Ranger corruption 'impeding global fight against poaching'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/27/ranger-corruption-impeding-fight-poaching
A Filipino wildlife officer shows seized elephant tusks and dried sea turtle from a Tanzanian shipment. Photograph: Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA
Corruption among wildlife rangers is becoming a serious impediment in the fight against poaching, fuelled by soaring levels of cash offered by criminal poacher syndicates, senior conservation chiefs have admitted.
Rangers in countries as diverse as Tanzania and Cambodia are being bribed by increasingly organised poaching gangs keen to supply ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts to meet huge consumer demand in Asia.
While prices for ivory and rhino horn, in particular, have risen dramatically in recent years, ranger wages have failed to keep pace, resulting in a spate of bribery scandals.
"There's more money floating around now from the poachers, so it's more of a problem than ever before," said Sean Willmore, president of the Australian-based International Ranger Federation.