Kenya Fears Link Between Elephant Killings and Chinese Construction Projects

The Kenya Wildlife Service suspects it is more than a coincidence that a large number of elephant killings have occurred in areas where Chinese crews have recently arrived for massive construction projects.

Wildlife authorities in Kenya are deeply concerned about the growing surge in elephant poaching - and the proximity of the slaughters to where Chinese newcomers are working on the road.

98 elephant carcasses - with tusks gouged out - were found in 2008. And 73 elephants have been lost so far this year.

At Save the Elephants, Moses Litoroh, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) elephant program coordinator, noted that:

More than 50 per cent of the dead elephants we have found have been in that area in the north where the Chinese are working on the road. We can perhaps assume that they have had a hand in it, maybe not all of them, but the coincidence is causing us great concern.

It has also been reported that “the majority of ivory smugglers arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi are now Chinese nationals.”

Yet another ‘coincidence’?

Unfortunately, additional evidence points to Chinese involvement with the elephant killings, stemming from a CITES decision to allow China to resume limited legal trade in ivory. Kenya wildlife officials strongly opposed the decision from the beginning.

KWS feared that China would view the lifting as a “signal” that all trade in ivory had been resumed - and thus get back to the business of poaching. And earlier this month, an illegal shipment of elephant ivory and rhino horn was seized on its way to Laos, and it is believed the final destination was China.

Tragically, it appears that China received the “signal” - loud and clear.