2010 'Disastrous year for elephants' with 2500 killed for ivory

2010 had been a disastrous year for elephants, perhaps the worst since ivory sales were banned in 1989 to save the world’s largest land animals from extinction.
A record number of large seizures of elephant tusks represents at least 2,500 dead animals and shows that organized crime - in particular Asian syndicates - is increasingly involved in the illegal ivory trade and the poaching that feeds it, the group said.
Some of the seized tusks came from old stockpiles, the elephants having been killed years ago. It’s not clear how many elephants were recently killed in Africa for their tusks, but experts are alarmed.