The United Nations strongly supports the boots-on-the-ground approach. The CITES document that outlines the recommended responses to the poaching crisis says, “levels of illegal killing tend to be higher at sites where law enforcement capacity is poor, while protected areas with better patrolling. . . experience lower levels of poaching” (“Elephants”). Of the document’s ten recommendations, three are about building up ground patrols. One is to improve “training and organization of specialized, well-paid and strongly-mandated anti-poaching units.” Another is to support the “development, training and education of tactical tracker and intelligence units” and the third is to allow anti-poachers “to pursue poachers and conduct patrols outside park boundaries.”
The report goes on to say that ground patrols are the best of all possible solutions: “Equipment such as vehicles, fixed-wing airplanes and radios are important tools for rangers. In remote areas, however, vehicles are confined to roads or tracks and easily seen from afar, making them easy for poachers to avoid. Vehicles and, in some areas fixed-wing airplanes, are useful. . . but are most effective when used alongside well-trained long-range ground patrols and tracker units that operate on foot. . . Without these tracker units, it is virtually impossible to locate, pursue and apprehend poachers in the bush.” The report also notes that ground patrols provide a valuable deterrent, saying, “Well-established tracker units can deter poaching, as poachers begin to realize that they may be followed day or night. . . As the likelihood of getting caught or even killed in an encounter with rangers rises. . . the temptation to engage in ivory poaching declines.”
In a 2014 speech, Scanlon supported ground patrols, saying, “Ultimately this fight will be won or lost on the front lines, whether in the field, the courtroom or the marketplace – not in a conference room. (“Press Environment”). That same year Helen Clark from the UN Development Program (UNDP) agreed that law enforcement must be tackled onsite. In fact, four of the UNDP’s seven recommendations for Tanzania were aimed at improving on-the-ground efforts, including adding 935 new game scouts, giving them expanded duties, creating a code of conduct, and adding helicopters and vehicles (Kimati, “We”).
The report goes on to say that ground patrols are the best of all possible solutions: “Equipment such as vehicles, fixed-wing airplanes and radios are important tools for rangers. In remote areas, however, vehicles are confined to roads or tracks and easily seen from afar, making them easy for poachers to avoid. Vehicles and, in some areas fixed-wing airplanes, are useful. . . but are most effective when used alongside well-trained long-range ground patrols and tracker units that operate on foot. . . Without these tracker units, it is virtually impossible to locate, pursue and apprehend poachers in the bush.” The report also notes that ground patrols provide a valuable deterrent, saying, “Well-established tracker units can deter poaching, as poachers begin to realize that they may be followed day or night. . . As the likelihood of getting caught or even killed in an encounter with rangers rises. . . the temptation to engage in ivory poaching declines.”
In a 2014 speech, Scanlon supported ground patrols, saying, “Ultimately this fight will be won or lost on the front lines, whether in the field, the courtroom or the marketplace – not in a conference room. (“Press Environment”). That same year Helen Clark from the UN Development Program (UNDP) agreed that law enforcement must be tackled onsite. In fact, four of the UNDP’s seven recommendations for Tanzania were aimed at improving on-the-ground efforts, including adding 935 new game scouts, giving them expanded duties, creating a code of conduct, and adding helicopters and vehicles (Kimati, “We”).
Outside the UN, the support for ground patrols is widespread. Dr. Amani Ngusaru from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says their focus in Tanzania is on “integrating conventional anti-poaching methods (boots on the ground) and community participation” (“Asian”). Roland Melisch from TRAFFIC says the most important measures to combat poaching are “ramping up anti-poaching,” shutting down trade routes, and reducing demand in Asia (“Poaching and Illegal”). There are many other examples of international support, including the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the American billionaire Howard Buffet, who have pledged vehicles, aircraft, fuel, pilot training and GPS equipment (“Tanzania U.S.”).
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Some people have said that ground patrols are not worth the effort because as soon as one trigger man is apprehended, another man will fill the void. These people say it is more important to stop the smugglers. One crime investigator says, “Poachers are merely a hand stretched into the savannah, while the head and body of the wildlife crime monster is far from there in the main urban centers” (McConnell, “The End”). Although this makes sense in theory, it is not what is happening. The fact is when hunters and game scouts are in the bush, there is less poaching. When there are not enough hunters and game scouts in the bush, there is more poaching. In order to stop the poaching, we need a presence where the elephants are.
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