Friday, December 16, 2016

Burning ivory, waging war: world battles poaching in 2016

This file photo taken on April 22, 2016 shows a Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) ranger standing guard at the burning site as elephant tusks are piled up onto pyres in preparation for a historic destruction of illegal ivory and rhino-horn confiscated mostly from poachers in Nairobi's national park. AFP PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA
This file photo taken on April 22, 2016 shows a Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) ranger standing guard at the burning site as elephant tusks are piled up onto pyres in preparation for a historic destruction of illegal ivory and rhino-horn confiscated mostly from poachers in Nairobi's national park. AFP PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA 
By AFP
In Summary
  • As 2016 draws to an end, awareness of the devastation of poaching is greater than ever and ...countries have turned to high-tech warfare — drones, night-goggles and automatic weapons — to stop increasingly armed poachers.
  • Debates still rage over how best to fight elephant poaching, but conservationists unanimously welcomed CITES' refusal to grant Namibia and Zimbabwe special authorisation to sell their ivory stockpiles in order to fund elephant protection.
  • They argued that any legal sale stimulates demand and therefore the illegal trade.
  • Elephant and rhinoceros, known as the 'charismatic' species, are often the poster children for the anti-poaching movement, tending to draw the most attention.

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