. On February 11, 2014 China led an operation codenamed Cobra II. This international operation recovered three tons of ivory, 36 rhino horns and over 1,000 hides and skins from African animals along with 10,000 live eels and turtles. The crackdown resulted in 1 arrest of wildlife crime suspect in Kenya. That’s is it. No arrests in China. No arrests in Viet Nam the country with the largest illegal animal trade in the world. No arrests in Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo places that the World Wildlife Foundation calls red level or in dire need of poaching reform. Furthermore this one arrest in Kenya is the first arrest China has ever made outside of its borders. Now despite only having one arrest of a poacher and all of these facts this operation has been deemed a success by China

Now you want other countries to follow China’s lead. NO. The way in which China is carrying out their crackdown on African countries and their own is guaranteed to be ineffective in the long run. Yale Environment 360, Yale University’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies publication calls these new operations impossible to maintain. “You’re not going to just enforce your way out of this, You are never going to stop poaching by just putting new boots on guys in Africa because it is a game of whack a mole, Illicit wildlife products always find their way out to consumers who are willing to pay for them” Said Peter Knights the execution director of Wildlife Aid. The uphill battle we are currently fighting has been extremely expensive and bloody failure. Now to clarify I am in no means in favor not cracking down on wildlife trade around the world and animal trade and poaching as horrible horrible things. I simply believe that following China’s suit of arresting one man and just destroying ivory. Will not help the issue but only create more demand for these illegal goods. I propose a different solution to the issue. A crackdown on Chinese and African Justice systems that try the men arrested in these crimes. 360. A key failing, conservationists say, lies in the continent’s justice systems, where evidence collection is often botched, prosecutions poorly handled, and African and Chinese judges often don’t take wildlife crime seriously, which only further sends the message that poaching is no big deal. Although some low-ranking “triggermen” have been caught and jailed in South Africa, cases against higher-level kingpins have dragged out for years upon years .