SHEREE BEGA

that it’s the same for wildlife. Right now, it looks very selfish and arrogant.

“That criminal cartels have set their sights on Kruger Park, is worrying.

“Kruger has the best defences on the continent. What’s going on when elephant poachers can come in and kill 30 elephants, that you know about, but it’s probably 10 times that?

“When you shoot elephants it sends out messages to all the elephants, which are now tense and stressed.”

Too little is known about the complex criminal cartels fuelling elephant poaching, she says.

“My biggest regret is our scattered approach (as conservationists).

“The criminals are laughing all the way. They’ve not been caught or punished. Every now and then, there’s a seizure nabbed but there are many others in the pipeline already.”

While she applauds China’s ivory ban, which comes into effect in December, it has taken too long to enact.

“Chinese authorities tell us they don’t understand why we’re blaming them, that our people are not doing enough on the ground (to protect elephants)… It’s not their elephants so they’re not bothered.

“I think the Chinese premier should have taken his personal ivory and that of his wife’s and thrown it in the crush in Beijing. That would have made a personal statement that ‘anyone who is using ivory is not our friend’.”