African elephant slaughter highest in more than two decades

Send Jin over there with a bullwhip - she'll sort 'em right out.

cranky bastard: Send Jin over there with a bullwhip - she'll sort 'em right out.

Send her to me first!

It's really just another aspect of the current trend towards African exploitation that the Chinese have fully embraced. Africa is China's new rice bowl, and they're extracting everything else out of it that they can.

There was an article on NPR on March 2nd regarding this specific topic, but investigated from the other end--the appearance of suspicious or downright illegal ivory in markets in China. The perceived route that it was taking in that particular investigation was from Chinese workers in Africa who were smuggling these items back into China--generally not raw ivory, but things like name seals and chopsticks.

\Personally, I'd be a bit creeped out to eat something with chopsticks made from teeth--it seems a little too meta for my liking.

Unlike decades past when poachers across the continent ran down elephants using spears, the attackers are now highly organized and armed with sophisticated weapons


holy shit. well if the spear doesn't work they can just beat the elephant to death with their 300lb brass testicles.

willywanka: holy shit. well if the spear doesn't work they can just beat the elephant to death with their 300lb brass testicles.

Holy shit, indeed.

I can see a bunch of guys running down an elephant, but the guy that steps up with a spear and looks it in the eye is a friggin' African Chuck Norris.

I blame Rush Limbaugh & Sarah Palin.

cranky bastard: Holy shit, indeed.

I can see a bunch of guys running down an elephant, but the guy that steps up with a spear and looks it in the eye is a friggin' African Chuck Norris.

ah, I looked it up and it's not quite so bad-ass as I'd initially thought. They usually use dogs to chase the elephants or else lure the elephants into chasing them and get them to run into a covered pit they've dug. Once the elephant is trapped, they spear it to death. Still, I don't think I'd want to be on "elephant bait" detail.

willywanka: ah, I looked it up and it's not quite so bad-ass as I'd initially thought. They usually use dogs to chase the elephants or else lure the elephants into chasing them and get them to run into a covered pit they've dug. Once the elephant is trapped, they spear it to death. Still, I don't think I'd want to be on "elephant bait" detail.

Me neither.

Politically Incorrect Joke:

Q: What's the black stuff between the elephant's toes?
A: Slow natives.

\ got away with telling that one in school, back in the Bronze Age

Ground up dried elephant balls is better than Viagra!

These things don't carve themselves you know.

brazil: Ground up dried elephant balls is better than Viagra!


brazil: These things don't carve themselves you know.


THIS