Summary: According to worldwide conservation groups, poachers are wiping out tens of thousands of African elephants a year, fueled by the high demand for Ivory in China. Some animal activists have gone so far as to call it genocide. In the meantime, President Obama recently launched a wildlife trafficking initiative aimed at combating the problem. This hour, we look at the plight of African elephants with Richard Ruggiero, chief of the Near East, South Asia, and Africa Branch in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of International Conservation; and Michael McClure, general curator and elephant manager at the Maryland Zoo, and president of the Elephant Manager’s Association.
