Patrick Omondi, the Head of Species Conservation and Management at the Kenya Wildlife Service, will be testifying in front of the US congress. He is seeking US support for his government’s proposal for a 20 year moratorium on the sale of elephant ivory. All this is happening in the gear up for the major CITES conference March 13-25 in which many major African poaching issues will be discussed.
Patrick Omondi at the CITES conference in 2008 in Switzerland
Kenyan ivory stockpile burnt 1995.
Tanzania has said it will soldier on seeking a temporary lifting of the ivory trade ban to enable it to sell its 60 tonne-stockpile which it has been holding for the past two decades — despite its neighbour, Kenya, trumpeting for a total ban. Shamsa Mwangunga, the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam last week that Kenya’s argument that relaxing the ban on a one-off basis would increase poaching in the region, “does not hold water” because the number of elephants in the country had increased over the past decade. Mrs Mwangunga said Tanzania and Zambia had already secured backing from the Southern African Development Community for their bid to allow their ivory to be auctioned.
Dr Kalumbi Shangula, permanent secretary in Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism, told The EastAfrican from Windhoek that his government will back a proposal by Tanzania and Zambia during next month’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Quatar, to be allowed to conduct a one-off ivory auction, saying the proposal is in line with Namibia’s philosophy of utilising natural resources sustainably.
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The giraffe population of Kenya’s Masai Mara reserve has declined by up to 95% because of increased human settlement around the unfenced park, according to a new study. Scientists at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) found that the numbers of giraffes, hartebeest, impala, warthogs, topis and waterbuck all fell “markedly and persistently” throughout the 1,500 sq km reserve between 1989 and 2003. Their sample counts were backed by government population estimates that showed actual losses as high as 95% for giraffes, 80% for warthogs and 76% for hartebeest for the period dating back to 1979.
The study warned that killing of animals that damage crops and water supplies, break down fences and threaten humans and livestock was “common and increasing” in the ranchlands. Adding to the pressure on wildlife, more and more farmers were allowing their livestock to graze in the reserve, especially in times of drought. Hunting by mainly non-Masai ethnic groups within the Mara also remained a significant problem.
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A strange observation has been noted at Momella: Many of the park’s giraffes are either missing their tails or these appendages have been snipped off, leaving severed stumps in their places. Even stranger, the problem is said to be caused by the ‘lack of lions’ in the park. This is according to wildlife experts at the Arusha National Park, which is famous by the name of Momella. The decline in the lion population, caused by poaching and human-wildlife conflict has left few carcasses available for scavengers such as hyenas, which then bite or nibble at the tails of giraffes.
In other areas poachers have been reported to kill giraffes for their tails. These illegal hunters then sell the tails or hides on the black markets. Some tribes have been known to braid the hair from the giraffe’s tail making them into bracelets and then sell them to the tourists. Mass poaching of giraffes in the West Kilimanjaro wild (a corridor which strides between Momella – ANAPA and Kilimanjaro National Park) in the period between 2006 and 2008 was accounted to beliefs by locals that bone-marrow from giraffe could cure HIV-Aids.
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Four men were arrested in Brazzaville for Ivory Trafficking. One of the Chinese admitted to being the leader of the group and responsible for all the Ivory, he is still detained and is the first Chinese national to be prosecuted and jailed for Ivory Trafficking in Central Africa. The other three men have been released on bail because they were considered to just be accomplices to the leader. Two of the men only had small amounts of ivory on them when arrested and the third had none at all.
Thanks to WildlifeDirect for the news update
The owner of a Claremont doughnut shop was indicted Tuesday on federal charges that he bought endangered-elephant ivory on EBay and smuggled it into the United States from Thailand three years ago. Moun Chau, 50, of Montclair was charged with conspiracy and the illegal importation of wildlife, according to the indictment, which cited violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
The alleged smuggling was discovered in November 2006 when authorities found four African elephant tusks in a shipment purported to be toys. With rare exception, the U.S. prohibits the importation of any ivory, federal officials said, because endangered elephants often are killed for their tusks to make jewelry, statues and other items.
“Buyers in the United States and elsewhere in the world are creating this market for ivory and feeding the poachers in Africa who are killing these animals,” said Erin L. Dean, who heads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s law enforcement office in Torrance.
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The lion is Africa’s best known carnivore. Once widely abundant across the continent, recent surveys show that lion populations have plunged from over 100,000 individuals to around 23,000 over the past century. The reason for recent declines? Lions are poisoned, shot, and speared by locals who see them as a threat to livestock. While lion populations in protected areas remain relatively healthy, conservationists say that without urgent measures, lions may disappear completely from unprotected areas.
Snares are set to catch lions both to “preserve” livestock, and to collect hides.
Big game hunters from around the world travel to Africa for a chance to take down the “King of Beasts” so that they can mount its head on their wall.
To read the full article and an interview with lion researcher Leela Hazzah click here
This is a news update taken from the Elephants of Botswana blog on Wildlife Direct
“Yesterday afternoon Sim and I headed up to Tubu Lodge (our neighbours) to help advise on an elephant that keeps digging up the water pipes. They are only 16km away as the crow flies but it takes a good 90 minutes to drive there and more when you have issues to deal with on the way.
After we had crossed most of the deep water crossings and headed for the truck road that would take us to Tubu we smelt something dead and just by the road we could see vultures and marabou storks feeding on the carcass. We approached and found it be to a giraffe. After checking for predators I got out the car as something did not look right – on closer inspection it was obvious that this giraffe had not died of natural causes, he had been poached. Chased on horseback to the point of exhaustion and then killed. He had torn off the skin off one of his knees, so he must have hit the ground with huge force to do that. Both of his ears had been cut off, which we presume is for muti (traditional medicine). It was heart breaking to see him like this and imagine his last minutes of life.
We radioed it through to the office who informed the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, but there was little they could do about this incident, except add it to the list of poached animals found in the area, as it was already a day or two old and the trial for the poachers would be long gone.
To visit their blog, or view this article…Click Here
This is what it really looks like. So sad……
Thank you Bill Jordan Wildlife Defense Fund
Bush Warriors 