Researchers believe that since 2010 an average of nearly 35,000 elephants have been killed annually on the continent. The researchers have found that between 2010 and 2013, Africa lost an average of 7% of its entire elephant population each year.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28842965
"Because elephant births boost the population by about 5% annually, this means that overall more of the animals are being killed than are being born. We are talking about the removal of the oldest and biggest elephants. That means removal of the primary breeding males and removal of family matriarchs and mothers. This leaves behind orphaned juveniles and broken elephant societies."
