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| News February 26, 2007 | ||||||||
| DNA Test Pinpoints Elephant Poaching, Aiding Conservation | ||||||||
| Genetic evidence could prove key in halting the illegal slaughter of Africa's elephants for their ivory tusks | ||||||||
| By David Biello | ||||||||
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Using microsatellite DNA collected from elephant dung, conservation biologist Samuel Wasser of the University of Washington and his colleagues created a genetic map of the varying elephant populations in Africa. By extracting DNA from the captured tusks, Wasser and his team were able to determine that much of the contraband came from Zambia. "We still can't say for sure that it all came from Zambia," Wasser says. "But certainly the bulk of it did." | |||||
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| Seizures of contraband ivory have been on the rise since
the 1990s; between August 2005 and August 2006, 12 shipments of African
ivory—amounting to 23,461 kilograms (25.86 tons)—were seized on their way
to Asia despite the CITES ban, according to a report published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But report
co-author Bill Clark, a wildlife law enforcement official, estimates that
this amount represents 10 percent or less of the ivory black market,
meaning that as many as 23,000 elephants are being killed annually to fuel
this illegal trade, which can net $750 a kilogram for a high quality tusk.
"There is a legal market out there. CITES only prevents people from
shipping ivory across borders," Wasser notes. "That means that all these
smugglers have to do is get it into the country, then they're home free
and they'll make a killing."
Criminal syndicates, seduced by profits to be made, are not deterred by bans on elephant hunting. Sudanese Janjaweed militias slaughter elephants in Chad, Somali warlords send their soldiers into Kenya to kill elephants and other organized gangs illegally hunt the great mammals throughout Africa, according to Clark. Poorly funded park rangers are no match for the violent, well-organized poachers, who kill law enforcement agents that get in their way. "[Park rangers] are paid the equivalent of $54 a month. A poacher will be getting $40 a kilogram and a typical elephant will yield 10 kilograms of ivory," Clark says. "That's almost a year's salary for a ranger. There's an enormous financial incentive and it's coming from the Far East." | |||||
With ivory prices still rising, Africa's remaining elephants may be in even more jeopardy than they were in 1989. "When you look at the fact that the trade is tracking the price increase, a year from now it is going to completely overshadow the earlier rates," Wasser says. "There are a lot less elephants now to be poaching. This has become a more serious problem than it was back then." Wasser and Clark believe that the trade can be halted again by adequately paying and equipping African antipoaching rangers as well as by educating consumers—especially those in Asia, where ivory is most popular—about the real cost of ivory: the possible extinction of African elephants. They say officials can launch an education campaign much like that waged by WildAid with the help of basketball star Yao Ming to curb the Chinese enthusiasm for shark fin soup. | |||||
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