Mali’s Desert Elephants, on Edge of Annihilation, Get a Fighting Chance

The leader of the new anti-poaching group, Rory Young, is active on Quora, when he can anyway, and his writing is gripping. If you join Quora for no other reason, you should join it for his posts:

https://www.quora.com/profile/Rory-Young-1

There is a link between power structures and illegal activity. It is heartening to see this positive development where both government and communities are working together. As the article suggested, the poachers along with the entire network of supply chain [0] of illegal ivory trade should be dismantled by prosecuting all those who are involved, else this will only be a temporary gain.

After narcotics and weapons, animal trafficking is listed as the most lucrative illicit trade commodity. [1]

Countries like Tanzania should take note. The Economist reports [2] that "Every third poached elephant in Africa dies on the watch of Tanzania’s president, Jakaya Kikwete". Just two months back, Wayne Lotter, an elephant conservationist was shot dead in Tanzania [3].

The solution is not easy: "a gate-keeper state” run by corrupt politicians, with wildlife policy too heavily influenced by “prima-bwanas” – heads of international NGOS. Local people get left out. Poorer, marginal communities’ land and grazing rights get nibbled away. They have lived alongside elephants for centuries but are being neglected and excluded. Vulnerable, they succumb to the offer of money so they can live. Supporting and strengthening communities so they can manage wildlife responsibly from the bottom up, with some controlled hunting, is an argument that many wildlife experts have come to see is the only long term viable solution." [0]

0 : http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2017/01/27/book-review-iv...

1 : https://www.cfr.org/blog/lords-resistance-army-and-elephant-...

2 : https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/216312...

3 : https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/17/leading-...

https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/tackling-illicit-african-wi...

The US Army Rangers would be ideal for this work.

So guns do work as deterrent?