US Person told you that the "legal" ivory sale to China some months back would lead to increase in slaughter of elephants for their tusks {Death to Elephants, 7/16/09}. That is exactly what is happening in Kenya's Tsavo National Park. Five elephants have been killed in the Park in the past six weeks reports The Independent. Wildlife officials and conservationists are blaming the increase on the sale of over a hundred tons of stockpiled ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The sale was permitted by the UN under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) despite fierce opposition. British Labor MP Alan Simpson said the sale was "obscene" and "a license to kill". The discredited dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe instigated the first sale of "legal" ivory in 1997 after the miserable trade in elephant parts was officially banned in 1989. Elephants were hunted down mercilessly in the 70's and 80's for the ivory causing their population to collapse from 1.3 million to 625,000 in a decade. The recent victims were found in three different areas of Tsavo with their tusks hacked off. Two suspected poachers were arrested along with a middleman who had already sold the tusks into the illegal trade. Two AK-47s and 38 rounds were confiscated. It is suspected that some of the elephants died a slow death from poisoned arrow wounds. Overall, elephant poaching in Kenya has increased 60% over last year. An official of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said "we believe there is strong correlation between this upsurge and the ivory stockpile sales allowed by CITES." [photo: Mahango National Park, Namibia]