Botswana warned Tuesday that elephants were being killed at an "unsustainably high" rate as it prepared to host conferences on poaching of the animals later this month.

"Although the statistics from 2013 and 2014 show a levelling off of poached animals, the numbers are still unsustainably high and if maintained could result in elephants becoming extinct in much of their range," said environment, wildlife and tourism minister Tshekedi Khama.

Ivory poaching has been driven by demand in Asian markets, particularly China.

"The number of elephants killed exceeds the ability of the animals to reproduce, leading to concerns that populations are in decline," Khama said.

Botswana is hosting two major wildlife conferences: the African Elephant Meeting on March 23 and the Kasane Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade two days later.

According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), over 100,000 of the pachyderms were killed across the continent by poachers between 2010 and 2013.

The southern African country itself is home to about 200,000 elephants.

Over 30 heads of state are expected for the talks, where they will review their progress since the first African Elephant Summit in December 2013.

Last month, Beijing imposed a one-year ban on ivory imports, a move wildlife campaigners have criticised as merely symbolic.

Kenyan policeman arrested with illegal rhino horn
Nairobi (AFP) March 10, 2015 –

A Kenyan police officer has been arrested with a piece of illegal rhino horn worth tens of thousands of dollars on the black market, wildlife officials said Tuesday.

Corporal Henry Mokua Onsongo allegedly threatened to shoot the arresting officers from the Kenya Wildlife Service before being overpowered and taken into custody with two other suspects on Monday night. A fourth man fled.

"The man was arrested with a piece of rhino horn weighing 600 grammes," said KWS spokesman Paul Muya.

The policemen and the two other men were caught red-handed as they tried to sell the rhino horn to KWS agents posing as buyers after a tip-off.

Rhino horn is estimated to be worth twice as much as gold at $65,000 per kilogramme on the black market in Asia, where it is believed by some to cure cancer and have medicinal powers.

Conservationists say poachers can make up to $15,000 per kilogramme of rhino horn. Most Kenyans have to work for several years to earn as much.

Poachers often rent automatic rifles from police officers or soldiers for $200 or $300.

At least 59 rhinos and 300 elephants, who are hunted for their ivory, were killed in Kenya in 2013, according to the KWS.

The agency says a thousand rhinos and some 38,000 elephants remain in the east African country.

But other wildlife groups say they believe the actual figures are much lower, and that impunity and corruption are to blame for the continued illegal wildlife trade.