Attorney Goes Undercover in Kenya to Stop Slaughter of Elephants

Years spent volunteering for animal protection groups led to a special invitation to aid the Kenyan Wildlife Service

Douglas S. Malan
The Connecticut Law Tribune
July 21, 2010

G. Kenneth Bernhard had asked around the small African village of Murang'a and figured out that the man he wanted to see was named Jack. Bernhard found him in one of the several roadside gift shops about three hours outside of Nairobi, Kenya.

Bernhard had a deal to make with Jack. As a principal attorney at Cohen and Wolf in Westport, Conn., Bernhard has decades of experience negotiating on behalf of municipalities and businesses in litigation and real estate matters.

But this meeting with Jack involved illegal goods. Bernhard wanted ivory taken from the tusks of poached elephants. "He was very cagey," Bernhard said of his suspected ivory dealer. "It took a while to convince him that I was serious."

Bernhard really had no interest in buying the ivory. Instead, he was helping the Kenyan government root out ivory traffickers as part of a hair-raising sting operation back in February. "It was fascinating," Bernhard said of his 11-day adventure. "Kenya is serious about protecting its wildlife, and I was honored to be part of a process where I could make a small contribution."

For Bernhard, 66, supporting animal rights causes is a passion.

Many years spent volunteering for animal protection groups in various capacities and locations have led to friendships all over the world. Through one of those personal connections, Bernhard received a special invitation to assist the Kenyan Wildlife Service in tracking elephant poachers and ivory dealers.

"Sign me up," Bernhard told his friend.

Part of his role was to pose as an American tourist interested in buying ivory. He also went on flying missions over Kenya's Tsavo National Park trying to spot poachers who frequently cross over from neighboring Somalia. And he participated in AK-47 machine gun training (using blanks instead of bullets) in the bush with Kenyan rangers who hunt poachers by foot.

His stories sound like they come out of a Hollywood script, but Bernhard was motivated by the opportunity to help a species increasingly under attack in Africa. Those caught taking or selling ivory can face significant prison time.

While Kenya is one of the most progressive African countries when it comes to cracking down on poaching, Bernhard said, the battle against poachers and the ivory dealers who fuel the activity is difficult and ongoing.

"What's happening in national parks in Africa is a crime on a major level in terms of the long-term survival of these species," Bernhard said.

Bernhard worked with the Kenyan Wildlife Service, a government agency devoted to protecting wildlife in the country's numerous parks and reserves. Not only is the survival of the species at stake, but the country's tourism industry relies on wildlife to lure visitors. According to the KWS, the elephant population in Kenya in 1963 was 170,000, and that total had dropped to 16,000 by 1989. The population was reported at 32,000 as of last year.

But a change in international trade regulations in 2007 now allows for African countries to sell ivory to China and Japan. That has led to an increase in elephant poaching, and in Kenya, 240 elephants were killed last year, Bernhard said.

IVORY TRADE

Locating poachers or those involved with ivory trafficking takes a great deal of effort.

Bernhard's sting operation with the Kenyan dealer named Jack started with a meeting between Bernhard and KWS officials to script how the assignment would play out and where people would be positioned.

Bernhard, who was wired with a microphone, met Jack at the gift shop and told him that he wanted to buy a true African souvenir. Jack offered him the typical tourist gifts such as soapstone or animals carved out of mahogany. Bernhard pressed for some ivory samples by showing Jack a photo of a broken ivory bookend and telling him that he wanted to buy a replacement for his wife.

Bernhard left empty-handed. He returned the next day to make another attempt.

This time, Jack agreed to sell him an ivory bookend with a street value of $5,000. Jack's plan was to place the bookend inside a carved wooden elephant so that Bernhard could pass undetected through customs.

The two agreed to make the exchange the following day.

Meanwhile, the KWS took its plan to the next level by setting up armed plainclothes agents in the periphery of Jack's shop. They were to provide protection for Bernhard if the situation got too dangerous.

On the day of the deal, Bernhard noticed that the marketplace was not as busy as it had been, as if other vendors didn't want to be around when the illegal deal was made. Bernhard noticed that Jack was particularly on edge.

"He looked at one of the [armed agents] who was in the courtyard and asked who he was," Bernhard recalled. "I said I didn't know. He got very suspicious."

Jack handed the carved elephant to Bernhard, who wanted proof that the ivory was inside. Jack opened the elephant and revealed the ivory, but then he eyed another person who was a KWS official.

"He puts [the elephant] down, opens the backdoor and runs out," Bernhard said.

The KWS caught up with Jack the next day and arrested him, but Bernhard is unsure of what has happened to him since then. He participated in several other sting operations that also resulted in arrests.

"I can't say it ever got dangerous, and I was more than protected," Bernhard said. But "you can't help but get a rush."

EYE IN THE SKY

Bernhard also joined the KWS in fly-over missions in the Tsavo National Park where poachers often target Kenyan elephants.

Many of the poachers come from Somalia. Their slaughtering trips are intricately planned and tracking them proves tricky.

With water scarce, the poachers pack their mules with enough for the trip into the national park. But along the way, they also bury canteens for their return trip. That's because their mules will be loaded down with huge tusks that poachers cut with chainsaws after killing the elephants.

"It's warfare," Bernhard said. "These bandits are ruthless."

Last year alone, 40 KWS rangers were killed on the ground in skirmishes with poachers. So the KWS relies on small airplanes to fly 100 to 200 feet above the ground to spot poachers; rivers are popular locations to find them. When a plane locates a band of suspected poachers, the pilot will transmit their GPS coordinates to ground troops who can go directly to the area.

During his flights, Bernhard and his pilot never found any poachers, but he did enjoy the experience of flying so low to the ground over zebras and elephants.

And the plane landings usually were memorable. "We landed on dirt airstrips and sometimes we'd have to fly by a couple of times to get the zebras and giraffes off the runway," Bernhard said.

He also participated in some special operations with ground rangers who were going through training to fight poachers. Turns out that one day the rangers needed a target to serve as a Somali bandit in the brush.

Bernhard never hesitated to volunteer.

"They were doing this ambush training and I was jumping around rocks, avoiding scorpions and snakes and firing an AK-47 that was filled with blanks," Bernhard said. "I was 66 years old going on 12."

Bernhard also was able to witness some of the fruits of the KWS' labors. The organization has established a reserve for orphaned baby elephants, and Bernhard was able to interact with them and observe them up close in their natural habitat.

"It was remarkable," he said.

And he has standing invitation to return every year to carry out more sting operations and other anti-poaching initiatives with the KWS, which he plans to do.

Meanwhile, his next adventure will occur later this summer when he travels to the Gulf of Mexico region to help environmental groups monitor the oil spill's effects on whale sharks. Bernhard also recently earned certification that will allow him to clean up oil-soaked birds and help them recover.

Bernhard said he enjoys going to far-off locations and being more than a tourist.

"You've got a purpose for being there," Bernhard said. "The idea of sitting around the pool doesn't have much appeal to me."

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