Leading ivory-trade investigator Esmond Bradley Martin stabbed to death in Africa

Matthew Diebel | USA TODAY

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One of the world’s top ivory-trade investigators, Esmond Bradley Martin, has been stabbed to death in Kenya, according to local and British media.

Martin, an American who moved to Kenya in the 1970s, was found by his wife in their home in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, reported the Daily Nation, a local newspaper.

The Daily Nation quoted a police official, Cunningham Suiyanka, as saying Martin, 75, had stab wounds on his neck.

The former United Nations special envoy for rhino conservation had recently returned from a research trip to Myanmar, England’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. According to the paper, Martin had written important reports on ivory smuggling in Kenya as well as its main markets in China, Vietnam and Laos, where it is used in ornaments and traditional medicine.

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

Dr. Paula Kahumbu, an elephant expert and CEO of Wildlife Direct, a conservation organization founded by famed wild-animal advocate Richard Leakey, tweeted that she was horrified by Martin’s death.

"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,” she wrote.

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"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."

2/3 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. — Dr. Paula Kahumbu (@paulakahumbu) February 5, 2018

Another police official, Ireri Kamwende, said that a gardener and a cook employed at the Martin’s home have been questioned.

Martin was in the process of compiling a report when he was killed, the BBC reported, adding that he had spent decades secretly photographing and documenting the illegal sales of ivory and rhino horn, traveling to China, Vietnam, and Laos to pose as a buyer.

Martin first went to Kenya from the U.S. in the 1970s when there was a surge in the number of elephants being killed for their ivory, according to the BBC. His work on illegal wildlife markets helped pressure China to ban the rhino horn trade in the 1990s. It also moved to ban domestic sales of ivory, a law which came into force this year.