Warning: The content in this video is graphic and disturbing. Please exercise discretion.
Here's the single, most compelling argument for stopping the illicit trade in African ivory.
Researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology set up low-frequency recording equipment in Gabon, on the west coast of Central Africa. The sensors were intended to study the way African elephants use low-frequency to communicate with one another in the wild.
But they got more than they bargained for when they inadvertently recorded the horrifying sound of an elephant as it was shot and killed by poachers, Salon reports today.
The recording can be heard in this video from the Wildlife Conservation Society as part of its 96 Elephants campaign, "which takes its name from the rate at which the animals are killed for their ivory each day," Salon reports.
Here's the clip. You may want to use headphones for this one.