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The Price Of Poaching

By Hady Mawajdeh,
Frank Stasio
Published October 21, 2014 at 11:42 AM EDT
Corporal Simon Irungu and a platoon of armed guards at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya watch over four of the last seven northern white rhinos in existence.
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Corporal Simon Irungu and a platoon of armed guards at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya watch over four of the last seven northern white rhinos in existence.
Ami Vitale / http://magazine.nature.org/features/the-price-of-poaching.xml
Orphaned baby southern white rhinos.
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Orphaned baby southern white rhinos.
Ami Vitale / http://magazine.nature.org/features/the-price-of-poaching.xml
A southern white rhino munches acacia at Lewa Conservancy. While not as badly endangered as other subspecies, these rhinos are also hunted for their horns, which are used in traditional medicine and carvings in Asia and the Middle East.
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A southern white rhino munches acacia at Lewa Conservancy. While not as badly endangered as other subspecies, these rhinos are also hunted for their horns, which are used in traditional medicine and carvings in Asia and the Middle East.
Ami Vitale / http://magazine.nature.org/features/the-price-of-poaching.xml

For indigenous tribes in Kenya, land is everything. 

An elephant pauses for a drink outside Sarara Camp in the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy. Community-level conservancies under the Northern Rangelands Trust help fight poaching across 11,000 square miles of the region, in part by investing ecotourism revenu
Credit Ami Vitale
An elephant pauses for a drink outside Sarara Camp in the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy. Community-level conservancies under the Northern Rangelands Trust help fight poaching across 11,000 square miles of the region, in part by investing ecotourism revenues in local development projects.

The land is where their cattle graze, where children play and where crops grow. But the market for ivory and the poaching of wildlife puts all of that at risk. Poaching doesn't just kill endangered animals, it also threatens the livelihood and lives of the people who live where elephants and rhinos range. It fuels corruption and hinders tourism, one of the region’s most profitable revenue streams. Host Frank Stasio talks with The Nature Conservancy's Africa field director, Charles Oluchina, about community run conservancies and the threats poaching bring to the region.

You can also read Charles Oluchina's article about The Price of Poaching (here).

Tags
AfricaKenyaThe Nature Conservancy.PoachingRhinoselephantsCharles OluchinaThe State of Things
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Hady Mawajdeh
Hady Mawajdeh is a native Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. He listened to Fresh Air growing up and fell in love with public radio. He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication at Texas State University and specialized in electronic media. He worked at NPR affiliate stations KUT and KUTX in Austin, Texas as an intern, producer, social media coordinator, and a late-night deejay.
See stories by Hady Mawajdeh
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
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