Obama says that urgent action is needed to save elephants from going extinct

Administration has put resources into finding and prosecuting poachers and agreed with China to place mutual restrictions on the import of ivory

Barack Obama has said that urgent action is needed to save elephants from becoming extinct in the wild, adding that failure to do so would be an "unpardonable loss for humanity and the natural world".

The president said that the US has made "unprecedented progress" in protecting wildlife domestically and helping combat the poaching trade that is decimating elephant numbers in Africa, but that he was concerned that that the trunked beasts could still be wiped out.