did they think that it would be a very big
impact on the environment if elephants were extinct . Not very many people knew
that fact , but luckily , they did think it would have an impact on the environment and
now they are more aware . With elephants extinct , the food chain might be messed
up . Some lions might be in need for some food and a lone elephant might be weak