American geographer, ivory investigator was stabbed to death in his house in Kenya’s suburb of Langata on Sunday afternoon, said police.
Esmond Bradley Martin lived in Kenya for decades and has for long contributed to the fight against elephant poaching and illegal wildlife trade. He was stabbed in the neck and Nairobi Police Chief Japheth Koome said four suspects have been arrested on Monday. However, he didn’t reveal the identities and suspected role of the suspects.
The 76-year-old demanded in the fight to end ivory supply chain and end of illegal rhino. His groundbreaking investigations led to the decision of China to close legal ivory markets in the country.
Researcher Lucy Vigne usually co-authored his investigations.
Paula Kahumbu, a leading Kenyan elephant expert and chief executive of Wildlife Direct, a conservation group, said Martin exposed the ivory trade and had addressed the the traffickers as well as dealers themselves.
He is described as one of the great unsung heroes in conservation, said Iain Douglas-Hamilton of Save the Elephants, which funded and published several reports of Martin for years.
Hamilton added, “His meticulous work into ivory and rhino horn markets was conducted often in some of the world’s most remote and dangerous places and against intensely busy schedules that would have exhausted a man half his age.”
It is learned the geographer was currently working on a new report that defined the role of Myanmar into illegal wildlife trade. It is yet too early to link his murder to his latest work.
