While I am not going to go too deeply into this topic, I hope to provide you with a sufficient overview as to why ivory make such a good business. The economic incentives are so great that poachers and smugglers are almost unwilling to stop.

According to the UN Environment Program and INTERPOL, it is estimated that the illegal ivory trade is worth close to $200 million per year. In 2013, the United States of America confiscated six tons of ivory that was illegally imported, worth about 10 billion dollars. In Kenya, the average per capita income is close to $1,200 per year. A poacher can earn about the same amount from just a pair of tusks! On black markets, ivory tusks are worth about $2,100 per kg. One big bull elephant’s tusks are around 50 kg. Imagine how much money one can earn just by taking down one elephant! Since it is illegal to hunt elephants in certain areas, illegal poachers are paid even more by the criminal syndicates, mafias and mobs to obtain ivory tusks. With the corrupted government, they can bribe their way out of a long term jail sentence. Since the benefits outweigh the losses, why will they want to stop?

One way to tackle this issue is to go straight for the mastermind behind the poachers i.e. those who are paying the poachers to obtain ivory. This is one of the things Wayne did, which placed him in a very dangerous situation.

With his assistance, the crime unit in Tanzania was able to arrest major criminals such as the “Ivory Queen” herself. After all, arresting poachers will only lead to the recruitment of more poachers by the mobs.

I think you can begin to understand why Wayne started receiving death threats when he was closing in on the criminals. They were warning him to stop what he was doing because he was getting in their way, making him a potential threat to their business.