Tag Archives: Ivory

EU Ivory trade meeting – UK says no to trade proposals

Category: CITES, Ivory, Kenya
Date: January 28th 2010
By: paula

Dear friends,

Representatives of the 17-country Coalition for the African Elephant have arrived in Brussels to discuss the ivory trading proposals. They want the European Union, which votes as a block, to say no to Tanzania and Zambia in Doha in March.

“We are asking the European Union to take a clear stance in support of a nine-year moratorium adopted in 2007 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES),” Kenyan Forest and Fauna Minister Noah Wekesa told journalists.

According to an article in the Guardian, ivory prices have soared from $250 a kilogram in 2004 to more than $6,000 at present. Many scientists believe that this aws the result of stimulation of the chinese market after the November 2008 sale of stockpiled ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe which was bought by dealers from China and Japan. The sale of 105,000 kilograms of ivory, raised more than £15m, but has led to escalated poaching across Africa. Some scientists estimate that between 8 and 10% of the population is dying annually at the hands of poachers.

The UK has said no to ivory sales. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said last night: “At the CITES meeting in March, the UK will vote against the proposals from Tanzania and Zambia to sell ivory stocks, and we would urge other countries to vote against such a sale.”

Meanwhile Namibia has backed ivory sales saying that the proposals from Zambia and Tanzania are in line with their policies. Never mind that tens of thousands of elephants are dying annually due to poaching which has been catalyzed by the one off sales in November 2008. Traffic International are warning that over 14,000 ivory items were siezed in 2009 compared to just 2,000 the year before.

TRAFFIC was established in 1976 and has developed into a global network, research-driven and action-oriented, committed to delivering innovative and practical conservation solutions based on the latest information. Yet despite all the information on how ivory sales spur the illegal killing of elephants, TRAFFI Boss Richard Thomas says “It is a really worrying situation, However, it is not absolutely clear what should be done.”

In other words, TRAFFIC does not want to influence the CITES delegaets with an opinion even though it is glaringly obvious. What is even sadder is that in 2007 the parties to CITES agreed on a 9 year moratorium on further sales. Apparently a mistake was entered on the agreement (intentionally or unintentionall) that limited the moratorium only to the five countries that were selling ivory. This mistake was not detected until after the vote and though Kenya protested it was too late. Of course what this did, was it created an opportunity for countries that did not sell ivory in 2008 to submit ivory sale proposals this year. We believe that the parties to CITES should honor the intentions of that agreement and reject Zambia and Tanzania, and indeed ask them to withdraw their proposals.

THe Coalition for the AFrican Elephant represent 17countries. Kenyas Miniser for Forestry and and Wildlife, Dr. Noah Wekesa is leading the team.

“We are asking the European Union to take a clear stance in support of a nine-year moratorium adopted in 2007 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES),” Wekesa told journalists. .

“The EU plays a major role within CITES,” Wekesa insisted. “If it abstains during this vote, it will contribute towards worsening an already critical situation.”

Please support the Coalition for the African Elephant by circulating this email and writing to your CITES authorities to vote no to the ivory trade propsoals

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East African battle on sale of ivory

Category: Africa, CITES, China, East Africa, elephants, poaching, wildlifedirect
Date: January 20th 2010
By: paula

East African battle on sale of ivory to take centre stage at Brussels forumBy WALTER MENYA, Daily Nation

January 18 2010 at 21:00

The silent wars involving Kenya and Rwanda on one side against their East African partner Tanzania over trade in ivory heads to Brussels from January 22.

Kenya and Mali will be co-chairing a six-day meeting that brings together 27 countries which are members of the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (Cites).

They will be aiming at forging a united front against Tanzania and Zambia’s proposal for permission for a one-off sale of ivory.

The meeting in Brussels comes less than two months before the 15th Cites Conference of the Parties (COP15) between March 13 and 25 in Doha, Qatar.

Kenya and Rwanda are accusing Tanzania of betraying the Cites and East African Community spirit of consultation before taking a major step like the one it has proposed. Kenya has also accused Uganda of sitting on the fence when issues of wildlife conservation come up for debate.

Tanzania and its Southern African Development Community (SADC) partner, Zambia, sent a proposal to the COP 15 secretariat on November 17, 2009 seeking “to transfer the population of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana, from Appendix I to Appendix II”.

Appendix I include species threatened with extinction. Trade in these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

Appendix II, on the other hand, includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilisation incompatible with their survival.

In the proposal, Tanzania is seeking to be allowed to carry out a one-off sale of 90 tonnes of ivory from registered government-owned stocks originating in Tanzania, but excluding seized ivory and stocks of unknown origin, to trading partners that have been already designated by the Cites Standing Committee.

The committee has designated Japan and China because of their domestic trade controls that ensure the ivory is not re-exported. Zambia wants to sell 22 tonnes of its ivory stockpiles.

But Kenya has been joined by six other elephant range states, namely Rwanda, Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone, to oppose any such sale, arguing that it contravenes the spirit of COP14 that imposed a nine-year moratorium on ivory trade “from the time of the one-off sale by Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa”, says Mr Patrick Omondi, the senior assistant director and head of species at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

Tanzania and Zambia exploited a loophole in the moratorium that appeared to bar only those who were allowed to conduct a second one-off sale of 108 tonnes of ivory to Japan and China in 2007.

The first experimental sale took place in 1997 during which Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa were allowed to dispose off 67 tonnes of ivory to Japan. Also, due to their population, Cites classifies South African elephants under Appendix II.

During 2007 meeting in The Hague, Kenya and Mali’s bid to impose a 20-year moratorium was defeated by the South’s great influence and eventually reduced to nine years with the insistence of the African Elephant Coalition.

The moratorium was meant to develop an African Elephant Action Plan before any proposal to downlist would be accepted. The plan included developing strategies for increasing population and dealing with trans-boundary concerns.

The countdown was to start once the 108 tonnes left the four countries, the resolution stated, and this only took place in November 2009. Thus, Tanzania and Zambia are asking for permission to sell their stockpiles before a year has elapsed.

Kenya has therefore accused the Cites secretariat of open bias for admitting the proposal against the 2007 resolution.

The seven countries responded by also depositing a counter proposal that seeks to extend the moratorium to 20 years.

Mr Willem Wijnstekers is the secretary general of the 175-member Cites, and he is answerable to the United Nations Environmental Programme.

Dismissed

The secretariat has dismissed studies relating legal sale and heightened rate of poaching despite evidence to the contrary. Studies have shown, for instance, that Kenya has seen an increase in poaching, with 47 elephants killed in 2007, 145 in 2008 and 220 in 2009.

Today, Kenya has 35,000 elephants, mainly due to the rigorous protection efforts which include daily helicopter patrols, a real-time communication centre and 24-hour ranger surveillance.

Elephant populations have also deteriorated in Senegal, which now has less than 10, while Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad have less than 50 each.

Botswana leads in Africa with 110,000 elephants, followed by Zimbabwe (105,000), Tanzania (91,000), then Kenya.

Tanzania projects its elephant population to be 136,753 in 2006 up from 55,000 in 1989. However, Mr Omondi insists the figure has been exaggerated to convince the world to allow trade in ivory.

“Should Cites approve the sale of Tanzania’s stockpile, the floodgates will open and the African elephant in Tanzania faces a very uncertain future. Tourism will be affected,” states a presentation by Kenya.

Kenya and Tanzania share three national parks that are among the most inhabited by elephants consisting of Mkomazi and Tsavo, Kilimanjaro and Amboseli and Serengeti and Maasai Mara.

And since there is currently no technology to identify Kenyan elephant from a Tanzanian, KWS alleges the ivory listed for sale could actually belong to Kenya. Kenya is in the process of putting collars on its elephants for identification.

Article at the following link:
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/845178/-/vpd592/-/
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CITES: Kenya’s Elephant Poaching Fears

Category: Africa, In the News, Ivory, Kenya, Trade, elephants, poaching
Date: January 10th 2010
By: maina

As the date of the CITES meeting in Doha draws near, Kenyan media is starting to get interested. On Saturday, Cynthia Vukets of Kenya’s NTV reported on the dangerous move Tanzania is making to have it’s elephants downlisted from Appendix I to Appendix II of the CITES Red List of Endangered Species thus allowing them to trade in their 89,848.74 kg of stockpiled ivory to Japan and China. This report, which aired in prime time TV slot (9pm news), also criticizes Zambia’s similar proposal for downlisting. The news item is now available on NTV’s You Tube channel and is embedded here.

Listening to the broadcast, you learn that Sierra Leone lost its entire elephant population to poachers in one day, even though it only had 6 elephants. Six elephants are better than no elephants

Our prayer is that with increased media coverage and more public awareness throughout the world, Delegates to the 15th CITES Conference of Parties (CoP15) will  feel obliged to reject Tanzania and Zambia’s proposals for downlisting of their elephants and vote for a 20-year moratorium on trade in ivory as proposed by Kenya, Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone.

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CITES Ivory Wars: What is in the Proposals?

Category: Africa, CITES, Ivory, Trade, elephants
Date: January 8th 2010
By: maina

To understand the epic battle for the elephant that is coming up in 2 months, when African Elephant range states lock horns in Doha, Qatar, to contest for amendments to CITES Appendix I and Appendix II, one must understand what is in the proposals submitted by both sides of the ivory trade divide.

ivory seized at JKIA

On the one hand is the anti-trade range states consisting of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone. On the other hand, each with it’s own proposal is Zambia and Tanzania, who want to be allowed to sell their ivory stockpiles come the March 13-25 Doha   meeting – the 15th CITES  Conference of Parties (CoP15). Both sides have sent their proposals to the CITES secretariat and the secretariat has generously (or is it by requirement) posted the proposals on their website. The southern African states of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and kingpin South Africa are silent in this one. After all, they already sold their stockpiles.

The anti-trade block has renewed the Kenya/Mali proposal made in 2007 for a 20 year moratorium on the trade in ivory, including one-off sales. This moratorium in the language of the proposals is presented as an amendment to both apendices by including an annotation regarding ALL populations of Loxodonta africana, as follows:

“No further proposals concerning trade in African elephant ivory, including proposals to downlist elephant populations from Appendix I to Appendix II, shall be submitted to the Conference of the Parties for the period from CoP14 and ending twenty years from the date of the single sale of ivory that took place in November 2008. Following this twenty year resting period, any elephant proposals shall be dealt with in accordance with Decisions 14.77 and 14.78.”

This change should be accompanied by the deletion of two paragraphs from the last meetings resolutions. One on the elephants of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe that says:

“h) no further proposals to allow trade in elephant ivory from populations already in Appendix II shall be submitted to the Conference of the Parties for the period from CoP14 and ending nine years from the date of the single sale of ivory that is to take place in accordance with provisions in paragraphs g)i), g) ii), g) iii), g) vi) and g) vii). In addition such further proposals shall be dealt with in accordance with Decisions 14.77 and 14.78.”

and another one concerning the elephants of Namibia and Zimbabwe allowing

f) trade in individually marked and certified ekipas incorporated in finished jewellery for non-commercial purposes for Namibia and ivory carvings for non-commercial purposes for Zimbabwe;

Ekipas are traditional Namibian ivory carvings.

Tanzania which has the second largest population of eleohants in the continent (136,753) has proposed to be allowed to trade its ivory stockpiles by transfer of their elephant population from Appendix I to Appendix II  with an annotation that says:

“for the exclusive purpose of the following:
a)  trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial purposes;
b)  trade in registered raw ivory (whole tusks and pieces) subject to the following

They therefore directly ask for a one off sale of 89,848.74 kg of ivory from registered government-owned stocks, originating in Tanzania (excluding seized ivory and ivory of unknown origin) to registered buyers – which at the last CITES meeting included only Japan and China. They insist that they will not sell the ivory until the CITES Secretariat has verified the stocks and ‘assure’ the secretatriat that “the proceeds of the trade are used exclusively for elephant conservation, community conservation and development programmes within or adjacent to the elephant range in Tanzania”

Tanzania doesnt stop there. In addition to saying that they will not ask for more trade in the next 6 years after their proposed sale (which means they may ask at the end of that period), they also ask to be allowed to trade in raw hide and to sell live animals to “appropriate and acceptable destinations”.

Zambia on the other hand with a population of only 27,000 animals (population smaller than Kenya’s) wants more or less what Tanzania wants: its population moved from Appendix I to Appendix II so that they can trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial purposes, live animals, raw hides and trade in registered raw ivory. For the latter item, the Zambians propose a one-off sale of  21,692.23 kg as ivory from registered government-owned stocks, originating in the country.

So that is the long and short of it. Zambia and Tanzania clamoring for an opportunity to sell a total of 111,540.97 kg of ivory and the Kenya led block gunning for a 20 year moratorium.

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Kenya and Tanzania Lock Horns Over Ivory Trade

Category: Africa, Amboseli, CITES, Ivory, elephants, poaching
Date: January 6th 2010
By: maina

According to a report in one of Kenya’s business newspapers, there is a strong likelihood of a fallout between Kenya and Tanzania in light of the two neighbours’ opposing ivory trade proposals sent to CITES ahead of the 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) to be held in Doha, Quatar this coming March.

While Kenya has submitted a proposal for a total ban on ivory trade, Tanzania “is pushing for a new trading window to allow it to sell its ivory stockpile to fund conservation measures”, said the Business Daily newspaper. Kenyan wildlife officials see this as betrayal by their neighbours with whom they share ecosystems such as Amboseli (Kilimanjaro) and Masai Mara (Serengeti). Kenya believes that Tanzania’s proposal to move their elephants from Appendix I to Appendix II in the CITES rankings, thus allowing them to carry out a one off trade stockpiled ivory, will increase poaching in the named ecosystems.

Tanzania and Zambia are both pushing for an opportunity to sell 89,848 Kilograms and 21,692 kilograms of stockpiled ivory respectively. Zambia also wants to sell raw hides. This is confirmation that CITES ruling that allowed four southern Africa nations (Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa and Botswana) after the 14th CITES meeting in 2008 was bound to set a bad precedent.

Allowing Tanzania and Zambia to sell their ivory will signal other African states to ask CITES for permission to sell their legally held ivory stockpiles too. Thus setting the pattern of bad decisions into a spiral. The result will no doubt be a rise in demand and consequently an upsurge in poaching – possibly to the 1970s and 1980s levels that saw the population of elephants in Kenya cut down from 168,000 in 1969 to just 16,000 in 1989.

Kenyan officials have vowed to fight these proposals to the last man. Rallying behind Kenya in the fight to block the Tanzania/Zambia proposal are various African states including Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. It would be untold victory for elephants should the pro-trade proposals are voted out and a total ban in all ivory trade is imposed.

So to CITES – and to our Tanzanian neighbours – don’t condemn Africa’s elephants to extinction over a few million dollars worth of ivory.

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Ivory Poaching: It is the return of the dark ages

Category: Africa, Ivory, Kenya, Trade, elephants, poaching, wildlife trade
Date: October 5th 2009
By: maina

We could be headed back to the ‘dark ages’ of African elephant poaching going by the recent spate of ivory seizures in the continent. Wildlife enthusiasts will remember the horrible days back in the 1980s when the Kenyan elephant population was brought down to its knees by the large scale poaching that was also affecting most of the range states for the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana). Those days may well be back.

ivory seized at JKIA

A few days ago, the Kenya Wildlife Service seized a large cache of illegal ivory at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Capital FM of Nairobi report in their website that “Police and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) personnel on Wednesday seized 61 tusks of raw ivory weighing 532 Kilograms (1,172 pounds) at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).”The large haul is believed to have been headed to Bangkok, Thailand, through Addis Abab, Ethiopia. KWS Director Julius Kipng’etich reports that:

“The unaccompanied luggage was to be air-freighted to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the way to Bangkok, Thailand,” he said adding that the ivory had been falsely declared as “POLISHING BENCH” in the Airway Bill and was packed in four boxes.

As luck would have it, the KWS also received reports from Ethiopian Airlines that another larger consignment – 637 kg (1,404 pounds) – of similarly disguised ivory had been intercepted in the capital Addis Ababa two days earlier. “This consignment had also originated from JKIA destined to Bangkok via Addis Ababa by the same consignee,” said Kipng’etich.

The total of 1,169 kg (2,577 pounds) of ivory seized is suspected to be from Kenyan elephants, which would then prove that there is indeed a rise in elephant poaching. According to KWS data, this year, 145 elephants have been killed illegally. This compared to the 47 reported illegally killed elephants in the last two years, is indeed a cause for panic. The rise in number of illegally killed elephants is alarming!

The story of the tough times for elephants doesn’t end at the horn of Africa. On October 1, the same day that the KWS seized ivory in Nairobi, five suspects are reported to have been arraigned in a Harare, Zimbabwe court charged with possession of 30,8 kilograms of ivory worth more than $4 500 (American dollars, not Zimbabwean).

These outlaws had, withing their residence, a high caliber rifle used to kill elephants – .303! The Harare court remanded them out of custody, so they’ll be staying in their residence, probably shoot a few more elephants with another .303 rifle then go back to court on the appointed date for the hearing of the current case.

In Central Africa Republic, the French news agency, AFP, reports that “Police detained two major ivory traffickers in the Central African Republic as a part of a joint operation with animal rights activists”. So the cancer is spreading. According to the AFP, this is the first arrest of this kind in this central African state since they instituted a law against wildlife trade in some 30 years ago. This lot of thugs are said to have their own large stash of illegal ivory.

One of the suspects had 157 ivory objects weighing more than 200 kilogrammes (440 pounds). Unfortunately, these crooks will only get 1-year jail terms each should they be found guilty, which is a ridiculously soft punishment for someone who is probably responsible for the death of tens of elephants, if not hundreds.

Experts say some 38,000 African elephants are killed each year for their tusks. Most believe that the upsurge in poaching in recent months is due to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) decision to allow the southern African states of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe(!) to sell their ivory stockpile to the highest bidder in China and Japan. It is believed this prompted a spike in the illegal market for ivory, which, needless to say, is responsible for the upsurge in poaching.

I personally blame CITES for the mess that is ivory poaching. It is difficult and expensive to trace the origin of ivory, especially after it has been worked. What logic did they use to agree to the one-off auction of ivory?

Unless the illegal trade in ivory is completely stumped out, nobody should sell an ounce (or a milligram) of this item. In my opinion, there should not be any ivory trade at all, whether it is properly controlled or not.

Besides, what do humans need ivory for? If humans truly needed ivory, then God (or evolution) would have equipped them with a fine long pair each.

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Africa’s elephants in trouble

Category: Africa, Ivory, elephants
Date: July 31st 2009
By: paula

“Africa and Asian elephants are in for tough times ahead” says Iain Douglas-Hamilton of Save the Elephants. After the ivory sales last year, elephant poaching has increased. Many conservationists believe it is being fueled by the demand in Eastern countries – yet nobody dares to say this. The money raised from the sales of ivory was supposed to go into elephant conservation. Some people who dare to call themselves conservationists argued that the ban on ivory was wrong, the burn was wasteful, and that the sale of ivory was the best way to generate funds and support for elephant conservation.  Well, how come elephants are worse off today than they were before the sales?

And, how come ivory is now selling at US$ 1,888/kg in Vietnam? Isn’t it obvious that the one off sale has stimulated demand and prices are rising? Now even the IUCN is saying that elephantas are in trouble …but they are confining their concerns to Asian elephants …why??

It’s now apparent that the four southern African countries that sold their ivory to China and Japan were duped – their stock piles fetched prices in the range of 100 – 120$/kg! The real value of ivory in eastern markets is at least ten times this. Southern African countries were cheated by the East – but I’m not feeling sorry for them!

Even more worrying however that the CITES conference that approved the one off sale did so on condition of a 9 year moratorium. Kenya led that campaign and the conference adopted it. But they made a MASSIVE BLUNDER. The wording of the agreement only binds the countries that sold their stocks. It does not include countries like Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia that have massive (and some illegally acquired) stockpiles . With renewed demand in Asia, these countries are likely to demand for sales of their stockpiles too at the next CITES conference.

Iain Douglas–Hamilton and I discussed this problem with his researchers at his house last night. He showed me the maps of elephant killings in Kenya in 2008 – the image is frightening. the country is covered in dots- each one representing a dead elephant. He says it isn’t as bad as it was in the 1960,s but I reminded him that back then we had ten times as many elephants. Based on genetic evidence from tusks, Sam Wasser believes that the proportion of elephants we are losing today is far greater than any time in history.

I met Iain about 30 year ago when as a young volunteer recruited to measure Kenya’s ivory stockpile. It as a morbid job but we had to know what was happening. We weighed and measured every single tusk and estimated the age of the elephant that had died. We processed 30 tons of ivory in 2 days. The information showed us that poachers were going for younger and younger animals. At that point, I had never seen an elephant in the wild, but I was so disgusted with the killings and disillusioned about the future of elephants that I turned down a project on ele’s and went on to study primates. Later I did study elephants for my PhD, when the ivory ban was working and guns had fallen silent.

Ivory wildlifedirect

These are the 30 tons of ivory that I measured in 1989. Kenya’s president burned the lot and the world praised him for it.

Sadly, those guns are back in action and Africa’s elephants are once again at risk because we were persuaded by greedy people to run a risky experiment.

It feels like the precautionary principle has gone extinct.  If we aren’t careful, we will soon be seeing the nightmarish scenes of hacked off faces of elephants that dominated the conservation news in the 1980’s.

Iain asked me ‘what are we going to do about it?” and I looked at him blankly, I didn’t have an answer.

What would you have replied – what can we do?

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Alarming Rise in Elephant and Rhino Poaching

Category: Africa, China, Ivory, Kenya, Rhinoceros, elephants, poaching, wildlife trade
Date: July 20th 2009
By: maina

On Tuesday last week, Kenyan authorities seized a 300kg haul of elephant tusks and rhino horn hidden in coffins at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). This large haul, valued at approximately $ 1-million, is thought to have either come from Tanzania or South Africa and was headed for Laos. Officials of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) however speculate that the load’s final destination was indeed China, but through Laos, the de-facto ‘gateway to China’.

ivory seize
A previous haul of illegal ivory as reported on Baraza in April 2009

The KWS has been complaining about increasing ivory poaching since the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) allowed a one-off sale of ivory from southern Africa to China and Japan.  The entry of China into the world trade in ivory was in itself a cause for alarm amongst many conservationists on account of what is viewed as China’s laissez-faire attitude towards wildlife – except the giant panda.  There have been reports from the KWS and other organizations in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa indicating that there is definitely a rise in poaching for ivory and rhino horn.

According to the KWS, the rise in ivory poaching is partly caused by the CITES declaration to allow minimal trade from southern Africa. They say that this declaration created the illusion that it was OK to trade in ivory. If the number of seizures of ivory being witnessed today is anything to go by, then the KWS are right: the CITES declaration is indeed responsible for this mess.

It’s not just elephant poaching that is a problem. Just the previous week, a report was made public that indicates that rhino poaching has reached a 15 year high. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, and the global conservation organization WWF, and their affiliated wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC, told a CITES committee in a recent meeting that poachers in Africa and Asia are killing as many as two to three animals a week in some areas to meet a growing demand for the horns. What is more worrying is that this poaching is no longer a subsistence activity but it has now evolved into organized crime similar to cocaine and small arms rackets.

Elephants and rhinos are in a very dire situation as this new wave of wanton decimation of the majestic creatures picks up pace. We are witnessing the inevitable extinction of – in the case of the rhino – an evolutionary relic that generations upon generations of humans have marveled at; and the total loss of – in the case of the elephant – the gentle intelligent giant that has been the centre of almost all mythology.

Sentimental values aside, these are ‘keystone’ species that shape the environment that they occur in. Keeping a balance in the ecology of their habitat, and therefore determining the biological diversity of these habitats. The looming departure of these two could permanently alter ecosystems – in the most part – for the worst.

Poaching can do that, and this is going to happen in our lifetime.

A solution has to be found. We first have to stop lying to ourselves that there can be any sustainable trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn. We have seen this with our own eyes. It’s never going to happen. Having realized that, governments should tighten the noose on illegal traffic routes, cut down the poachers on sight, and increase punishment for poaching offenders. China and it’s Asian friends will need to be re-educated.

Dr Richard Leakey, while he was the head of KWS, led an elephant anti-poaching campaign back in the mid-1980s which brought down a large number of poaching rings. It has been 20 years since the symbolic burning of  12 tonnes of ivory – then worth about $3 million and from approximately 2000 dead elephants – at the height of the campaign. Today, elephant population that had dropped from 167, 000 in 1973 to a paltry 16,000 in 1989, now stand at 32,ooo. These numbers could easily start falling if nothing is done about the recent upsurge in poaching. Current wildlife officials could learn from this and step up the fight against poachers on the local level, while all conservationists push for the total ban on trade in ivory and rhino horn.


The symbolic ivory burning in 1989

Again, China and the Asian world that still believes that rhino horn has medicinal value, and carvings from elephant ivory  are ‘cute’, needs re-education.

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Light a candle for Echo

Category: Africa, elephants, wildlifedirect
Date: May 4th 2009
By: admin

Dear Friends,

We have just heard sad news of the demise of Echo from Cynthia Moss of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants. Echo died on the 2nd of May from old age and the drought. I personally met Echo and others in the her family many times in Amboseli – she was easy to identify by her crossed tusks. She was a fierce protector of her family, builting it up from 7 individuals to 40 over the years. She and her family starred of the documentary Echo of the Elephants. If you haven’t seen it then you simply must. It is unforgettable.

Echo of the Elephants
Light a candle for Echo.

I can’t believe she is gone. Amboseli will never be the same.

RIP Echo.

Paula
Read more about this on AERP blog and Cynthia Moss blog at http://elephanttrust.org

Article at the following link:

http://elephanttrust.org/node/551

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Guilty: Ivory smugglers in Kenya, more than 50 elephants dead

Category: Ivory, elephants, poaching, wildlife trade
Date: April 29th 2009
By: admin

Ivory smuggling Kenya

Two men were arrested on the 25th April for carrying 703 kg (1,550 lb) of elephant ivory in southern Kenya. They were traveling by vehicle in Tanzania when they were ambushed by wildlife scouts from the Amboseli-Tsavo Game Scouts Association. They fled across the Kenyan border, and were caught and arrested by authorities tipped off by the scouts.

Ivory seizure Kenya

This is biggest seizure in recent times in Kenya and the ivory is valued at around 59-60 million Kenyan shillings ($750,000). The men, whose identities have not been released, appeared in a Kajiado court on Monday morning where they plead guilty. The men  face up to a year in jail.

The haul of 33 whole tusks and 57 pieces, weighing over 700kg, is believed to represent over 50 individual elephants.

The Amboseli elephants are not anonymous animals, after more than 40 years of research each elephant is individually known. The field team now fear that “some of the tusks could belong to the splendid bull Ganesh or Echo’s son, Ely, or the impressive long-tusked Theodora from the TD family that has been spending more time in Kimana than Amboseli over the last decade”.

Who killed them and how? One person claims that these elephants could be the victims of Furadan poisoning. This is one of several indicators that ivory trade is on the rise as is elephant poaching in Kenya, Asia and Congo. Cynthia Moss of the Amboseli Trust for Elephant have been reporting alarming increases in poaching in the Amboseli ecosystem. We believe that this is all in response to the lifting of the ban on trade in ivory, and the one off sale that took place in Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia in November last year.

Harvey Croze of ATE writes that “it appears that our concerns have been vindicated when Cynthia reported in February on increased poaching for ivory in Amboseli. Perhaps now authorities will take seriously the twin threat to Africa’s elephants: the one-off sale of ivory from southern African stockpiles to China, combined with the presence of Chinese roadgangs in the ecosystem”.

It is depressing that these two men face only a year in jail for one of the biggest seizures of ivory in Kenya. Their sentence will hardly dampen the demand or reduce the incentives for many who are greedy for ivory. We have it on good authority (from someone who wishes to remain anonymous), that the ivory was being transported in a vehicle owned by a powerful person. Until these bigger people are brought to justice, the poachers, and small time dealers will continue. The challenge is how to catch and prosecute these powerful, and politically connected big shots.

Four questions for you to think about

Kenya currently holds over 35 tons of ivory in her strong rooms – for some this represents fantastic commercial value, to us they represent death and destruction.

Q1. Do you think it is time we revive the ban on trade in ivory?

Q2. Do you think we should aggressively resume pursuing the perpetrators of this cruel trade?

Q3. Will you help us to raise awareness and demand for better protection for all elephants?

Q4. What should Kenya do with the 35 tons of stockpiled ivory?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

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