Kenya Wildlife Service rangers move an elephant during a translocation exercise in Kenya, amid threats from poaching and habitat loss. Elephant hunting, which used to be an accepted activity in Kenya, was banned in 1973, as was the ivory trade. Illegal hunting continues, as there is still an international demand for elephant tusks. Kenya pioneered the destruction of ivory as a way to combat this black market. Elephant poaching continues to pose a threat to the population. According to the American hunter Craig Boddington, elephant hunting was made illegal in Kenya in 1973 and all animal hunting without a permit in 1977.
By the late 1970s, the elephant population was estimated around 275,000, dropping to 20,000 in 1989.[8] Between 1970 and 1977, Kenya lost more than half of its elephants. In the 1970s, Ngina Kenyatta (Mama Ngina), wife of then-President Jomo Kenyatta, and other high-level government officials were allegedly involved in an ivory-smuggling ring that transported tusks out of the country in the state private aeroplane. New Scientist claimed that there was now documentary proof that at least one member of "Kenya's royal family" (the Kenyatta) had shipped over six tons of ivory to China. In the 1970s, 1900 elephants were killed in Kenya for their ivory tusks, increasing to 8300 elephants in the 1980s.
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