Police have finally nabbed one of the most infamous environmental criminals in the world. Chinese national Yang Feng Glan (known as the “Ivory Queen”) was arrested in Tanzania on charges of poaching and smuggling ring. Glan is responsible for countless kills of elephants for their ivory. Glan, 66, would travel between China and the killing fields in open defiance of international and environmental laws. Despite her notoriety and serving an insatiable Chinese market for ivory, Chinese officials never arrested Glan.
However, a special task force from Tanzania’s National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit was following her in her blood-soaked travels between Beijing, Uganda and Tanzania. She was the link between African poachers and buyers in China for elephant ivory and rhino horns. She is now charged with smuggling ivory worth $3 million between 2000 and 2014.
The arrest of Glan is a huge victory for the environment. Glan has left a gory legacy on the fields of Africa in butchering animals. She has reportedly confessed and faces a maximum sentence of 20 to 30 years imprisonment. Hopefully, she will not ever see another day in freedom.
I read an article written by a doctor who studied Rhinos in Africa. He came up with a novel idea. Rhino horn fetches approximately $100,000.00 per kilo on the black market. He said, may be we should raise Rhinos on ranches and harvest their horns. A typical horn weighs approximately 3 kilos. It takes about 3 years to grow back. However an international agreement would have to be made for this to happen. If somebody in Eastern Asia will pay $100,000.00 for Rhino horn, why don’t we make a legitimate market for it and save the animals.
Max – I hate poachers and animal abusers, too.
What’s really sad is that international poachers take advantage of struggling economies. When a villager is wondering how he’s going to feed his family, poaching can sound like a lucrative option. A successful way to combat poaching is to make these animals worth more alive than dead – through tourism or other means. And even then someone may always want to make quick money. And then how do we enact cultural change to dry up the desire for ivory and other exotic animal parts? It’s so frustrating.
On a side note, this is an excellent martial arts film, “The Protector”, staring Tony Jaa, who travels to find his stolen elephants. It has one of the most amazing continual fight scenes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427954/
Karen – I have seen one Tony Jaa film. Fighting was great, plot was thin.