Ivory trade investigator found stabbed to death
AN AMERICAN conservationist regarded as the world’s foremost investigator into the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn has been found stabbed to death in Kenya.
The body of Esmond Bradley Martin was found by his wife, Chryssee, at their home in Langata on the outskirts of Nairobi. He had at least one stab wound to the neck, police said.
Mr Bradley Martin, 76, is the second conservationist investigating the ivory trade to meet a violent death in six months, raising fears that politically connected wildlife mafias are seeking to eliminate campaigners exposing their networks.
Last August, Prince William warned that campaigners investigating serious wildlife crime had become targets following the murder of Wayne Lotter, a South African conservationist whose work led to the arrest of Chinese ivory traffickers. “Wayne Lotter’s violent and apparently targeted murder shows just how dangerous the situation has become in relation to the big money associated with the illegal ivory and rhino horn trades,” the Prince, who is patron of the wildlife charity Tusk Trust, said.
Like Mr Lotter, Mr Bradley Martin had been investigating the smuggling of ivory through Tanzanian and Kenyan ports to south-east Asia. He had recently returned from Burma as part of his investigations, and was writing up his findings.
Kenyan police, however, said there was nothing so far to indicate a link between Mr Bradley Martin’s work and his death. One police officer involved in the investigation suggested that, after interviewing domestic staff at the house, a burglary gone wrong was the most plausible theory.