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If you were to list the most iconic animals on Earth, the elephant and rhinoceros would likely be at the top. These majestic beings, much like oceans, trees, and mountains, are integral to our planet’s natural heritage. It’s almost impossible to imagine a world without them.
Sadly, the outlook for these magnificent creatures is dire. Each year, around 35,000 elephants and 1,000 rhinos fall victim to poaching. The demand for ivory and rhino horns has already driven the western black rhino to extinction, and some conservationists fear that elephants and rhinos could be gone within just two decades.
Tragically, poaching continues unabated worldwide. In 2010, hunters eradicated the last Javan rhinos in Vietnam, while Asian elephants are often slaughtered for their tusks and skin. Though countries like Thailand grapple with poaching, the majority of illegal ivory and rhino horns originate in countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe. This list will focus on the poaching crisis within Africa.
10. Who Is Behind This Devastation?
With elephants and rhinos on the brink of extinction, it's only natural to ask, 'Who’s to blame?' The simple answer may be the poachers. After all, they’re the ones pulling the triggers. But while there are certainly those who fund terrorism through their illegal activities, many poachers are impoverished individuals simply trying to provide for their families.
The real culprits lie further East. In nations like China and Vietnam, the black market for animal products is staggering, with people willing to pay outrageous sums for elephant tusks and rhino horns. A single pound of ivory can fetch over $1,000, and in Vietnam, citizens are ready to pay up to $100,000 for a kilogram (2.2 lbs) of ground rhino horn.
So why are these prices so inflated? In Vietnam, rhino horn is believed to be a magical remedy. It’s claimed to cure everything from hangovers to cancer, and some even believe it can provide a high. This is utterly absurd, as rhino horn is mostly made up of keratin, the same substance found in our fingernails.
Contrary to popular belief, rhino horn is not used as an aphrodisiac in Asia—at least not until Western myths spread the idea. The concept of rhino horn’s supposed sexual powers eventually made its way back to Vietnam, fueling the myth.
Ivory is often transformed into antiques and artistic creations. In China, these intricate items are seen as symbols of wealth and are frequently exchanged as gifts among businesspeople. But where do these treasures originate? You could visit an illicit online marketplace or step into one of the 150 stores that have licenses to sell ivory.
The catch is that every item—from small figurines to full tusks—must come with a photo ID showing the object in question. Why? This is to verify that the ivory comes from a stockpile legally acquired by the Chinese government.
Naturally, there are ways to bypass the system. Often, these IDs are recycled, reused on different items, allowing stores to sell trinkets made from illegal ivory. And there is a significant amount of illegal ivory in China. In 2013, Hong Kong authorities confiscated 6.3 metric tons (7 tons) of ivory, and even more continues to enter the country each year. If conservationists hope to prevent the extinction of rhinos and elephants, they must first change the mindset in Southeast Asia about these African species. Without this, there's little hope.
9. The United States Is Not Innocent Either
In 1989, the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species made a historic decision to ban the global ivory trade. However, this ban didn’t impact the ivory market within individual nations. That’s why in 2013, President Barack Obama took further action by signing an executive order prohibiting the sale of ivory within the United States. To emphasize the seriousness of this move, the government destroyed 5.4 metric tons (6 tons) of ivory.
While the United States is at the forefront in the battle against poaching, there’s undeniably some dark history here as well. America is actually the second-largest ivory market in the world, and up until recently, states like New York, California, and Hawaii were key hubs for ivory trade. If you could travel back just a few years, you'd discover that the US was once the epicenter of the global ivory market.
Between 1840 and 1940, ivory was deeply ingrained in American culture. It was used in everything from buttons to billiard balls to white combs. But perhaps the most iconic use of ivory was in piano keys. During the 1880s, pianos were seen as a symbol of sophistication, and pianists preferred the smooth texture of ivory under their fingers. This was a boon for Deep River, Connecticut, a small New England town that became the epicenter of ivory production thanks to an inventor named Phineas Pratt. He created a machine perfectly suited for cutting ivory, and as a result, Deep River earned the title of the ivory capital of the world.
If you had visited Deep River back in the day, you'd have seen not only a large factory transforming ivory into everything from buttonhooks to toothpicks but also vast greenhouses filled with elephant tusks. These structures, known as 'bleaching houses,' exposed ivory to sunlight. Why? Musicians preferred their piano keys to be perfectly white, and to achieve that pristine hue, the ivory had to be left under the sun for extended periods.
Unfortunately, elephants weren’t the only victims of Deep River’s ivory industry. The tusks were sourced from African elephants, and Arab traders relied on African slaves to transport them across the continent. These slaves were often chained together by a heavy log around their heads, enduring perilous journeys. Tragically, three out of four slaves died during the trip. Although ivory piano keys fell out of favor in the 1950s with the rise of plastic, the legacy of the US ivory trade had already claimed countless lives—both human and elephant.
8. Safari Photos Can Be Deadly
Planning a trip to Africa? You may want to think twice before pulling out your smartphone. While modern tech has made photography accessible to almost everyone, it’s also provided poachers with an effective tool to track down their targets.
Rhinos tend to move slowly and remain in the same area for several days, which means even an old photo could give poachers a valuable clue. Worse still, hunters sometimes pose as tourists, taking quick snapshots without drawing attention. Once the sun sets, their team swoops in to finish the job.
Even if you turn off geotagging, travelers should still be cautious with their cameras. If there’s a landmark like a watering hole or mountain in the background, poachers may recognize it and use your Instagram post for their benefit. Some safari tours have even banned guests from using phones in certain areas to prevent this. It’s a stark reminder that technology itself is neutral—it’s all about how it’s used.
7. Elephants Are Losing Their Tusks
Despite high-profile donations from celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and organizations like Google to help save elephants, these majestic creatures continue to die at an alarming rate. However, there may be a silver lining for them. Instead of growing large tusks, an increasing number of elephants are now born without them.
A study published in the African Journal of Ecology reveals that 38.2 percent of female elephants in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia were born without tusks. When compared to other herds, this is relatively low. In one population, 98 percent of females had lost their tusks, and this isn’t just happening in Africa. In Asia, the percentage of male elephants born without tusks has risen from 2–5 percent to 5–10 percent.
It seems that as poachers target the elephants with tusks, those without them are passing on their genes. If this trend continues, we may eventually see a world where elephants no longer have tusks at all.
Of course, this might cause some challenges for the animals, as tusks are essential for both fighting and foraging, but if natural selection favors elephants without tusks, they’ll likely adapt. Though it’s heartbreaking to think of these majestic creatures without their iconic ivories, it’s certainly preferable to imagining a world with no elephants at all.
6. The Tragedy of Killing Vultures
Elephants and rhinos aren’t the only victims in Africa’s battle with poaching. Believe it or not, vultures are also facing a grim fate. Often overlooked due to their less-than-glamorous reputation, vultures play a vital role as nature’s clean-up crew. Unfortunately, that’s where the problem lies.
When an elephant dies, it’s a feast fit for vultures. The moment these scavengers catch the scent of a decaying elephant, they’ll swoop in by the hundreds. This becomes a major issue for poachers who prefer to keep their activities hidden. Vultures, much like trained bloodhounds, can trace the smell of rotting meat straight to the crime scene, inadvertently alerting authorities to the illegal killing.
In an attempt to cover their tracks, poachers have begun lacing elephant carcasses with poison, targeting vultures that might come to feast. In 2013 alone, poachers in Namibia slaughtered 600 vultures for just one elephant. Similar incidents took place in 2012, leaving countless vultures to decompose under the scorching sun.
This is catastrophic for vultures. Seven out of the 11 species found in Africa are already classified as endangered or vulnerable. To make matters worse, vultures breed slowly, with females only laying one egg every one or two years. Adding to the peril, there are even vulture poachers—people who decapitate them for use in traditional African medicine—further jeopardizing these already struggling birds.
5. The Role of Elephant and Rhino Security Guards
If you set a poacher against an elephant, the poacher’s chances of winning are nearly 100%. While an elephant weighing 4.3 metric tons (5 tons) could easily crush a human, the poacher is likely armed with a machine gun or at least a set of poison-tipped arrows. The reality is, bringing tusks to a gunfight doesn’t bode well.
Luckily, poachers aren’t the only ones armed to the teeth on the African plains. If you head to the Nakuprat-Gotu Conservancy in Kenya or Odzala National Park in the Republic of Congo, you’ll spot trucks packed with men dressed in camouflage and carrying automatic machine guns. These are elephant bodyguards, hired to defend the animals from illegal hunters—and if the situation demands it, they are prepared to use deadly force.
What’s particularly fascinating about the elephant bodyguards is that nearly all of them are former poachers who’ve turned their lives around. In exchange for surrendering their illegal firearms and providing valuable tips on other poachers, they’re given full-time employment and a legitimate source of income. And it’s not just elephants that get this protection. The white rhinos of Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya are also guarded by armed men, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
4. Drones and Chili Powder
When most people think of drones, they likely imagine unmanned devices dropping bombs on enemy combatants—or civilians, if you're prone to conspiracy theories. But drones aren't just tools of war. Conservationists believe these machines could prove to be crucial in efforts to save endangered species from extinction.
The clear advantage of using drones is having a constant eye in the sky. With round-the-clock surveillance, especially in areas where airplanes can’t safely go, park rangers can monitor rhino and elephant populations closely. They can also survey the savanna for suspicious activity, ensuring they know exactly where to intervene should any problems arise.
But drones also have some unexpected applications. According to Marc Gross, the leader of the Mara Elephant Project, elephants actually dislike the sound of drones. This is likely because they mistake the hum of a drone for a swarm of bees, and as we’ve recently discovered, elephants are absolutely terrified of bees. After all, getting stung on their trunks or ears can’t be pleasant. So how does this help? Well, if rangers suspect poachers are in the area, they could potentially use drones to scare the elephants away.
Another unique use for drones involves a fiery fruit—chili peppers. Take a bite, and you’ll feel as though you’ve kissed the devil himself. The intense heat comes from capsaicin, the compound that makes your mouth burn. Elephants, unlike humans, are smart enough to avoid it. So what do drones have to do with this? Marc Gross hopes to equip his drones with the ability to spray capsaicin. If an elephant is approaching a group of hunters, the spray could drive the elephant away.
Unfortunately, the use of drones has faced some obstacles in Africa. Despite Google’s $5 million donation to the World Wildlife Fund for drone research, several countries, including Kenya and South Africa, recently banned the private use of drones. This is unfortunate, as research from the University of Maryland has shown that drones could be incredibly effective in combating poaching. Hopefully, these nations will reconsider their stance and start embracing modern technology. After all, the poachers are certainly making use of it.
3. Poisoning Horns
Imagine you’re battling a high fever, an excruciating headache, or even something more serious like a tumor. Desperate for a solution, you reach for some ground-up rhino horn. But as you take a closer look at the powder, you notice something odd: it’s purplish-red. What’s going on?
Chances are, someone has poisoned your rhino horn. If you ingest it, you’ll experience stomach cramps, intense vomiting, diarrhea, and possibly even convulsions. While you won’t die, it will certainly be a miserable experience, all thanks to Ed and Lorinda Hern, the owners of the Rhino and Lion Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2010, they launched the Rhino Rescue Project (RRP), a program aimed at injecting rhino horns with toxic chemicals.
The concept is straightforward. After tranquilizing a rhino, Ed and Lorinda drill into each of its horns and inject them with a mixture of red dye and parasiticides, substances typically used to kill ticks. This poison spreads through the fibrous interior of the horn, but since the horn isn’t connected to the rhino’s bloodstream, the animal remains unharmed. If a poacher hunts one of these rhinos, they’ll end up with a contaminated product.
The practice of poisoning rhino horns has become widespread across South Africa, including in parks like the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve. Since the dye isn’t visible from the outside, park rangers post warnings for potential hunters, alerting them that these horns will cause their clients to feel unwell. If all goes as planned, the poachers will abandon their mission, unwilling to jeopardize their customers. If they take the horns anyway, the dye will show up on airport X-rays, making it nearly impossible to smuggle them out of the country.
Naturally, not everyone is on board with the practice of horn poisoning. Why? Well, after the horns are poisoned, they often end up in the hands of middlemen who sell them for a small fortune. Critics argue that these middlemen may simply bleach the horn powder to hide the poison, with no regard for the health of the buyers. After all, these are criminals involved in the black market, dealing in dubious pseudo-science. Other experts believe the poison doesn’t spread through the entire horn, and is mostly confined to the drilled area.
Another issue arises with the fact that many businessmen in Asia purchase rhino horns for decorative purposes. They display them as status symbols in their offices, and the poison has no effect on them. However, the biggest problem is that most Chinese and Vietnamese buyers are completely unaware of the poisoning practice, meaning it doesn't serve as much of a deterrent. So, while rhino horn poisoning may seem like justice, critics of the method do raise valid concerns.
2. The Dehorning Controversy
With rhinos teetering on the edge of extinction, some conservationists have resorted to controversial methods in an attempt to save the species. One of the most debated techniques is called dehorning, which is exactly what it sounds like. After sedating the rhino, a conservationist marks a line across the horn several centimeters from the base. Then, using a chainsaw, the horn is removed. Once the horn is gone, the stub is carefully trimmed and covered in tar to prevent it from cracking.
Rest assured, the procedure is painless. A rhino’s horn is composed of keratin, calcium, and melanin, and it isn’t directly connected to the skull. The process is akin to trimming your nails, though it has sparked considerable debate within the zoological community.
One of the main concerns surrounding dehorning is the potential impact on the rhino’s ability to protect itself. Some worry that female rhinos won’t be able to defend their calves, and that males will be less capable of fending off rivals. Thankfully, studies suggest that dehorning doesn’t seem to alter a rhino’s behavior. However, there is a far bigger issue at hand.
Surprisingly, dehorning doesn’t appear to deter most poachers. While a larger horn yields a bigger payout, even a small stub can still fetch a decent amount. In Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, poachers took down rhino herds, many of which had already had their horns clipped off.
Most conservationists agree that dehorning alone isn’t a very effective strategy. However, when combined with armed guards, the equation changes. Suddenly, it becomes a matter of risks versus rewards. If a poacher knows there’s a real chance of getting shot, they’re likely to rethink risking their life for a small stubby horn. It seems that dehorning works best when there's the added deterrent of a machine gun.
Unfortunately, the economics of dehorning are daunting. The cost of removing a rhino's horn ranges from $620–$1,000, and just like your fingernails, the horn grows back. On average, a rhino would need to be trimmed every 12–24 months for the plan to remain effective. When you do the math, the costs add up quickly.
In fact, dehorning all the rhinos in Kruger National Park just once would cost between $5.8 and $8.8 million. And that’s not even including the expenses for hiring armed guards. So, is dehorning a practical solution, or is it simply too costly? Regardless of the answer, one thing is clear—dehorning is not the most controversial method for saving rhinos. That dubious honor likely belongs to another practice . . .
1. The Irish Connection
The Irish Travelers are one of the most intriguing groups in the world. While their exact origins remain uncertain, it is known that they once lived in horse-drawn wagons, traveling from town to town to work as tinsmiths. Today, many still lead this nomadic lifestyle. They are highly secretive, residing in traveler trailer parks, marrying within their community, and speaking a unique language called Shelta.
Because of their unique way of life, the Irish Travelers are often met with prejudice. Many people view them as criminals or thieves, and, unfortunately, there is some truth to that stereotype. Some Travelers are skilled burglars, while others specialize in road asphalting—only to pocket the payment after doing a shoddy job.
So, what do the Irish Travelers have to do with rhino poaching? In 2010, officials discovered they were dealing with a particularly unusual gang of thieves—an Irish syndicate with global connections. Their specialty? Breaking into museums and stealing rhino horns.
This gang, known as the Rathkeale Rovers, was led by Richard “Kerry” O’Brien and Michael “Levan” Slattery. While some members of the Traveler community live in poverty, these two men were incredibly wealthy. O’Brien made his fortune in the Chinese furniture trade, while Slattery built a career as a high-profile antiques dealer. Thanks to their riches, the Rovers came to control as much as 80 percent of Rathkeale, and more impressively, they kept international law enforcement agencies busy for years.
Though the Rovers weren’t quite the masterminds of an Ocean’s Eleven heist, they were effective. In 2013, three of them broke into the National Museum of Ireland, commonly called the Dead Zoo, tied up the security guard, and stuffed four taxidermy animal heads into the back of a van.
In Paris, a group of Rathkeale Rovers released tear gas in the Museum of Hunting and Nature before stealing a single rhino horn. They targeted castles, museums, and antique shops across Europe, from France to Italy to Scandinavia. Not every heist was as high-profile, though. Once, they hired a homeless man in Austin, Texas, to walk into a shop and purchase an $18,000 rhino head.
Despite their bold actions, the Rathkeale Rovers were surprisingly hard to catch. Part of the reason was that they rarely used their own members for these jobs. Instead, they employed outside criminals or workers from their asphalting business. Additionally, Europol agents had a tough time identifying the culprits due to a peculiar family trait: Irish Travelers often give their children identical names, making it difficult to track down who was involved and when.
Eventually, law enforcement closed in on the Rathkeale Rovers, capturing their Asian-based middleman before making their way up the ladder to Slattery and O’Brien. However, this didn’t mean the Rovers disappeared. They’re still active in the criminal scene, but these days, their focus has shifted to pilfering ancient Chinese artwork.
