Critical Analysis on "The Ivory War"

The article The Ivory War by Patricia Smith is about the increasing Chinese demand for ivory and its devastating effect on the elephants that are poached to obtain it. Even though the sale of ivory was banned by an international trade group in 1989, its popularity has erupted and has created a large illegal trade that could potentially wipe out the elephants of Africa. Because a pound of ivory can go for $1,000 on the black market, people use any means possible to get a hold of elephant tusks. This has alarmed wildlife conservationists.

To help explain China’s need for ivory, the author includes details about Chinese culture. China’s middle class has been growing with the nation’s economy and many have the money to buy ivory items such as rings and combs. Ivory is special to them because it has always been a part of Chinese life. Smith writes, “Ivory is etched deeply into Chinese culture. Popular lore tells of emperors who believed ivory chopsticks would change color upon contact with poisoned food.” She also includes a quote from Wu Shaohua, president of the Shanghai Collectors Association. “Love for ivory is in our blood,” he said. It is clear that ivory is important to the Chinese and why it sells for so much.

The author also writes about how poachers who want ivory will go to extreme means to get it and how all kinds of people are after it. Tens of thousands of elephants are killed annually for their ivory. Poachers will shoot elephants in the wild and in wildlife preserves and leave the carcass, only taking the tusks. Poachers in Zimbabwe put cyanide in water holes of a national park, killing 80 elephants. Some poachers will even kill wildlife rangers who try to stop them. In Tanzania, poor villagers roll poisoned pumpkins on the road for elephants to eat. Subsistence hunters deep in the rainforest of Gabon are enlisted to kill elephants and collect the tusks. Even criminal gangs are involved in the ivory trade. “Some of Africa’s most notorious armed groups are hunting down elephants and using the tusks to buy weapons,” the article says. “Organized crime groups are helping move the ivory around the world.” By showing how many elephants are killed and how badly people want to hunt them, the piece conveys why conservationists are concerned about the survival of elephants.

Smith makes us concerned about elephants by presenting evidence in multiple ways. She quotes Andrew Dobson, an ecologist at Princeton University, who says, “The huge [elephant] populations in West Africa have disappeared, and those in the center and east are going rapidly.” Smith also included a shocking fact about the Ivory Coast, which got its name from the vast elephant herds that once roamed its forests: “Today, after decades of carnage, there are almost no elephants left on the Ivory Coast.” In addition, the article includes maps of elephant ranges in 1979 and 2007. The first map has a significant amount of green, which represented elephant ranges, while the second had about only a quarter as much. By presenting information about the rapid decline of elephants in multiple ways, the author erases any doubt we might have about how serious this issue is.

After reading the article, I realize how much I dislike the poaching of elephants. In addition to the author’s factual information, I developed my own reasons to be against this practice. Although ivory is rooted deeply in Chinese culture, it is not used for important purposes. Ivory is carved into bookmarks, statues, idols and other decorations that could easily be made with another material. Ivory is simply not an essential resource to the Chinese, or anyone. I ask what it would take for the Chinese to give up a culture that goes back many generations. Are chopsticks made of ivory truly worth the extinction of the elephant?