Ivory Trade Loopholes Close as Nations Race to Crush Poachers
A proposal by the European Union would match U.S. and China bans. But given recent record seizures, it may be too late for elephants.
As countries like Kenya and Tanzania stepped up anti-poaching patrols and smuggling enforcement, criminal syndicates shifted their activity to other regions, such as central and southern Africa.
Photographer: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Since the 2000’s, an elephant poaching epidemic has raged across Africa, with populations in some areas decimated and multiple species increasingly at risk of being wiped out by humanity’s lust for ivory.
Currently going for about $3,300 per pound, the global trade in ivory is worth about $23 billion annually, a reality made plain by the gruesome photos of butchered elephants that have become almost commonplace. In recent years, massive seizures of ivory seemed to signal a headlong rush toward extermination.