大象传媒

Researcher Andrea Turkalo is seeing more and more elephants entering Dzanga Bai. She thinks they are being pushed into the area as commercial logging disrupts their extensive network of paths. What's more, ivory is back in demand, and the tusks of forest elephants are most sought after. They are pinker and much denser than those of the savannah elephants, resulting in rose ivory which is highly prized for carving. Its value is astronomical. A pair of tusks can raise 90,000 dollars on the black market, so it is no wonder some local people get drawn into poaching. Human conflict in neighbouring countries floods the area with weapons, the guards confiscate many of them, but there are plenty more, and they all seem to be pointing in the direction of Dzanga.