Journalist Bryan Christy and photographer Brent Stirton teamed up for a searing investigation of the ivory trade. The resulting story, which ran in the October 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine, made waves.

Every year, poachers kill at least 25,000 elephants to feed the demand of ivory collectors and the market for religious objects. The article documented how a single large tusk sold on the Kenyan black market could bring $6,000, enough to support a poacher for ten years. Elephant poaching had declined after a 1989 ban on ivory sales, but in recent years that trend had reversed.

The slaughter was massive and accelerating.

Since the story was published, however, there is hope that the situation may be turning around. In June 2013, the Philippines became the first non-African country to destroy its ivory stock. The Philippines had played a large role in the ivory smuggling market and in consuming ivory, primarily for religious icons. And in February 2014, the Obama administration announced new restrictions on the ivory trade designed to create “a near complete ban” on the commercial sale of African elephant ivory in the U.S.

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