A prominent American investigator into the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade has been found dead in Kenya, just before he was expected to publish a new expose on Asia's influence on the smuggling racket.

Esmond Bradley-Martin was reportedly found with a stab wound to his neck in his Nairobi home.

His report was to detail how the ivory trade had shifted from China, long a major center for the wildlife black market, to neighboring countries.

He's the second major conservationist to die recently in east Africa, after South African Wayne Lotter was shot in Tanzania in August.