An American conservationist regarded as the world’s foremost investigator into the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn has been found stabbed to death in Kenya.
The body of Esmond Bradley Martin was found by his wife Chryssee at their home in Langata on the outskirts of Nairobi with at least one stab wound in his neck, police said.
Raising fears that politically connected wildlife mafias were seeking to eliminate campaigners exposing their networks, Mr Bradley Martin was the second conservationist investigating the ivory trade to meet a violent death in six months.
Last August, Prince William gave warning that campaigners investigating serious wildlife crime had become targets following the murder of Wayne Lotter, a South African conservationist whose work led to the arrest of Chinese ivory traffickers.
“Wayne Lotter’s violent and apparently targeted murder shows just how dangerous the situation has become in relation to the big money associated with the illegal ivory and rhino horn trades,” the Prince, who is patron of the wildlife charity Tusk Trust, said.
“Rangers and conservationists put themselves in harm’s way every day to stop organised criminals destroying Africa’s natural resources.”
Like Mr Lotter, Mr Bradley Martin — who is understood to have briefed Prince William on several occasions — had been investigating the smuggling of ivory through Tanzanian and Kenyan ports to Southeast Asia, a trade that some conservationists say is supported by powerful politicians in the two countries.
He had recently returned from Burma as part of his investigations and was writing up his findings.
Kenyan police, however, said there was nothing so far to indicate a link between Mr Bradley Martin’s work and death.
One police officer involved in the investigation suggested that, after interviewing domestic staff at the house, a burglary gone wrong was his most plausible theory.
Cunningham Suiyanka, the district police chief, was quoted in the Kenyan press as saying that no evidence of a disturbance had been found at all, leading him to suspect that there was no human involvement in the death.
Although violent crime is common in Nairobi, the murder of foreigners is comparatively rare, particularly during the day.
Kenya’s police force has struggled to shake off a reputation of ineptitude and corruption. The list of unsolved murders, particularly of foreigners, is long, ranging from Julie Ward, the British tourist murdered in the Maasai Mara in 1988, to Tonio Trzebinski, a socialite artist killed in 2001.
In 2012, Alexander Monson, a young British aristocrat, died in unclear circumstances while in police custody.
Police investigations have often been ridiculed: Police initially claimed that Miss Ward had been killed by wild animals, despite her corpse having been burnt. Robert Ouko, the popular foreign minister, was found to have committed suicide by police, a feat that would have required him to break his leg twice, set himself on fire and then shoot himself in the back of the head.
Over the course of an extraordinary four-decade career investigating wildlife crimes, Mr Bradley Martin, who was 75, would have made enemies.
Combining meticulous and detailed research with derring-do that earned comparisons with Indiana Jones, Mr Bradley Martin, who attended at Liverpool University and spent many years in Britain, was an academic like no other.
Working undercover as a wildlife spy, sometimes for months as a time, he often posed as an illegal dealer himself, immersing himself in the criminal underworlds of West and Central Africa or trawling through the souks of Yemen and the back streets of Hanoi, Rangoon and Beijing.
His often dangerous research and his unparalleled contacts gave him an insight into the trafficking of wildlife products — second only to narcotics smuggling in monetary value — that none could match. His views and expertise were sought in the House of Commons, by the biggest wildlife charities and by the United Nations, which made him its special envoy on rhino conservation.
Despite a career pepped with dash, his character was always so modest and gentle, few would have guessed at the dangers that marked his undercover foreign trips.
“Esmond was a striking figure, tall, slender and with a shock of white hair — the most unlikely of undercover investigators, drivers as much by nervous energy as his commitment,” said Greg Neale, a close friend and environmentalist. “His death is an enormous blow.”
His breakthroughs were even more spectacular. On the basis of his research, he almost single-handedly persuaded China to ban the legal trade in the rhino horn in 1993. He also shattered many long-held conservationists myths, proving that the Chinese never used rhino horn as an aphrodisiac.
He was still savouring his most recent triumph — helping to persuade China to ban the legal trade in ivory last month — when he died.
Conservationists around the world shared their tributes on Twitter, sentiments echoed by politicians and diplomats.
“A passionate and committed man who made a big difference to our planet,” Nic Hailey, the British High Commissioner to Nairobi wrote.
Shocking & sad news: Esmond Bradley Martin, investigator into the illegal trade in elephant ivory & rhino horn, found murdered in his home in Nairobi. Our thoughts are with his wife Chryssee https://t.co/YzfRAIkWcb pic.twitter.com/BeYYsFzVfd
— Save the Rhino (@savetherhino) February 5, 2018
"With the end of the legal ivory trade in China, the survival chances for elephants have distinctly improved. We must give credit to China for doing the right thing by closing the ivory trade," he told The Star last year.
He had first come to Africa in the 1970s after a huge slaughter of elephants in the region.
Mr Bradley-Martin explained the purpose of his work to Nomad Magazine last year: "In Kenya, there were around 20,000 rhinos in 1970, but by the 1990s, most of the rhinos had been eliminated. The puzzle was: why were all these rhinos being killed, and where was the horn going?"
I'm devastated – Esmond Bradley Martin murdered in kenya yesterday – such a good, gentle, honest, brave man and Lulu and I were with him just a few days ago.. A man who has been fighting the ivory/rhino horn trade for years – yes I am devastated.
Click Here: camiseta seleccion argentina— Robin Page (@skylarkwarrior) February 5, 2018
Elephant expert and CEO of Wildlife Direct Dr. Paula Kahumbu tweeted: "It is with deep shock & horror that we learn this morning of the death of long time conservationist, Esmond Bradley Martin, whom police say died in suspicious circumstances st his home in Karen, Nairobi. Esmond led investigations into ivory & rhino horn trafficking.
"Esmond was at the forefront of exposing the scale of ivory markets in USA, Congo, Nigeria, Angola, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos and recently Myanmar. He always collaborated with Save the Elephants and worked with many of us generously sharing his findings & views.
"Esmond was a global authority on ivory and rhino horn trafficking. We send our deepest condolences to his wife. RIP Esmond, pachyderms have lost a great champion."