Where have all the Elephants Gone?
Assessing the impact of the ivory trade on elephant populations
Legal ivory markets across the world have been urged to shut down in response to the elephant poaching crisis. This 2013 report goes undercover and exposes the devastation wrought by Africa's rampant ivory trade.
"It's an untold war", says ranger, Sean Willmore. In an outdoor cafe in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar Es Salaam, dirty deals are being brokered daily by black-market ivory traders. In the past three years the country has lost forty per cent of its elephants. Fuelled mainly by China's burgeoning, cash-rich middle class, demand is spiralling out of control. "It's well organised. Syndicates with billions of dollars. It's just like cocaine and heroin", says Pratik Patel, a conservationist and safari leader.
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