Extinction Trade

It is not size alone that points to the involvement of large syndicates, but the sophistication of the smuggling. In a 2006 seizure in Hong Kong, a ship that had sailed from Cameroon was found to have three containers with false compartments, each filled with ivory. The compartments had been deftly made and camouflaged with sophisticated metallurgy. The suspected trafficker, a Taiwanese man, has not been extradited because of Taiwan's diplomatic isolation; prosecution is unlikely. But an investigation by Hong Kong authorities revealed that he had shipped at least 15 containers along the same route with the same declared contents—timber planks—in the past few years. All 15 got through with what Interpol suspects was 40 tons of contraband ivory.

That represents 4,000 killed elephants, an indication of how brutally effective the new poachers are. A DNA analysis revealed that the ivory in the Cameroon shipment all came from elephants in eastern Gabon and the neighboring Congo, which suggests that contractors "receive a 'purchase order' for a specific quantity of ivory," says Clark. They organize teams of poachers to kill a set number of elephants in a specific area, then arrange for transport to the coast.

The consequences for wildlife have been devastating. The highly endangered northern white rhino was making a comeback in Garamba National Park, on the border of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A population of 13 in 1983 had rebounded to 32 by 2003. But late that year Janjaweed militias armed with AK-47s began arriving, and the slaughter began. In a typical raid, says conservation biologist Emmanuel de Merode, who has worked in East Africa for two decades, some 20 horse-mounted militiamen do the killing, while scores of others camp on the edge of the park with large caravans of donkeys providing supplies for the days-long journey from Sudan and back. The poachers remove the rhino horns, which are prized as dagger handles in the Middle East and for purported medical properties in Asia. As of last year, there were two rhinos left in Garamba, a death sentence for that population. "There may have been some local poaching, too," says de Merode, "but it was the Janjaweed that killed them off." In another case of militias' financing atrocities through poaching, armed men believed to be members of the FDLR, Hutu extremists tied to the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, abducted and killed two baby gorillas from Congo. Although some black-market buyers prefer the primates alive, stuffed ones can bring enough for a nice haul of assault rifles.

The State Department and some members of Congress suspect a link between illegal wildlife trafficking and terrorism, but admit that "the evidence is anecdotal," says Claudia McMurray, assistant secretary of State. "But with the amount of money it would provide terrorist groups, even anecdotes are a huge cause for concern." One focus: domestic separatist groups and Islamic militants based in Bangladesh. Indian wildlife officials suspect them of sponsoring the poaching of tigers, rhinos, elephants and other vanishing breeds in India's Kaziranga National Park to support terrorist activities, police sources in India tell NEWSWEEK. One group is suspected of carrying out a string of bombings in India beginning in 2004.

Just as the ultimate blame for drug lords who murder the innocent lies with users, so the blame for a wildlife trade that sustains organized crime and genocidal militias lies with the buyers. "There is a vague awareness in America that some things, they shouldn't be buying," says McMurray. "But the psychology seems to be that if it's in a store [or online] it must be OK." Americans who buy ivory carvings (easily available online), Japanese who collect the ivory signature seals called hankos and Chinese who clamor for "medicines" made from tiger bone are not supporting some lone poacher who's trying to feed his family. They're putting money into the coffers of the Janjaweed, warlords and possibly even worse actors. With the new wildlife traffickers, it's not only animals whose lives are at stake.

With Scott Johnson in Nairobi, Jeneen Interlandi and Jason Overdorf in Delhi

© 2008