Evilvory campaign captures individual parts of the ivory Black-market. It is a tool designed to be used to enlighten the public about international trade with natural commodities. It follows the journey of tusks from the African savanna or jungle all the way to the final customer in Asia andt in the West.

 

All the Evilvory campaign photographs were taken by Dan Vojtech.

A poacher in African bush delivers illegal tusks to his partner (trader). No poacher is working alone. They work for rich people, but they themselves never become rich. Groups of poachers kill tens of national park rangers yearly. To be a ranger is very dangerous, they are risking their life daily to protect the animals in the park.

Public servants, custom officers and regional politicians have in theory a chance to stop the poaching. However, in many cases they are part of the illegal supply chain. They take bribes to keep quiet and in some cases even to help with the illegal trade. In malfunctioning states such a corruption has fatal impact on the African Wilde life.

Collectors use ivory to show off their wealth and social status. Even though the interest of western customers has been declining in past years there are still many of whom the fact that it is a “bloody” business has not reduced the appetite for ivory. They seem not to care that the money they have invested in building up their collections could have saved many elephants.

The usual customer using ivory jewels has no idea where they came from. Most of people in Asia think that elephants shed their tusks during their life just like deer’s
do or that they come from animals that died naturally. They are oblivious to the extent of the tragedy due to lack of awareness campaigns.