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GPS Trackers in Fake Elephant Tusks Reveal Ivory Smuggling Route
- barsonme 11y agoWhile I read the article, I'm currently unable to listen to either the npr or nat geo articles. Could anybody elaborate on how they pass off the fake tusks to the smugglers? Do they, for lack of a better word, install the tusks on the elephants and wait for the elephants to be poached or do they sell the tusks to the smugglers so the smugglers can flip the tusks?
- sosuke 11y agoMy first guess would be flipping a caught smuggler, or an undercover agent at some level. I imagine they have to use a real tusk, though I couldn't listen to it right now either.
- CapitalistCartr 11y agoI listened to the interview on the radio; it was two fake tusks he had carefully made, good enough to get him arrested at the airport there.
- mc32 11y agoI think in one instance they staged a motorbike accident which was loaded with a custom replica tusk. The "poacher/smuggler" pretended to run from the scene thus leaving unattended an item of apparent high value which was subsequently "stolen" and thus entered into the smuggling economy surreptitiously. The investigator is understandably a big cagey about methods, etc. so as not to expose people and future investigations.
- marincounty 11y agoI have a fake whale tooth. I found it years ago. It has scrimshaw, and so old, I didn't get destroy it. I never told anyone because I was ashamed. I didn't know how the tooth was obtained. I assumed it was at least 200 years old. Well I found out it's a fake, but it's a really good fake. The guy I brought it to didn't realize at first, but eventually determined it was a fake. He then said, "If they can get polymers so close to real Ivory 40 years ago--why are they still killing animals for it?" I hope China follows through on their plan to stop the sale of Ivory, but I have a feeling we need to step up our efforts to stop this. If it was up to me, I would have these areas protected by the National Guard.(If Africa would allow us there for this specific reason?) I hate to even bring up that Dentist, but I congratulate the companies that rufused to be accomplices in this horrid, despicable hobby? I don't know know Ted N, or crazy Alaskan woman can condone his retched behavior? In my mind, I have my hands around that dentist's neck.
- facetube 11y agohttp://vetpaw.org http://vetpaw.org does something similar to what you're suggesting re: the National Guard.
- marincounty 11y agoThanks-
- flashman 11y agoCheck out the National Geographic article with much more detail: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tracking-ivory/article.html http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tracking-ivory/article.htm... There's an interactive map too: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tracking-ivory/map.html http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tracking-ivory/map.html
- dmix 11y agoWow this is a much better version of the story. Thanks
- adamnemecek 11y agoIf you live in Washington state and would like to do something about preventing further poaching, please vote Yes on Initiative-1401 which will be on the state ballot in this fall [0]. Furthermore, anyone can donate for example to the International Anti-Poaching Foundation[1][2] which fights these poachers. The founder, Damien Mander[3], 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[4][5] 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 orphan and they'll send you photos and updates about how your sponsored orphan is doing. I've been giving these out as gifts with good successes. You can for example sponsor this little fella [6]. [0] http://saveanimalsfacingextinction.org/ http://saveanimalsfacingextinction.org/ [1] http://www.iapf.org/ http://www.iapf.org/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Anti-Poaching_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Anti-Poaching_Fo... [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Mander http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Mander [4] http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheldrick_Wildlife_Trust http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheldrick_Wildlife_Trust [6] https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=337 https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.as...
- modoc 11y agoI second David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. My in-laws have visited their sponsored elephants multiple times in person, and are really really impressed by the quality of work being done by these guys!
- hockeybias 11y agoI have been to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust facility outside Nairobi and sponsor two elephants. I am impressed by their work and hope that the interest in ivory dies off before the elephants do!
- nitrogen 11y agoDoes I-1401 also prohibit the sale of antiques?
- userbinator 11y agoA GPS tracker becomes useless if it can't see any satellites; having worked with GPS before and seeing how effective even a thin layer of metal can attenuate the signal significantly, I'm curious as to how they were able to make this work. It seems highly unlikely that someone smuggling a tusk would leave it in clear view of the sky.
- _asummers 11y agoWould a wooden crate have the same effect as the metal?
- steveax 11y agoThe full story details some of the tech. It was pretty well thought out. IIRC, the device communicated periodically via sat phone and would cache geodata so that if the sat phone ping failed, it could transmit previous location.
- Maxious 11y agoIridium device locations can also be requested from the network based on what satellite/beam communicated through which is "accurate to within 10Km 80% of the time"
- JumpCrisscross 11y agoIs there an ethical issue with flooding the market with replica ivory? It would at least raise transaction costs and risks for poachers and their supply chains.
- cbd1984 11y ago> Is there an ethical issue with flooding the market with replica ivory? It might lead to people being killed for knowingly or unknowingly passing off fake ivory as the real thing.
- coldtea 11y agoDoesn't sound like these people matter anyway. It's like saying "might lead to druglords being killed".
- jackvalentine 11y agoOr the unwitting impoverished courier with poor education who doesn't know of the harm of the ivory trade.
- cryptophreak 11y agoThe drug war should already have taught us that it's counterproductive to view offenders as generic nuisances rather than people to be negotiated with. The ivory trade, like the drug trade, is entrenched. There are a lot of people involved. There’s a large, complex, long-standing, and covert structure to deal with. As law enforcement has so clearly demonstrated, you can’t solve behavioral problems at scale with contempt and violence. The really thorny problems in the world won’t be beaten into submission. To negotiate our way out of this problem, it’s necessary to see the offenders as real, valuable human beings.
- littletimmy 11y agoIs the life of an African smuggler or Chinese merchant really more valuable than the life of an elephant? 500,000 elephants, 1 Billion Africans, 1.5 Billion Chinese. It is clear who we should be saving.
- prawn 11y agoIs there a way of reaching future generations of Chinese effectively? A lot of Chinese antiques are, to my eye, quite gauche. Are they still status symbols for the new, rising middle class? I believe Yao Ming has done some work raising awareness around the ivory trade. Any other revered Chinese celebrities?
- hunglee2 11y agoYao has been great for conservation - I think that's his project now - attempting to change cultural values via the power of his celebrity. Considering how big China is, any progress Yao makes will have global impact. We got to support him!
- annnnd 11y agoNote the transcript of the interview: http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=431908397 http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?story...