Elephants face extinction

The slaughter of Africa's elephants and the illegal trade in ivory in China are "out of control" and could push wild elephants extinction within a generation, conservationists said Tuesday.

Soaring quantities of ivory are being sold in rapidly growing numbers of shops in China, with over 100,000 elephants killed from 2010 to 2012, the joint report read from the campaign groups Save the Elephants and The Aspinall Foundation.

"Skyrocketing demand for ivory in China -- the wholesale price of raw elephant tusks has tripled in just four years since 2010 -- have sparked a booming trade in smuggled ivory that is driving the unsustainable killing of elephants in Africa," said the report released in the Kenyan capital.

Organised crime syndicates and rebel militia increasingly use poaching to fund insurgencies, reaping the benefits of multi-billion-dollar demand, it added.

The report comes a day after Britain's Prince William, visiting the United State, sought US President Barack Obama's support for his campaign to end illegal wildlife trafficking.

China is making efforts to stem the trade, the report's authors said, but added that the measures were not going far enough.