Every tusk, piece and scrap has been steeped and dyed in blood.

Every pound weight of ivory has cost the life of a man, woman, or child.

For every five pounds a hut has been burned;

for every two tusks, a whole village has been destroyed;

every twenty tusks have been obtained

at the price of a district with all its people, villages, and plantations.

It is simply incredible that, because ivory is required for ornaments or billiard games,

the rich heart of Africa should be laid waste,

that populations, tribes and nations should be utterly destroyed.

 

Whom after all does this bloody seizure of ivory enrich?

Only a few dozen, who, if due justice were dealt to them,

should be made to sweat out the remainder of their piratical lives in the severest penal servitude.

Henry Morton Stanley

In Darkest Africa, 1890

 

This book is dedicated to finding

justice for humans and animals everywhere

 

The killings are on-going, brutal, and must be stopped.

They are as ugly in reality as they are on the written page.

I know. I’ve seen the carnage up close.

Elephants don’t deserve this kind of punishment and we must do everything in our power to protect them.

I hope the three books in Elephant Murders contribute to that end.