Poaching of elephants in the national reserve in Samburu, one of the most important and emblematic of Kenya, has skyrocketed in recent years, as it picks up the journal Nature. The highest rate of poaching has been recorded in the first five months of this year and the tracking data of this illegal practice in recent times indicate that there has been more poaching in the last two years and a half than in the previous 11. This is directly related to the rise in the price of ivory on the black market, which has nearly doubled since 2007 and currently is an order of magnitude greater than the 1990s, indicated by three specialists in a communication to the scientific magazine. Most of the illegal ivory in Kenya goes to China, they added. With current local prices, the ivory of the largest elephants hunted furtively in Samburu is equivalent to a year and a half of salary of the park guards or 15 years of income for unskilled workers. Recent catches of ivory have almost tripled illegal in Kenya or from that African country, say experts. Source of the news:: the rise of ivory on the black market threat to elephants