DNA testing of ivory seizures, including close relatives such as parents, offspring, siblings and half-siblings, may lead to stronger criminal cases and harsher punishments of smugglers
A team led by scientists at the University of Washington and special agents with the US Department of Homeland Security has found genetic connections across ivory shipments seized by officials over the years. They have tested the captured material, some 11 tonnes, and uncovered “an even higher degree of organisation” among ivory smuggling networks than was known before.
“These methods are showing us that a handful of networks are behind a majority of smuggled ivory, and that the connections between these networks are deeper than even our previous research showed,” says Wasser. “Results suggest that individual traffickers are exporting dozens of shipments, with considerable connectivity between traffickers operating in different ports,” the researchers note.
The researchers were also able to identify how ivory shipment ports changed over time. In the 2000s smuggling networks used Tanzania; then they shifted their operations to Kenya and Uganda. Most recently ivory shipments were going out of Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In West Africa, the change was from Togo to Nigeria.
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