- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 61,264,904
Former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kim Potter will make her first court appearance Thursday cnn.it/3tjQKJn
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 61,264,904
The White House is expected to name Erika Moritsugu to an Asian American and Pacific Islander liaison position, a sâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Pj
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 61,264,904
RT @CNNPolitics: BREAKING: President Biden announces troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11. “It is time to end America’s longest wa…
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 61,264,904
The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright is charged with second-degree manslaughterâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…y8
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 61,264,904
Bernie Madoff, whose name became synonymous with financial fraud, dies while serving a 150-year sentence in federalâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…ak
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 61,264,904
A key figure in the investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz has cooperated with the DOJ since last year, The New York Tiâ€twitter.com/i/web/status/1…IF
- @cnnbrk
- Followers: 61,264,904
RT @CNNPolitics: NEW: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Joe Biden to give his first address to a joint session of Congress l…
CNN POLITICS ON FACEBOOK » | CNN POLITICS ON TWITTER »
African elephant slaughter highest in more than two decades, experts say
Despite recent attempts by soldiers in Cameroon to stop the mass slaughter of elephants, poachers are continuing to kill the animals in record numbers, the World Wildlife Fund said Thursday.
Tons of tusks are being moved on camels and horses from Africa mostly to buyers willing to pay high prices in China and Thailand, said Tom Milliken, the director of the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic.
"Elephants represent an opportunity to gain money, and because there are ready buyers in most capital cities, the word is out there," Milliken said. "[There has been] an increased poaching assault like we haven't seen in two decades."
Poachers who recently killed at least 100 elephants in Cameroon's Bouba N'Djida National Park are reportedly from Chad and Sudan, the WWF said.
Unlike decades past when poachers across the continent ran down elephants using spears, the attackers are now highly organized and armed with sophisticated weapons. Many have used grenade launchers and high-powered rifles, allowing them to kill with greater ease and outgun police and military trying to stop them, said Richard Carroll, the WWF's Africa Program director. He has spent decades building an expertise in the Central African Republic.
He says he first fell in love with the region in the 1980s as a Peace Corps volunteer. Carroll said poachers obtained more automatic weapons during that era, when conflicts in Chad and Sudan began flaring. Many people involved with the ivory trade are forced to participate, oppressed over the years by warring sects, extreme poverty and fear of retribution if they don't do as they're told, he said.
There are several market-driven reasons for the increase in illegal ivory trade lately, experts with the WWF and Traffic said.
China has a legal ivory market that its government has said is highly controlled. Milliken, however, said China's system isn't strong enough.
Chinese customs officials generally target for inspection container shipments coming from Africa, but middlemen in the ivory trade are forging documents, making it appear that containers are from Malaysia or the Philippines to avoid inspection, he added. Ivory is also being hidden on trucks traveling across borders that carry legitimate goods like timber, he said.
Milliken said Chinese immigrants who have moved to Africa have "cornered the market" and are "bent" on making a quick buck by selling ivory.
Traffic is launching a campaign to help spread the word against poaching in African nations and in countries that are receiving ivory, Milliken said. Posters alerting people to the problem are being created in Chinese, English and various African languages.
But Milliken warns that the campaign can only go so far in reducing poaching. He wants the government of China to be more supportive, including sending law enforcement to Africa to help interrogate Chinese nationals arrested for the trade and to help with investigations by examining confiscated computers and cell phones that contain information in Chinese, he said.
On Twitter
The problem is NOT effecting YOU. The U.S. has it's own poaching issues. This problem doesn't change your buying decisions of Chinese products at Wahmart
Men kill elephants(A really serious crime; no excuses) and everybody gets hot and bothered.Soldiers kill human beings; soldiers are killed by their likes ;it is part of the ongoing war on terror,etc etc.
Elephants are smart animals. Some researchers think they have self awareness similar to that of humans. Shame on purchases of this stuff, such as China and people in Thailand. These are beatuiful creatures that deserve to live more than you deserve whatever you are using their tusks for.
Open season on poachers?
Should be open season (and Bounties) on Chinese heads...
Before they are all gone, perhaps the Chinese (and other) governments could intervene in a meaningful way and stop this barbaric slaughter! Of course, once they have all been killed, the price of Ivory will sky rocket, but the poachers will starve! A little irony?
You can't just blame the Chinese. We westerners started it with our handfuls of cash and glutinous demand for Ivory decorations and souvenirs. The Chinese government cannot police everyone of its citizens actions worldwide. They can get tough (really tough) with importers and smugglers though and stop the market for fresh ivory. Treat ivory smuggling the same as drug smuggling. That should do it!!
The Chinese govt is heavily cracking down on trafficking and ownership of tusks, but unfortunately it's still very difficult to make a big impact. This requires international attention and a joint effort for a complete halt.
They are beautiful majestic creatures.
Agreed!
😉
Don't they have enough to carve? Jade,
Coral, Agate, Turquoise, Tiger Eye, Mother
of Pearl, Onyx... God has provided in
abundance, every color in the rainbow.
And, still, they kill an animal who has a
Greater purpose to make 'stone'.
Boycott China!
I have "hiiigh hopes" for you.
lol. I just said boycott China on the Syrian thread.
An Affirmation for High Hopes:
I am so grateful that I can agree with you partially here!
However, I do not advocate a complete boycott of China: that Maoist people is materialistic enough to respond to a partial boycott. As soon as all humans refuse to buy ivory, the supply will vanish.
Sweet Mama:
WE started it together and it was all about
Syria... but its come to mean so much more!
Love,
Hope
They won't be happy until they (man) kill everything living thing on the earth...FOOLS!!! We neet to protect the earth and the animals from these monsters that dont deserve to be here...
Its a lost cause if you really think about it. Need, greed and plain ignorance (see eg. sharkfin) will rot out all these species in the long run. There really isn´t anything anyone can "seriously" do to stop this. Those that heriocally make an effort to do sth. about it are just plain too few to stop the inevitable.
Its NOT a lost cause if the Chinese are made to pay dearly for it!
Any good ideas how that can be done? .... me neither.
All those Chinese who have moved to Cameroon and Chad to facilitate this "trade" in ivory should be locked up or deported.
Perhaps if the governments in those countries were to offer a greater bounty on the heads of Chinese "traders" those
native poachers might find a more profitable target. the Chinese (and Thais) need to be made to pay for this slaughter.
I think its time to start making necklaces out of Chinese teeth.
Boycott all things Chinese!!!
Boycott Chinese? ... little to late for that isn´t it. And by the way, who made the Chinese goods so popular worldwide? ... Yep you guessed it: You and me buddy. Guilty as charged.
@lSue we still have elephants, if we wait to boycott, we will not have these lovely characters.(they are so playful and loving to each other)
@Sue
"who made the Chinese goods so popular worldwide?" Walmart, Steve Jobs, the telecommunication industries,
the shoe companies, and every greedy corporation in the world who wants cheap slave labor so that YOU
will get your precious supply of cheap "consumer" products.
I have not deliberately bought ANYTHING that says "made in China" for over 10 years. It sometimes is inconvenient, but it IS possible (And I've been called crazy by friends and family for it). Unrealistic as it sounds, it IS possible.
With all due respect and not trying to be a troll, but aren´t you writing these comments from your chinese made computer? Yes I know, we can´t help it, most computer elements of all computer brands are chinese, and we all need computers. I see your point. But Walmart exists because the consumer exists. At the end we are all guilty. Sadly enough I live from chinese made products, but heck, I need to eat too 🙂 ...
Problem is an ages old one...money talks! If there were no market for this stuff it would not happen...I gues they learn quickly and well from greedy folks on this side of the globe. These beautiful animals are a true treasure but they can't let that stand in the way of food or money...what else is new.
Either way is wrong BUT isnt there a way to get the Ivory w/o killing the elephants? Or are the Poachers taking more than that? I say we send Ted Nugent over there to end this insanity!
If ever anyone needed justification for being "anti Chinese" this is it. Can the Chinese really sink any lower than this?
BOYCOTT CHINA!!!!
We need to learn to live with this big creatures. I think that is one of the tasks Africa has received on this earth. I wish Africa will have the Day it protects elephants on it own. We should have sufficiently enough technology to produce artificial ivory for our inexpensive use.
What the hell! Why no sanctions are imposed against China and Thailand? Even last remaining Tigers are poached because Chinese think they can make Viagra out of Tiger bones. Crazy people!
Outrageous and inexcusable! Who speaks for the poor animals? Live evil.