Cruz 1

Leticia Cruz
Doctor Lynda Haas
Writing 37
30 January 2015
Extinction of Elephants
The human race has a tendency to place a high value on ordinary objects and materials.
Such as money, its only paper, but people will commit murder to obtain more paper that has
social significance. This is the case with ivory, society has placed a large value on this item for
its monetary worth. There are rebel and terrorist groups that have been informed of the value of
ivory tusks, especially from elephants. Ashish Kumar Sen an author for the The Washington
Times has written over the topic of terrorist groups benefiting from ivory. Richard Schiffman has
as well written an article in the NewScientist over the benefits terrorist groups receive from
poaching elephants. Finally Catrina Stewart from the The Independent goes over the terrorist
group Al-Shabaab. According to Schiffman we should solve the issue of illegal ivory trade by
changing the culture values placed on ivory, although, Sen mentions that the government has the
power to stop wildlife trafficking, while Stewart states that something, anything has to be done to
stop the trade.
The trade of ivory has been on the rise because the value of it is increasing and the
poaching of it is assessable to almost everyone. Terrorist groups know this information so they
receive the majority of income from selling ivory on the black market. (Stewart 1) Sen would
agree with this and also contribute with another source, Andrea Crosta, executive director of
Elephant Action who stated that For al-Shabab, ivory, like charcoal, is just a fast and relatively

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easy way to make some cash, which is needed first of all pay to its militants, estimated around
5,000 people. (1) These two scholars would agree that terrorist groups are not ignorant to the
fact that ivory is worth a lot money of money. Just by selling a few tusks rebels and terrorist
make enough money to buy more weapons to terrorize others. Terrorist are also Armed with
AK-47 machine guns, and with bows and arrows that are sometimes poisonedthey target the
calves first in the knowledge that the older elephants will bunch up to try to protect them.
(Stewart 1) Not only that, but there are also government officials who are corrupted and will
accept bribes from terrorist. African governments are corrupted which is a cause to why the
ivory trade is hard to control and stop. This is a problem because most terrorist groups find and
obtain elephant tusks from the majority of elephants in Africa. Sen would respond to this by
saying that the U.S. government is hoping to collaborate with other national governments to
develop an approach to stop wildlife trafficking.

Schiffman argues that society needs to change the social value ivory has, especially in
China. But this is hard to do since society is not adaptable to change. with growing demand
from a more wealthy middle class in Asia, particularly in China and Thailand, the price of ivory
on the international black market has soared, triggering a dramatic increase in elephant poaching
across Africa (Sen 1) Sen would agree with Schiffman, as mentioned there has been an increase
for ivory. But, there is hope as to stopping the trade of ivory, the extinction of elephants is not
inevitable. Relatively wealthy Namibia and South Africa have so far kept elephant poaching
largely in check through political stability, aggressive patrolling and community-based
conservation. (Schiffman 1) The wealthier African nation officials do not accept bribes since
they are better off than corrupt individuals. He as well mentions that elephants can be saved in
the future by predicting poachers hotspots in African areas. By doing this officials can be on the

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scene to arrest the poachers, protecting the elephants who are defenseless against these kind of
attacks.
The poaching of wild elephants in Africa is a crisis because there is a high demand for
ivory from many people. This reinforces terrorist and rebels to kill elephants for their tusks.
Shciffman believes that in order to stop the murder of elephants, society needs to change the
value it has put on ivory. By doing so, there wont be monetary value on elephant tusks and
terrorists are forced to stop their poaching. This is one of the solutions, Sen mentions that there
.needs to be government intervention this will, and can put an end to the poaching of elephants.
Stewart would agree with Schiffman and his idea that the value of ivory needs to decrease in
order for terrorists to stop and also stop to the availability of buying weapons of terror. If nothing
is done to stop the poaching of elephant tusks then they will be extinct within ten years. Our
grandchildren will never have the opportunity to see or feed an elephant. Not only that, but
terrorist are easily able to make money to supply their need of weapons, with this in mind they
can attack anyone.

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Work Cited
Sen, Ashish Kumar. "Terrorists Slaughter African Elephants, Use Ivory to Fina
Operations." Washington Times. The Washington Times, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 20 Jan.
2015.
Shiffman, Richard. "Ivory Poaching Funds Most War and Terrorism in Africa." - Environment.
New Scientist, 14 May 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
Stewart, Catrina. "Illegal Ivory Trade Funds Al-Shabaab's Terrorist Attacks." The Independent.
Independent Digital News and Media, 06 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2015