David Attenborough Calls On Public To Save African Elephants From Extinction

Legendary wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough has called on the general public to help in the fight to save African elephants from extinction.

The 89-year-old star of numerous BBC documentaries has said that poaching will see the animals die out completely in the next 10 years.

And with the prospect of Africa’s rhinos also facing extinction from poaching, Attenborough wants people to support more charities fighting to save them.

Speaking at a Society of Biology event, Attenborough said: “You have to support conservation charities. They need that.

“I can list them if you wish, but it’s unfair because I won’t be able to list them all because there are lots of them, all working hard and valuably and the world would be a much poorer place if there weren’t those things.”

He said that people would have to “hope” that African elephants do not end up becoming extinct, adding: “To just say ‘no, it’s gonna go’ and wash your hands of it would be awful, awful.”

Attenborough’s comments come as conservationists revealed that the elephant population in Mozambique has dropped by nearly 50% in the last five years because of poaching.

Massive demand for Ivory from countries like China have seen poachers slaughter tens of thousands of African elephants in recent years.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, who were involved in the count in  Mozambique, said that the a mass slaughter had taken place in recent years.

It revealed that elephant numbers had dropped from the already-low figure of 20,000 five years to ago to just 10,300 now.

However, there was better news from Uganda, where the elephant population has increased to more than 5,000 from less than 1,000 decades ago.