--- title: TIME Explains: The Link Between Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism | TIME description: Ivory trafficking makes big money, with the profits funding terrorist groups. TIME Senior Writer Bryan Walsh explains. canonical: https://time.com/video/VZloAvwv/ og:title: TIME Explains: The Link Between Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism og:description: Ivory trafficking makes big money, with the profits funding terrorist groups. TIME Senior Writer Bryan Walsh explains. og:url: https://time.com/video/VZloAvwv/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VZloAvwv/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME Explains: The Link Between Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism twitter:description: Ivory trafficking makes big money, with the profits funding terrorist groups. TIME Senior Writer Bryan Walsh explains. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VZloAvwv/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # TIME Explains: The Link Between Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: TIME Explains: The Link Between Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: The Link Between Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VZloAvwv.m3u8) (1:56)  _Published 2013-10-02. Ivory trafficking makes big money, with the profits funding terrorist groups. TIME Senior Writer Bryan Walsh explains._ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:49 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [85 Arrested in Human Trafficking Sting in Florida](/video/ig5vea3l/) ### 85 Arrested in Human Trafficking Sting in Florida [Bryan Walsh: Why Tornadoes are So Hard to Predict](/video/DnGe1sm1/) ### Bryan Walsh: Why Tornadoes are So Hard to Predict [Poachers Beware: Indonesia's Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking](/video/1yYD8jzx/) ### Poachers Beware: Indonesia's Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking --- ## Transcript One of the biggest threat facing endangered species today, is wildlife trafficking. [ MUSIC ] Animals like the African elephant and the rhino were hunted down for the ivory in their tusks, which then sold to make jewelry. By one estimate, 35, 000 elephants were killed, by poachers last year. That's about 95 per day. It's a number that's been skyrocketing in recent years as the demand for ivory has increased. Most of it coming from rapidly growing new consuming countries in Asia, like China and Thailand. Wildlife trapping is also becoming a major criminal enterprise as well. This's actually now the work of international criminal syndicates, even terrorist groups. [ MUSIC ] The El Shabab terrorist group which is based in Somalia, most recently carried out a major attack on a mall in Nairobi in Kenya. It's estimated to get as much as 40 % of it's financing from the wildlife trade. Right now, you've poorly paid, poorly equipped rangers in African nations, going up against heavily armed gangs. [ MUSIC ] At the Clinton Global Initiative annual summit in New York City at the end of September, an alliance of conservation groups announced an 80 million dollar fund to be distributed over the next 3 years that will go to fighting wildlife trafficking. One factor that's made wildlife trafficking so attractive to criminal groups. The penalty for it's very low while the benefit is very high. By some estimates, 7 to10 billion dollars is made off of wildlife traffiking each year, yet the penalty being caught with a stockpile of ivory, is often little more than a tiny fine. Unless we can figure out a way to get consumers, in, in countries like China, and countries in southeast Asia to turn away from ivory, much as people in the west did, after the 1980s and 1990s. If that demand for ivory isn't reduced, these criminal syndicates won't go away anytime soon, and the killing will increase. [ MUSIC ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Explains: The Link Between Wildlife Trafficking and Terrorism","description":"Ivory trafficking makes big money, with the profits funding terrorist groups. 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