The Mammoth Pirates by Amos Chapple
In Russia's Arctic north, a new kind of gold rush is under way.
With the sale of elephant tusks under close scrutiny, “ethical ivory”
from the extinct woolly mammoth is now feeding an insatiable market in
China. This rush on mammoth ivory is luring a fresh breed of miner – the
tusker – into the Russian wilderness and creating dollar millionaires
in some of the poorest villages of Siberia.
On condition that he
not reveal names or exact locations, RFE/RL photographer Amos Chapple
gained exclusive access to one site where between bouts of vodka-fueled
chaos and days spent evading police patrols, teams of men are using
illegal new methods in the hunt for what remains of Siberia's lost
giants.
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