Wildlife poaching is creating devastating and unsurmountable effects that are rampant and reaching far corners of the globe. The effects can no longer be ignored. Innocent human lives are being lost, our iconic wildlife is rapidly disappearing from the landscape, terrorist groups are becoming more powerful, our global and national security is at risk, global economy is being affected, the African ecosystem is dying, and here’s why:
Every 15 minutes an elephant is killed for its tusks and every 4 hours a rhino is killed for its horn. That number adds up to 96 elephants a day, 35,040 dead elephants per year and over 2,000 dead rhinos per year. Therefore, elephants and rhinos are getting killed faster than they are able to reproduce. Within the next 10 years, elephants will be extinct and rhinos will be extinct within the next 5 years. As you may know, poaching of wild elephants and rhinos has become a revenue generator for terrorists to fund their activities. One elephant tusk can fetch up to $175,000 and one pound of rhino horn can be sold for as much as $30,000 (1). Through these funds, terrorists have been able to bomb malls and colleges in Africa. One of the terrorist groups, Boko Haram who is located in Nigeria has publicly stated it is easier to generate revenue through poaching than to extort money through hostage situations. Another terrorist group, Al-Shabab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, located in Somalia has approximately 5,000 militants and generates anywhere from $200,000 to $600,000 per month from wildlife trade (2). Trafficking of ivory operates from the hands of transnational organized crime syndicates. As in the case of Yang Feng Glan, who was sent to Tanzania in 1975 as a translator for China when China was helping to build a railway and then began trafficking ivory since 2006 to China. She was recently arrested in Tanzania and has been taken to high court of Dar es Salaam facing a maximum sentence of 20-30 years imprisonment (3.) Due to this aggressive poaching of elephants, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are revising the Endangered Species Act 4 (d) to place elephants on the list of endangered species.
According to National Geographic, the United States is the second largest importer of ivory and rhino horn and as a result of our country importing ivory and rhino horn, we are in effect funding terrorism. In 2012, Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton had stated wildlife terrorism has become a global and national security concern (4). Are we willing to risk our nation’s security if we put this issue on the backburner?
Wildlife trade has become the 4th largest global illegal activity and is a $19 billion dollar industry (4). We can no longer turn our heads and resolve that this is not a global concern. Kathleen Garrigan, spokesperson for African Wildlife Foundation has stated; "What African governments are realizing and what the U.S. government has realized is that this is just not a conservation issue anymore because the money from this ivory is being used to fund terrorist activities and destabilize regions in Africa. These governments realize this is a peace and security issue. The U.S. government has definitely been getting more interested in this because a lot of work the state department does is being undermined by terrorist activities that are partially funded by trade in illegal ivory."
Wildlife poaching is not only destabilizing countries in Africa, it is taking the lives of innocent people trying to help. Game rangers who risk their lives for the sake of their treasured wildlife are not well-equipped and are out-numbered to stand against terrorists and poachers who have sophisticated weaponry. According to Criminal Nature by International Fund on Animal Welfare, it is estimated that between 3,000-5,000 game rangers have lost their lives trying to protect the dwindling wildlife that remains; leaving their wives without a husband and their children orphans. These game rangers are the bread winners for their family. Their loss results in a family desperate for help just to survive. Their loss is due to greed; a person in the United States or Asia bought an ivory trinket to display in their home, seen in many cultures as a status symbol. The demand for ivory and rhino horn is not solely taking a toll on our iconic wildlife, it is directly taking a toll on human life (5).
On a global scale, wild elephants and rhinos influence economy and the ecosystem. Elephants and rhinos in the wild aide in generating billions of dollars in wildlife tourism that serves to help feed the hungry, finance education programs, and enable health-care programs that save lives in Africa (6). In 2012, 63 million tourists visited Africa according to the African Development Bank Group. These tourist dollars are providing support to many people in need of food, education, and health care that they otherwise would not receive.
Elephants and rhinos’ presence in our delicate ecosystem is undeniably paramount in not only maintaining and supporting people who live in Africa but other wildlife as well. According to SOS Elephants, elephants pull down trees and break up bushes to create grasslands for other animals to survive. They dig waterholes in dry river beds that other animals use as a water source as well as creating trails that serve as fire breakers and water run offs (7). Rhinos also help to maintain the ecosystem of Africa. Researchers from South Africa and Scandanavia reported in the Journal of Ecology that rhinos selectively graze on certain grasses, which leaves other types of grass available to other species that would not be able to compete with rhinos for available food sources (8). In addition to rhinos grazing on certain grasses, they leave paths similar to elephants that serve as fire breakers.
As you may see, there is a ripple effect how the rate at which these creatures are getting killed will forecast our national and global security, the delicate ecosystem, and the quality of life for countless people and wildlife. However, raising awareness of wildlife trafficking will also cause a ripple effect in the direction of helping those involved in protecting the wildlife have a chance to be successful in ensuring the wild continue to roam this planet freely for generations to come.
References:
1. Tusk Task Force; www.tusktaskforce.org
2. Washington Times; Terrorists slaughter African elephants, use ivory to finance operations, 2013
3. Elephantleague.org, Queen of Ivory Arrested, 2015
4. IFAW; Criminal Nature, 2013
5. Elephant action league, Human Toll of Willife Crime, 2016
6. blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/06/china-promises-end-to-ivory-trade
7. www.soselephants.com/about elephants
8. www.Smithsonianmag.com
9. Washington Post; China Pledges to end ivory trading – but says the U.S. should, too. 2015
