China Just Eased a Ban on Rhino and Tiger Parts. Here’s How Organized Crime Fuels Illegal Poaching

On Oct. 24 in a New York courtroom, two kingpins of Kenya’s illegal wildlife trade pleaded guilty to crimes that carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha had been connected to seizures of over 30 metric tons of illegal ivory in Mombasa.

The illegal wildlife trade is worth as much as $23 billion each year, and has led to the deaths of 7,000 rhinos and 200,000 elephants over the last decade.