African Ecology by Clive Alfred Spinage

Author:Clive Alfred Spinage
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg

Output had dropped already to a fraction of that in the 1870s, but Emin’s belief that much of this was stored ivory was incorrect. Many elephants were destroyed by ring-firing, Schweinfurth (1873) commented on their destruction and Gordon in 1875 noted many small tusks were collected (Gordon 1881). In 1888 Khartoum’s output was 42 tonnes, and by 1905 it had fallen to 20 tonnes. The Lado enclave, at one time famous for its elephants, was taken over by the Belgian administration in 1894, which according to Beachey (1967) practically denuded the area of elephants.

If in 1894 Zanzibar was supplying the same proportion of African ivory to Europe as it was in 1879–1883 (about 20%) the annual crop would have been about 75,000, based on an average tusk weight at Zanzibar for that year of 8.5 kg (Anon. 1894). In 1889 Europe had already received 100 tonnes less (Brehm 1891) and 1899 saw a further marked drop, Mombasa’s export falling to 46 tonnes (Beachey 1967). The necessity for regulations to control killing had been mooted in 1891 and introduced in German East Africa in 1896. These made it illegal to possess tusks under 6.35 kg in weight.2 Regulations were introduced into Uganda and the East African Protectorate in 1897 which forbade shooting of cows and possession of tusks less than 4.6 kg. In 1905 the minimum weight was raised to 13.6 kg and lowered again in 1933 to 5 kg.

But trade continued and the Antwerp market averaged 18,500 elephants/year between 1895 and 1906 (Schillings 1906), while Khartoum’s export was equivalent to about 2,500 elephants in 1905 with an average tusk weight of only 4 kg. It was estimated in 1911 Europe still took 600–800 tonnes/year (Bland-Sutton 1911). Britain was probably using 265 tonnes of this, continuing to do so until after 1918 when the figure was 250 tonnes (Blunt 1933). Hone (1933) suggested the London market was still taking about 250 tonnes/year in 1933 with an average tusk weight of 6.25 kg (20,000 elephants). In 1840–1850 London had taken an average of 306 tonnes/year, and from 1850 to 1890, 536 tonnes/year.

In 1900 Grogan and Sharp wrote, “In the greater part of Africa the elephant is now a thing of the past; and the rate at which they have disappeared is appalling. Ten years ago elephant swarmed in places like British Central Africa, where now you will not find one”. This did not apply to parts of Uganda. They estimated there must have been 15,000 in Toro, but in 1874 ivory had been described as “abundant and cheap” in Kavirondo and 20 years later the supply was exhausted. The first ivory trader is believed to have visited Turkana in north-east Uganda in the early 1880s, and by 1896 the district had become well known to traders. However in the 1880s–1890s the trade was small and restricted, and in 1897 one Swahili trader considered himself lucky to get about 10 tonnes’ worth, no other trader having been there for 3 years although they had begun to enter the area about 1889 (Barber 1968).

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