
Ivory investigator killed in Kenya - adamnemecek
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42943503
======
adamnemecek
You guys should consider donating to the International Anti-Poaching
Foundation[0][1] which fights these poachers. The founder, Damien Mander[2],
is an Australian ex spec-ops sniper who is using his military experience to
train the park rangers since they, unlike the poachers, tend to be poorly
equipped and trained as well as understaffed. There is also the David
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust[3][4] which takes care of elephant and rhino orphans
(most of them are orphans due to poaching). For $50 a year, you can become a
sponsor of a particular animal and they'll send you photos and updates about
how your sponsored animal is doing. You can for example sponsor this little
fella [5][6].

[0] [http://www.iapf.org/en/](http://www.iapf.org/en/)

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Anti-
Poaching_Fo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Anti-
Poaching_Foundation)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Mander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Mander)

[3]
[http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org](http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org)

[4]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheldrick_Wildlife_Trust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheldrick_Wildlife_Trust)

[5]
[http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp...](http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=318)

[6] [http://instagram.com/p/sigT3IAUKb](http://instagram.com/p/sigT3IAUKb)

~~~
andrepd
How do you fight these poachers? Isn't it better instead to work to eliminate
the conditions that push these people into this dangerous and illegal activity
to survive?

~~~
adamnemecek
You fight them with force. Countries with strict anti-poaching enforcement
have a poaching rate close to 0.

------
nmridul
Guardian has been tracking the death of environment defenders for some time
now. Last year 197 people were killed.

[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/the-
defenders](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/the-defenders)

------
cletus
I've been thinking about this lately as I've seen a few stories about poaching
recently. Last week it was about turtles in Mozambique (exotic pets in
Thailand). Last year it was small dolphins in the Sea of Cortez (a casualty of
the market for fish bladders as an aphrodisiac in China). There are also
pangolins in Indonesia (Asian delicacy).

Try as we might to stop the poaching I really feel like the only way to solve
this problem is by killing the demand. Honestly I don't know how to do this.
It just seems like efforts to quell the supply side will be ultimately futile
for animals that by definition wander in uninhabited areas and are open to
poaching.

What's sad about this is how much of it is completely pointless (Chinese
"medicine") and how when certain species get endangered, it just drives up the
value and makes them even more of a status symbol.

Sometimes it feels like we're heading towards (or are already in) a mass
extinction event where we'll be the likely biggest victims.

~~~
DrScump
One group darts rhinos and injects the horn with a dye, rendering the horn
worthless for poaching.

The U.S. TV series "Gorongosa Park: a Rebirth"[0] shows park stewards trying
to rebuild tourism, with one goal being better employment options (as guides,
rangers, etc.) than poaching.

Some of their elephants don't develop tusks at all, an apparent mutation that
increases survival odds.

[0] [http://www.pbs.org/gorongosa/home/](http://www.pbs.org/gorongosa/home/)

------
WouterZ
\- capitalism, inequality and desperation... A toxic combination.

~~~
andrewjl
This is less about capitalism more about status-seeking.

~~~
andrepd
I think he was referring to the poor economic conditions of the poachers, and
how they are pushed to this line of work. Not dissimilar to drug dealers in
inner city USA.

~~~
andrewjl
This is definitely true, though many of the big-time poachers are foreigners.
A key mechanism that's been shown to reduce poaching is to let the local
people derive an economic gain from the animals without killing or maiming
them. Like safaris or photo shoots, etc.

------
honzajde
I hope it's not off topic: anybody who wants find out more about ivory trade
in an easy way, there is a movie documentary: The Ivory Game (2016)
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5952266](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5952266)

------
everdev
Tragic death, but sounds potentially unrelated to his ivory work.

Aren't there startups working on producing fake ivory? Especially with animal
products (meat, skins, bone, etc.) flooding the market with ethically man-made
products seems far healthier to people and animals in the long run.

~~~
adamnemecek
Fake ivory wont help as there will be a premium for the real stuff. What you
really need to do is make ivory seem very uncool.

~~~
everdev
I'm not sure. With rare things, you only need a few people willing to pay
ridiculous prices for the behavior to continue. And the more rare it becomes,
the more coveted as well by people who can look beyond the moral implications
of killing elephants.

But, if kids in China start wearing fake ivory necklaces to school and can buy
them for a few bucks, why would you pay thousands more for something that is
virtually indistinguishable? The trick is to make it so close to actually
ivory (or genetically grown to be identical). If it looks like a bad knock off
it won't work.

~~~
adamnemecek
It's not as clear cut. Luxury items have strange economic behavior but let's
say that the a govt banned sales of Ferraris overnight. Would rich people go
to great lengths to buy Ferraris or would they buy Lamborghinis?

