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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Meet an ivory trafficker's 'worst nightmare'
2018-08-26
[BBC] A groundbreaking technique looks set to turn man's best friend into a trafficker's worst nightmare.

It will allow dogs to sniff out ivory, rhino horn and other illegal wildlife products hidden in large shipping containers, using a tiny sample of air.

The method is being trialled at Kenya's Mombasa port - said to be Africa's most active hub for ivory trafficking.

According to one report, more than 18,000kg of ivory was seized at the port between 2009 and 2014.

To produce that much ivory, the report suggests more than 2,400 elephants may have died - and that is only the ivory they found.

But conservationist Drew McVey is hopeful that statistics like that could soon be a thing of the past.
Posted by:Besoeker

#9  I like the similar story of using trackers on zebra. When poachers show up the Rhinos aren't afraid so they are easy targets but the zebras scatter. The rangers no use the zebras to know when poachers are about. Took them to long to figure it out but I'm glad they did.
Posted by: ruprecht   2018-08-26 23:37  

#8  Remember what happened in Australia with the rabbits?

They grew really big?
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-08-26 18:16  

#7  If you have elephants, you'll need lions or such to keep the population in check. Remember what happened in Australia with the rabbits?
Posted by: SteveS   2018-08-26 17:28  

#6  #3: Your comment brought the whole book back to me in an instant. Good man!
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper   2018-08-26 17:27  

#5  It's 104 here in kansas today.
Posted by: Bman   2018-08-26 16:39  

#4  Elephonkeys from KS?
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-08-26 15:23  

#3  Can't have elephants roaming Kansas. Too much risk they'll join the other side when the fithp invade.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2018-08-26 12:41  

#2  Similar to raising Rhino horns in South Africa - the 'farmer' is being sued because such sales are illegal.

Helping in the un-progressive way is to be punished.
Posted by: Bobby   2018-08-26 11:54  

#1  Animals and animal parts are the third most smuggled items (after drugs and cash). The reason is because we have created a huge black market - and thus huge profits - by banning their legal trade.

Elephant ivory is a great example. Zoos have too many bull elephants. You don't need very many for breeding programs. They need a lot of space (they must be kept separately from each other or they'll fight) and are expensive to feed. Those problems could be solved by buying up a couple hundred square miles of Kansas and letting them roam free. Fun for the tourists. No poachers. No cages. Pay for it all by humanely harvesting the ivory. Also, by creating a legal market you take pressure off wild populations. No point poaching if there isn't much profit.

Except that you can't, because sale of the ivory is banned, even from captive bred animals. So instead zoos are euthanizing the animals and poor African countries are using scarce resources to engage in gun battles with well armed and financed poachers. What a mess.
Posted by: Iblis   2018-08-26 11:01  

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