Boom in African Ivory Looms as Global Security Threat

KENYA: The government's wildlife service frequently burns confiscated elephant tusks in public demonstrations. Tsavo West National Park torched five tons of ivory (above) harvested from elephants killed in Malawi and Zambia and confiscated in Singapore.

GUANGDONG, CHINA: In ivory's biggest markets around the globe, Chinese customs officers destroyed six tons of confiscated tusks on January 6, 2014.

UNITED STATES: At the request of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence confirmed strong links between African terrorism and wildlife poaching. Clinton frequently made the case for new anti-poaching strategies, as she did to Albania's parliament in 2012 (above).
 

HONG KONG: Authorities in Hong Kong revealed crates of illegal elephant tusks, rhino horns and leopard skins on August 7, 2013.

TOGO: Police in Togo paraded a Vietnamese national and two local accomplices charged with possession of two tons of ivory destined for Vietnam. Similar arrests are being made in several African countries but many poachers and dealers go undiscovered or unpunished.