Authorities in Hong Kong have seized over $3.4 million worth of elephant tusks. Hong Kong and Guangdong Customs reports that shipment came from two massive shipments of over 1,200 tusks, the prohibited material is known to originate in Kenya and Tanzania.
Many of the 600 elephants that were killed in order to assemble this enormous collection are expected to have been mass-slaughtering, by the herd in some cases. The poachers responsible for the elephant deaths are often supported by dangerous criminal syndicates, who are providing poachers with military grade weapons.
This has been the largest seizure of illegal ivory in Hong Kong history according to reports. Last August, officials seized another 2 tons (or 796 tusks) of ivory in a shipment from Malaysia that was estimated to be worth $1.6 million on the black market.
China is the largest and most lucrative market for illegal poachers killing elephants in Africa. Similarly, there is a growing market for rhinoceros, used for traditional horn in China, Vietnam and Thailand, where it is now worth more than its weight in gold. According to a report by Time magazine, over 455 rhinos have been killed this year already -- a staggering increase to statistics of only a decade ago when 15 rhinos were poached. The growing market for rhino horn and elephant tusk is attributed to the economic growth in asian countries.
South Africa is home to more than two-thirds of the world’s rhino population. Recently, the government deployed soldiers and surveillance aircraft to Kruger National Park, where over half of this year’s poachings took place, in an effort to protect the rhinos.
Following the seizure by customs officials in Hong Kong, an international effort is needed to track down the sources of the ivory and rhino horn.
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