A Recent Article in the New York Times Explores The Possibilty That U.S. Trained and Armed African Troops Are Involved in Mass Killings of Elephants.

The continuous slaughter of elephants by Islamist armed terrorist groups is bad enough.  These criminals have been killing elephants for years for their beautiful ivory tusks, which they sell to the Chinese for money to buy more guns.  But now there is emerging evidence that some U.S. trained and armed African armies are using modern weapons and helicopters to slaughter elephants on a mass scale.  This whole situation should make you sick.  First, the Chinese and rich Thais are paying huge amounts for ivory, which is fueling the growing armies of poachers.  They use the ivory for such things as nick knacks and chopsticks.  This behavior must end now.  Make your fricking chop sticks out of wood or plastic.

The U.S. Government must immediately:

1. Re-instate a world wide ban on illegal Ivory Trade. Any Ivory from elephants who died from natural causes can be auctioned and the funds directed to support wildlife parks to protect elephants.  Killing elephants for their ivory should be a crime of consequence, like life in prison.

2. Demand that China stop this nonsense NOW, or suffer massive trade sanctions.  This is a sad case of people who are newly rich and want to “show off” by having expensive do-dads to show their friends how rich they are.  I’m not picking on Chinese people, they probably learned this obnoxious behavior from Americans, who are professionals when it comes to showing off their wealth in bizarre  destructive ways.  Americans are also experts in animal extinctions, like what was done to the American Bison.  So maybe we can use our knowledge of our own sad past behavior to save what is left of the herds of elephants in Africa, and make the Chinese realize how stupid it is to make chopsticks from ivory. They are shaming themselves in the court of world opinion, just as Americans did by slaughtering the beavers for hats or minks for coats.  Most Americans have learned their lesson.  We wear baseball caps made from fiber.  Our coats are made from cotton and fabric.  So to the Chinese people, I say take a hint from our past and join us in saving the elephants..  Stop the demand for ivory and the poachers will stop killing elephants.

3. The U.S. Military and its AFRICON (African Command) needs to be called on the carpet.  The former commander, Gen Ward was removed and demoted for his activities.  The U.S. must INSIST on keeping track of any weapons they are dolling out to the corrupt military forces in Africa.  Any use of our assets, aircraft, etc.,to kill off wildlife should result in severe penalties, embargoes, and police action to bring these criminals to justice.

4. The U.S. should work harder with other countries to end the depredations of Islamist and other  terrorist groups like the Janjaweed.  Africa has suffered so much from these types of groups that it is unbelievable that the western powers have been unable to help poor African countries to protect themselves against these thugs.

Check out this article from www.savetheelephants.org  Here is a clip from it:

The Tough Truth of Ivory Funding Terrorism

Christina M. Russo — Yale Environment 360

December 11, 2012

September 20, 2012 INTERVIEW Shining a Bright Light on Africa’s Elephant Slaughter Fueled by a rising demand for ivory, the mass killing of African elephants has reached extraordinary levels. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, New York Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman discusses his in-depth investigation of the deadly ivory trade, which involves the U.S.-backed military forces of several African nations. by Christina M. Russo

With the slaughter of African elephants sharply intensifying recently as global prices for ivory have escalated, few articles have conveyed the scope and brutality of that trade as vividly as the one written earlier this month by Jeffrey Gettleman, of The New York Times. Entitled “Elephants Dying in Epic Frenzy as Ivory Fuels Wars and Profits,” Gettleman’s report described how tens of thousands of elephants are being killed annually for their tusks, with the carnage increasingly being carried out by African armies or by brutal armed groups that use the tusks to “sustain their mayhem.”

Jeffrey Gettleman In an interview with Yale Environment 360 contributor Christina M. Russo, Gettleman, the Times’ East Africa bureau chief, explained how weeks in the field helped him piece together an elaborate ivory trade that is fueled largely by Chinese demand and involves elements of the military from the Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda — all of which receive some funding or training from the U.S. government. Gettleman, who won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, also discussed how infamous armed groups — including the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.), the janjaweed in Darfur, and the Islamist group, Shabab — all participate in the poaching.

Read the rest of this:  Save the Elephants