Animal News: British soldiers in Africa helping protect elephants from evil ivory traders
Although British troops will not be involved in operational activities against the criminal gangs, they will teach counter insurgency techniques to bring poachers to justice.
For the first time, British Army know-how is being provided to save black rhinos, a species down to fewer than 6,000 individuals after being hunted for precious horn worth £45,000 a kilo on the black market.
The specialist team of 24 troops, drawn from a variety of British Army units, is heading for Malawi next month. Ministry of Defence officials say they will spend weeks “working alongside park rangers passing on expertise in areas such as tracking and counter insurgency tactics built up in previous operational tours in countries, including Afghanistan”.
Military teams have already been working in West Africa over the past year, helping rangers in Gabon to improve tracking skills so they can cover larger distances to hunt down poaching gangs.