VOA慢速英语--Study: DNA Tests Can Identify Ivory Traffickers

 

Researchers are using DNA¹ evidence to fight the illegal trade in ivory. They have shown how genetic² testing is able to link seizures⁴ of valuable elephant tusks⁶ to ivory traffickers.

In a report, the researchers says targeting ivory smugglers could have a major effect on elephant poaching. Wildlife experts note that illegal hunting threatens the very existence of the animals.

The findings mean some ivory smuggling⁸ suspects already facing charges from earlier arrests could face additional charges or larger fines if found guilty.

Ivory trafficking is a huge business with ties to other illegal activities, including drug trafficking. Poachers kill an estimated 40,000 elephants each year.

Missing tusks

Samuel Wasser is a biologist with the University of Washington. He and other researchers have studied tusks seized in police raids to identify where poached elephants came from. They had earlier identified places in Tanzania and Mozambique from which almost all the ivory seized between 2006 and 2014 came.

Wasser and the team noticed that when ivory shipments were seized, they often only contained one of an elephant's two tusks. They examined genetic records from major raids on smugglers between 2006 and 2015.

The records had information about DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid. The chemical is found in nearly all creatures and carries genetic information.

The researchers reported finding 26 examples where a tusk⁵ from one seizure³ was genetically⁹ similar to one from a separate shipment.

In each case, the two shipments passed through the same port within a few months of each other. Wasser said that suggests the same major trafficking organization was responsible for shipping¹⁰ both.

The study was published in the journal Science Advances. It follows the ivory back to three major trafficking groups. They are based in Lomé, Togo; Mombasa, Kenya; and Entebbe, Uganda.

When traffickers are caught, they usually only face charges for one shipment. But the methods Wasser's group developed can link individual smugglers to more than one shipment, and to each other.

For example, an important suspect in the Uganda group currently is awaiting trial for one seizure. The new study links him to two others. One of those includes tusks from a 2012 incident where poachers in a Ugandan helicopter shot 22 elephants across the border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"You can imagine, if this evidence is used, how much stronger a case we can build against him," Wasser said.

International links found

The new study also finds links between the criminal organizations in Togo and Kenya. East African and West African tusks were found in a shipment seized in Malaysia. Ivory from this shipment is connected to tusks from separate seizures linked to Lomé and Mombasa.

East African drug-smuggling suspects facing charges in the United States have also been linked to the Kenyan ivory trafficking group.

Frank Pope heads the nonprofit group Save the Elephants. He believes that the stories coming from the new study are very important. "Wasser's work is helping¹¹ us to close in on networks by telling the story of the connections between the different shipments," Pope said.

Wasser's methods have already helped investigators¹² interfere¹³ with trafficking operations, notes John Brown, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations¹⁴.

But Brown notes that few countries are obeying orders to send ivory collected in raids for genetic testing. This makes it harder for law enforcement to get to the beginning of the problem, he added.

"A seizure of three tons of ivory looks very good on the front page of the local newspaper," Brown said. "But if we don't attack the transnational criminal organizations behind it, then the problem will continue."

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

poach - v. to hunt or fish illegally?

smuggle⁷ - v. to move (someone or something) from one country into another illegally and secretly?

trafficker - n. a person who buys and sells something that is illegal?

tusk - n. a very long, large tooth that sticks out of the mouth of an animal

1 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

2 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

3 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

4 seizures   

n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物

参考例句：

• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year. 今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Other causes of unconsciousness predisposing to aspiration lung abscess are convulsive seizures. 造成吸入性肺脓肿昏迷的其他原因，有惊厥发作。 来自辞典例句

5 tusk   

n.獠牙，长牙，象牙

参考例句：

• The wild boar had its tusk sunk deeply into a tree and howled desperately.野猪的獠牙陷在了树里，绝望地嗥叫着。
• A huge tusk decorated the wall of his study.他书房的墙上装饰着一支巨大的象牙。

6 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

7 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

8 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

9 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

10 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

14 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。