Ivory poaching has been a part of history to this present day for over a thousand years. Elephants are under attack and have become grown to be out of control. Hunting elephants has been a dilemma since the 1700’s and had yet to decline. Ivory is a found gold that people in business thrive off the deaths of the elephants. Ivory is used for many religious practices and has become the number one customer. Charities have been created to help stall this process but still faces problems fighting the hunters for their gold. The protection of elephants has actively developed throughout the years but continues to be a controversy. Ivory hunting has been brought to the attention of the world and has forced the government to take more significant steps in protecting these innocent animals. Ivory is a solid, white bony tissue that is found on elephants or is commonly known as tusks. They are referred to as the elephant’s teeth; the ivory is deeply rooted and wrapped in enamel for protection. They serve a variety of purposes: digging, lifting objects, gathering food, stripping bark from trees to eat, and defense (World Wildlife Fund [WWF], 2018). Elephants use their tusks as a source of survival to help them in everyday activities. The tusks also protect the trunk—another valuable tool for drinking, breathing, and eating, among…show more content… Noticing that the ivory was worth much more than expected, the expansion of ivory trade proliferated. With this discovery developing to become a standard event, it started to grow out of control. The history of the ivory trade and the resulting devastation of Africa’s elephant population—from 26 million elephants in 1800 to fewer than one million today (National Geographic [NG], 2013). The expansion of elephant trade made people in the business prosperous, but the world grew to see an issue