A booming market for valuable rhinoceros horns as well as the long-coveted ivory elephant tusks has created an underground poaching economy surrounding two addictively profitable products—but at what cost? Asia’s heavy demand for elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns, which, when crushed up, are believed to have medicinal value, has already lead to the extinction of the region’s own natural source of the material. Now it has focused poachers’ attentions on Africa’s animals instead. As the world’s populations of these great beasts dwindle, poachers are becoming more technologically advanced, developing war-like hunting techniques that include helicopters, rifles, RPGs and night-vision goggles. Even local poachers are motivated by poverty to sacrifice their indigenous wildlife. Newsweek takes a look at what you need to know about poaching in Africa, the dangers elephants and rhinoceroses face as their personal assets become more coveted, and the people risking their lives to protect them.
