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Drastic decline in wild elephant numbers due to poaching

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Media caption,

Leah has been finding out more about the illegal ivory trade.

The future of wild elephants is under threat and the number being killed for their tusks has risen dramatically.

It's estimated that an elephant is killed in Africa every 15 minutes by poachers.

Media caption,

Mark Lowen reports on the decline in wild elephants in Kenya

Thirty years ago Kenya had almost 170,000 elephants. Today only around 30,000 remain.

Hunters sell their tusks to countries like China, where some people believe ivory has healing powers.