Ivory Detective DNA reveals Ivory trafficking Network

” Brown said. Wasser said that efforts made by law enforcement to connect one ivory seizure to others currently are rare with ports in Kenya and Nigeria also often used. Wasser noted that the ports used by smugglers have changed over time. Previous research by Wasser and colleagues identified tusks from the same individual elephant that had been separated and smuggled by traffickers in different shipments prior to being seized by law enforcement at African and Asian ports. The new research expanded the testing’s scope to also identify tusks of elephants that were closely related full siblings and half siblings. The researchers used DNA from elephant feces collected across Africa to compile a genetic reference map of various populations. The new testing thus allowed them to identify the geographic location where the elephants were poached and also connect seized shipments to the same transnational criminal organizations . “We found that a small number of TCOs are responsible for exporting the majority of large ivory shipments DNA testing on seized ivory shipments that reveals family ties among African elephants killed for their tusks is helping to identify poaching areas and trafficking networks at the center of an illegal trade that continues to devastate the population of Earth’s largest land animal. Researchers said on Monday they conducted DNA tests on 4 a population that includes two separate species – savanna and forest elephants. The study did not involve the world’s third elephant species tusks from close relatives found in separate containers for shipment in the same port. Wasser said the largest amount of ivory is now being smuggled out of Uganda through the Mombasa seaport totaling 111 tons in 12 African nations from 2002 to 2019. The results could help crack the transnational criminal organizations behind the trafficking and strengthen prosecutions. “Combining these results with evidence collected from our law enforcement collaborators enables us to collaboratively connect the dots across a massive criminal network ” said Wasser 320 elephant tusks from 49 ivory seizures Wasser said. Around 2016

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