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Bazuki Muhammad / Reuters
Malaysian customs officers on Wednesday show elephant tusks smuggled inside wood planks.
Some 1,500 African elephant tusks — the biggest seizure ever — were found this week hidden within timber planks and destined for China's ivory market. Shocked conservationists noted 2012 will now go down as the worst year in 24 years of records — and warned that 2013 could be even worse.
"In 2011 we thought the threats to elephants couldn't get any worse and 2012 draws to a close with the depressing news that the slaughter of elephants hasn't even drawn close to their zenith," said Jason Bell, who runs the International Fund for Animal Welfare's elephant program. "The illegal trade is simply voracious in its appetite for ivory."
Hidden in 10 crates shipped in two cargo containers, the tusks were found Monday by Malaysian customs officials at the port near Kuala Lumpur. The shipment had come from Togo in West Africa.
The tusks weigh about 20 tons, nearly as much as all that was seized in 2011 — a year when an estimated 25,000 elephants were slaughtered for their tusks. For all of 2012, about 34 tons have been seized.
Ivory can fetch up to $1,000 a pound, the World Wildlife Fund said in a new report on poaching of elephants, rhinos and tigers.
"The bloody ivory trade has reached new heights of destruction and depravity in 2012," echoed Will Travers, head of Born Free USA.
"No part of Africa is now safe," he added. "Across the continent, for the first time, the number of carcasses recorded as a result of poaching exceeds the number reportedly dying from natural causes."
The groups worry that the start of Africa's dry season will fuel a new round of poaching in the coming weeks. Since 1979, when Africa still had an estimated 1.3 million elephants, the population has declined to an estimated 450,000 in 2007, according to the group Save the Elephants.
Some 150 armed Sudanese men were seen riding on camels and horses across the Central African Republic a few weeks ago and locals suspect they were looking for elephant herds, according to a report on nationalgeographic.com.
Conservationists fear another massacre like the one in Cameroon earlier this year when some 600 elephants inside a national park — half the local population — were killed.
The tusks from that slaughter were never recovered, Bell noted.
A poaching resurgence has pushed up the price of ivory, resulting in more elephant carnage. But some of the baby elephants orphaned in the wake of such violence will survive -- thanks to the dedication of naturalist Daphne Sheldrick. NBC's Chelsea Clinton reports.
"It is an indication of an illegal industry completely out of control that lawmakers still have no idea where the massive amounts of ivory poached in Cameroon have gone," he said.
The groups urged the international community to fund a protection plan already endorsed by African nations with elephant populations.
Bell said needed actions include "swift DNA identification of seized ivory, so that we know how and where to point our efforts to prevent further poaching and close down transit routes for smuggled ivory."
Related: Religious groups rally to save elephants, rhinos
China's status as an authorized ivory trading nation is also under fire from conservationists, who want it revoked until it can prove that the only ivory traded is from legally authorized stockpiles.
Born Free, for its part, has started an online campaign at bloodyivory.org to build public pressure against China.
As for the latest seizure, Malaysian officials did not make any arrests but are investigating a local trading company involved with the shipment. It could face fines and any individuals found guilty of knowingly trading in the tusks could get up to five years in prison, customs officials said.
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Leave a Comment:
It's just so sad, they're not going to be happy until all the animals are dead, than what? We Americans can't really say that much, we did the same thing to the buffaloes almost hunted them to extinction and for what. At this rate there will be animals for our children. When all the animals are gone, then the world will come to an end. Think about it people.
@pink,
On the other hand, most of us in the U.S. (and several other nations) at least have a better understanding of and concern for how fragile biological systems and species' populations are. Your comment about "almost...to extinction" indicates quite a bit about us as well. True, we have done irreversible damage here in the past 400 years or so, but at least there are quite a few people here willing to do what they can to stop the destruction.
BTW, I've read in a few places that the destruction of bison herds in the late 19th century was done in part as an attempt to invoke hardship on the plains tribes of Native Americans in order to defeat them (yes, they were much better warriors than our Army/Cavalry was in those days). That was a colossaly stupid thing to do, on so many levels, and many of us now recognize the abyssmal nature of that heinous activity. At least we are going in the right direction, I think. We just need to speed it up.
we must try harder to take care of the remaining animals on this planet...
this disgusts me...
Stop giving these damn, filth mongers the money to buy this stuff! Boycott Wal-mart, Target, Sears, all these big chain "American" bull-crappers. Here's a tip: If it's advertised incessantly, it's because it can't stand on it's own. Buy American, if we don't make it, then demand it! Learn where crap comes from! Learn whats in your food! Don't believe what these industries tell you!!!!
-ahhh, sorry for the "crazy guy" rant....
At Walmart and other retailers, there is merchandise made from all over the world including USA. Try reading the tag and if it says Made in China, think twice about not purchasing. I many times never make a Made in China purchase. Try reading. I avoid Pakistan products too.
Drones. We should be using drone airplanes to guard the animals.
We're too busy killing each other to protect animals.
This is driven by demand. The Chinese are idiots. They'll eat and or do anything. Look at all the bizarro things they've done over their history.
just like the war on drugs, if there is a buyer......
Shoot to kill the poachers - put a bounty on their heads.
Ya ain't gonna stop it until you make it deadly / dangerous to do it.
Jail both the shippers and the intended recipients.
if they could they would destroy every last animal and insect...
I wish we could go poacher hunting, now that would be a great reality tv show I would actually watch.
Greed is what drives the poacher. Similar to the greed that motivates our politicians from both parties!
Economic sanctions ? Boycott China ? Boycott their money ? Yeah, right. The United States doesn't have the huevos to do that to China- only to countries like Cuba and Iran.
"Ivory can fetch up to $1,000 a pound, the World Wildlife Fund said."
It's truly white gold to China.
Stealing everything from everyone-from intellectual property like music, technologies to small islands, China is not only the biggest thief in the world but also the biggest criminal in the human history. In few more decades, we humankind will have no more elephants left on this planet earth for our future generations to appreciate what nature offered.
It's no wonder why China is trying to use its financial support to influence all the countries of Africa. This is one of the bigger prices that China is targeting.
I think the people that get caught doing this should have their nose cut off. The people that do this is not human, they belong in the jungle.
Another reason to dislike China
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0603_050603_elephants.html
I wish we could arm the elephants!
The penalties need to be worse!!! far, far worse!!
Some commenter writes, "Economic sanctions ? Boycott China ? Boycott their money ? Yeah, right. The United States doesn't have the huevos to do that to China."
Think about this: China's population is only about one billion, the whole worldwide population is about 7 billions, one versus 6.
Also, there's a lot more money flowing in the free world countries like Europe, Japan, Brazil and more. China doesn't own all the money in the world. Besides, China doesn't make anything. China steals almost everything. And that won't last long.
This is really sad. If this keeps up elephants will be extentic within a decade or two. When will these countries get over the using a rare animal resource as something to collect or use as "medicine". With the technology we have today there must be a way to create a synthetic compound exactly like ivory that these countries can use.
When they're gone, they're gone. So sad it's going to happen much sooner than I thought.
The USA gives away billions and billions of dollars in aid to foreign countries that don't appreciate it one damn bit.Why not donate a few armed drones to these countries having the elephant,rhino and tiger slaughters? I'm sure they would appreciate it very much.
Teach them how to use them,supply them with rockets,and let them handle the problem.No countries resources will be needed to try and put the poachers in jail,or to take care of them after they're in jail,if they are splattered all over the countryside from a rocket blast.
It may not take that many rockets,once the word gets out that if you poach,you become part of the scenery.
How ignorant can humankind be to still, in this day and age, think that a tusk could be a cure for something like a limp dick and only a God knows what else.
Just unthinkable that these animals had to die for medieval, unproven, medical cures. Truly a black day for humankind.
Why are Chinese even considered human anymore? Disgusting little trolls.
Ivory also finds its way to the Philippine Islands where it is made into religious items. I saw a picture in a recent National Geographic magazine that showed a man sitting in a rocking chair surrounded by hundreds of items carved from ivory. Sad.
Shame on all the greed of the poachers, shame on all the Chinese feeding this killing frenzy, and shame on all the wealthy of the world that are more concerned with yachts, extra homes and mansions, cars, and so much other un-needed luxuries. The anonymous money spent alone on trying to alter American elections makes the money spent to save our poor animals a mere pittance in comparison. To think our elephants, rhinos, gorillas, bears, and so on, may disappear because of the idiocy of the Chinese...... Shame on China!