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200kg of smuggled ivory seized in Vietnam

Zimbabwe: Conservancy ‘Decimated’ By Land Invaders

Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa

30 September 2011

Land invasions at the Chiredzi River Conservancy are escalating out of control, with warnings that the area faces catastrophe if nothing is done to stop the destruction.

The Conservancy forms part of the Trans Frontier Conservation Area which is the world’s largest inter-regional conservation park, encompassing land from Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. But in Zimbabwe lawlessness and the illegal seizure of land means areas like the Chiredzi River Conservancy are being destroyed.

Hundreds of land invaders have moved into the Conservancy and have caused serious damage to the delicate ecosystem there. The invaders have been tearing down trees, destroying the foliage and poaching the animals in the conservancy, in a surge of destruction that could be irreparable.

Charles Taffs, the President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), told SW Radio Africa on Friday that they are “hugely concerned,” especially regarding the “tragedy facing the elephant herd there.” He explained that a herd of 70 elephants are being harassed, threatened and hunted by the land invaders, with no intervention from the government.

“The animals’ territory is being completely taken over. Wherever they go they get chased by people with burning sticks and dogs. They can’t even get a drink of water because their watering holes have been polluted by people using the water to wash,” Taffs explained.

Some of the elephants have already been slaughtered, and Taffs warned that they face being wiped out if no one intervenes. He explained that local councils have now threatened to kill the animals, because they are leaving their territory in search of safety, putting them on the path of local villages.

“This is totally out of control and everything is being totally destroyed. It destroys the area, it destroys tourism, and it destroys whatever reputation Zimbabwe might have. It is like the land reform programme all over again in that no one has won, everyone has lost,” Taffs said.

SW Radio Africa has also been told that the rapid clearing of the conservation areas is causing serious environmental degradation, including severe erosion, massive deforestation, destructive fires, along with the rampant poaching. The land invaders are said to be using poison, snares and dogs to hunt for game, causing extreme suffering to the wildlife.

“The coalition government cannot allow the lawlessness and destruction of Zimbabwe’s heritage, our future and that of our children to continue. It is critical that they now take a stand, resolve the escalating crisis and restore the rule of law,” Taffs said.

You can see this article here

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

13 May 2010

Kenya’s lions on the brink of extinction: three more lions poisoned in Masai Mara

Conservationists have warned that Kenya’s lion population is in danger of becoming extinct within a few years if nothing is done to stem a wave of poisonings that have already left at least eight of the charismatic predators dead in recent weeks.

In the latest incident, the carcasses of two lionesses and a young male were found late last month near Lemek, apparently killed in retaliation for attacking domestic cattle. In their investigation, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) arrested a local cattle herder who admitted he had used a pesticide to poison the lions along with his neighbours.

The suspect showed investigators a container with the remains of the poison he had used to lace a cow carcass that the lions ultimately ate. The container had traces of a pink powder that the authorities suspect is a form of carbofuran – a deadly pesticide commonly used in the horticultural industry.  KWS has sent samples of both the lion carcasses and the pink substance for toxicological tests to confirm what it was that killed the predators.

KWS took the suspect to the police but despite the evidence and his admission of guilt, he was released shortly after. According to anonymous sources, a local politician intervened on his behalf.

This incident brings to 8 the number of confirmed lions poisonings in recent weeks across southern Kenya; the other five occurring near the Amboseli National Park.

In their National Conservation and Management strategy for Lions and Hyenas, the Kenya Wildlife Service estimates that only 1,970 lions remain across the country, and said  “poisoning is perhaps the greatest threat to predators and scavenging birds”.

KWS confirms that 2010 has started off badly for lions – in addition to 8 confirmed poisonings, more than 10 other lions have been killed in other circumstances; A lion was shot in or near Buffalo Springs Reserve, Samburu District, by local police, while others have been speared near Amboseli  National Park

The situation is now so serious that the conservationist and chairman of WildlifeDirect Dr Richard Leakey has again called for the government to take action.

“The future of tourism in Kenya is at risk if dangerous pesticides like Carbofuran (sold locally as Furadan) remain on the market. Time and again, we’ve seen these substances used to slaughter our national heritage and destroy one of our greatest economic assets.  Yet the authorities continually fail to follow up cases of abuse and prosecute the culprits. The Kenyan government must show that it is serious and take swift action to ban deadly pesticides like Furadan and enforce the law.

“If we fail to put a stop to poisonings, our lions could go extinct in a matter of years; a catastrophic loss for anyone who cares about our national heritage, but also a devastating blow to the tourism industry that currently brings in hundreds of millions of dollars to our economy. ”

Carbofuran is the active ingredient in pesticides most widely used to kill wildlife such as lions and leopards. It is also used to kill fish and birds for human consumption. Carbofuran is a neurotoxin that is deadly to fish, birds, cats and even humans. Kenyan conservationists are calling on the Ministry of Agriculture to ban the pesticide due to it’s environmental impacts. It is not permitted for use in the European Union where authorization for its’ use was withdrawn in 2007. Nor can it be used in the USA where it is produced due to a recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that revoked all tolerance for carbofuran residues on food. This means that carbofuran residues must not be found on locally produced and imported food items. The decision was implemented on the 31st December 2009.These decisions could affect Kenyan food exports if the product remains in use on export crops. In addition, Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency recently conducted the risk and value assessments for carbofuran and its end-uses on food and feed crops and also recommends a ban of the product.  Conservationists in USA have conducted an online petition and gathered more than 80,000 signatures urging the Kenyan Government to do the same.

After incidents of lion poisoning in Kenya became public in 2008, the manufacturers of Furadan, FMC withdrew Furadan from Kenyan shelves. However, the product is still not officially banned and can be found in some agro-vet stores. The active ingredient, carbofuran, is still available in other over-the-counter pesticides.

WildlifeDirect is a conservation charity registered in USA and Kenya, and based in Nairobi. We enable conservationists at the front lines to tell their stories and raise awareness about their work through over 80 blogs from the field on the website platform http://wildlifedirect.org. The Chairman of WildlifeDirect is Dr. Richard Leakey and the Executive Director is Dr. Paula Kahumbu. Visit http://wildlifedirect.org for more information

Furadan: WildlifeDirect is campaigning for the de-registration or total ban on the active ingredient of Furadan, carbofuran in Kenya due to the threats it poses to users, consumers and wildlife. This pesticide threatens the survival of lions, vultures, fish species and many other mammals and birds In Kenya. Furadan is produced in USA by FMC and is sold locally by Juanco SPS as an agricultural insecticide. For more information on our campaign against wildlife poisoning visit http://stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org

KWS is the government body responsible for wildlife conservation in Kenya.  For more information visit http://www.kws.org

For other photographs or more information please contact Paula Kahumbu paula@wildlifedirect.org, or call 0722685106, or 020 2602463

via Melissa Groo – Save The Elephants

Thailand seizes 1.4 tons of ivory at airport on tip-off from Qatar

Associated Press
April 21, 2010

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) – Thailand has seized 1.4 tons of elephant tusks, worth more than $2 million, hidden in crates labeled as computer printers, officials said Wednesday.

Thai Customs officials confiscated the 296 tusks Saturday at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, acting on a tip from authorities in Qatar where the ivory was shipped from, said Kornsiri Pinnarat, deputy director-general of the Customs Department… read more.

EU, UK favour Dar’s ivory sale bid (Tanzania)

CATHERINE RIUNGU, East African
March 22 2010

In a surprise turn of events, Tanzania is this week likely to win its bid to sell its stockpile of ivory, estimated to be worth $15 million.

The vote on Tanzania’s proposal to be allowed to sell its ivory stockpile is due this week amid reports that the counter-proposal 20-year ban on ivory sales that has divided Kenya and Tanzania down the middle is likely to fail, partly because Britain and other members of the EU are refusing to support it.

The news that proposals to ban trade in bluefin tuna and polar bears were overwhelmingly rejected last week at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), meeting in Doha, Qatar, prompted the Times of London to write:

“A plan for a 20-year ban on ivory sales, to protect African elephants, is also likely to fail in the coming days — partly because Britain and other members of the EU are refusing to support it. Delegates are instead expected to approve a weak compromise, which would encourage poaching by allowing the sale of ivory being stored by several African nations.”

The number of elephants lost to poaching in Kenya has quadrupled in the past two years.

Kenya is one of seven African nations proposing a 20-year moratorium on sales of stockpiled ivory, while Tanzania is among countries opposed to the ban, saying that it not only needs to dispose of its ivory stockpile, it also wants to reduce it elephant population.

A main plank of Tanzania’s argument is that it is spending $75,000 annually on security and storage of ivory.

Poaching control

Last week, a report in the Gulf News was quoted saying that the Cites secretariat has rejected Tanzania’s bid to be allowed to sell its ivory — citing concerns about control of poaching and illegal trade in ivory — but Zambia’s case to sell 22 tonnes was being considered.

Reports indicate that Cites was concerned that if given the nod, Tanzania would slip into large-scale poaching.

Britain supported a one-off sale of 105 tonnes in 2008, arguing that it would reduce poaching by satisfying demand.

But Kenya says that the one-off sales have expanded the market in China and Japan for ivory ornaments, and that this in turn has encouraged poaching.

According to the Times, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was still considering whether to support a lowering of the Cites protection for Tanzanian and Zambian elephants.

Robbie Marsland, UK Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said it was disappointing that the government and European Union have not gone into this meeting with a much stronger message against the ivory trade and in favour of elephant protection.

A report by an international team of 27 scientists and conservationists concluded that previous one-off sales had contributed to a rise in poaching and failed to deliver the promised conservation benefits, resulting in “only short-term profitability to the few individuals who ran the scheme.

Tanzania and Zambia want to sell 112 tonnes of ivory, and have submitted proposals that would allow the sale to take place by reducing their elephants’ level of protection under Cites trade rules.

International trade in ivory was banned in 1989, but since then Cites has agreed several “one-off sales” of stockpiled ivory on condition that the proceeds were spent on elephant conservation.

Article at the following link:

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/EU%20UK%20favour%20Dars%20ivory%20sale%20bid%20/-/2558/883178/-/view/printVersion/-/ytckh8z/-/index.html

————————————
Melissa Groo
Save the Elephants News Service Researcher
For further information on elephants please see Save the Elephants’ web site
at http://www.savetheelephants.org

via Melissa Groo

Kenya wins the first round on ivory

WALTER MENYA, Daily Nation
March 18 2010

Shared via Melissa Groo

World votes to continue trading in species on verge of extinction

Ben Webster, Environment Editor, Frank Pope, Times Online
March 19, 2010

Their sheer size and strength have made them among the most celebrated of endangered species, yet they have all been betrayed — by vested interests at a UN meeting on wildlife protection.

Proposals to ban trade in bluefin tuna and polar bears were overwhelmingly rejected yesterday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), meeting in Doha, Qatar.

A plan for a 20-year ban on ivory sales, to protect African elephants, is also likely to fail in the coming days — partly because Britain and other members of the EU are refusing to support it. Delegates are instead expected to approve a weak compromise, which would encourage poaching by allowing the sale of ivory being stored by several African nations.

Feelings were running high yesterday about the failure of measures to protect endangered tuna. Only 20 of the 120 countries at the meeting voted to ban trade in the bluefin. Intensive lobbying by Japan, which consumes 80 per cent of Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin, meant that a snap vote was held before any debate on scientific reports that show a catastrophic decline in the largest of the tuna family.

Campaigners reacted with dismay. Oliver Knowles, of Greenpeace, said: “It is an own goal by Japan. By pushing for a few more years of this luxury product it has put the future of bluefin, and the future of its own supply, at serious risk. The abject failure of governments here at Cites to protect Atlantic bluefin tuna spells disaster for its future, and sets the species on a pathway to extinction.”

France, Italy and Spain catch most of the tuna consumed by the global market. In 2009 a quota of 19,950 tonnes of tuna was set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, but many fish are caught live in nets, transferred to farms and fattened before slaughter.

Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group, said: “The market for this fish is just too lucrative and the pressure from fishing interests too great for enough governments to support a truly sustainable future for the fish.”

The Cites process, which requires a two-thirds majority for a proposal to be adopted, is vulnerable to well-funded lobbying by countries and industries that depend on trade in a species. The vested interests exploit uncertainties in the estimates of population numbers, and strike backroom deals to secure the votes of developing countries where endangered species are far down the list of political priorities.

A US proposal to protect polar bears fell victim to arguments put forward by Inuit groups that their livelihoods depended on hunting the animals. The vote on protecting elephants is due on Monday, and is viewed by wildlife groups as the last opportunity to protect many of Africa’s most threatened herds.

The few remaining elephants in Sierra Leone were killed in October by poachers serving the thriving black market in ivory, which fetches up to $1,500 (£980) a kilo in the Far East. In the Zakouma National Park in Chad, poaching has cut the population from 3,885 in 2006 to only 617 last year. The number of elephants lost to poaching in Kenya has quadrupled in the past two years. Kenya is one of seven African nations proposing a 20-year moratorium on sales of stockpiled ivory.

International trade in ivory was banned in 1989, but since then Cites has agreed several “one-off sales” of stockpiled ivory on condition that the proceeds were spent on elephant conservation. Britain supported a one-off sale of 105 tonnes in 2008, arguing that it would reduce poaching by satisfying demand. But Kenya says that the one-off sales have expanded the market in China and Japan for ivory ornaments, and that this in turn has encouraged poaching.

Asian-run crime syndicates are able to pass off illegal ivory as coming from stockpiles sold with Cites approval.

Tanzania and Zambia want to sell 112 tonnes of ivory, and have submitted proposals that would allow the sale to take place by reducing their elephants’ level of protection under Cites trade rules.

Britain will join the rest of the EU in voting against Kenya’s proposal. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was still considering whether to support a lowering of the Cites protection for Tanzanian and Zambian elephants.

Robbie Marsland, UK Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said: “We are disappointed that the UK Government, and European Union member countries as a whole, have not gone into this meeting with a much stronger message against the ivory trade and in favour of elephant protection.

“This leaves the door open to future trade, which would result in further illegal poaching.”

Nick Herbert, the Shadow Environment Secretary, said the Government should be pressing for the destruction of stockpiles of ivory. “No one proposes stockpiling seized drugs or weapons to sell for profit, and ivory should be treated in just the same way. Instead of flooding the market with more ivory and legitimising the trade these stockpiles should be destroyed. We should be choking demand for ivory, not stoking it.”

A Defra spokesman said: “The UK will not consider other sales of ivory until the effects of last year’s one-off sale of ivory, intended to reduce demand for illegal poached ivory, have been fully analysed. This will take at least a further six years.”

A report last week by an international team of 27 scientists and conservationists concluded that previous one-off sales had contributed to a rise in poaching and failed to deliver the promised conservation benefits, resulting in “only short-term profitability to the few individuals who ran the scheme”.

Article at the following link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article7067909.ece

————————————
Melissa Groo
Save the Elephants News Service Researcher
For further information on elephants please see Save the Elephants’ web site
at http://www.savetheelephants.org

This News item is shared courtesy of Melissa Groo – Save the Elephants News Researcher.

Seized ivory tusks, elephant parts from Cameroon at Paris airport

IC Publications
March 4, 2010

French customs officers at a Paris airport seized elephants’ feet, two ivory tusks and a tail from packages sent from Cameroon, the customs office said Thursday.

The two tusks weighing 21.5 kilos (41.4 pounds) each, two feet and tail were identified as being from an African elephant, which has been identified as under threat of extinction.

The elephant parts from trophy hunting were sent by freight from Cameroon to a French national via Charles de Gaulle airport, outside Paris.

“Trade in this type of product is strictly regulated and requires a certificate authorised by CITES,” the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, said the customs agency.

Article at the following link: http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php area=africa&item=100304103021.yo6rbo4v.php

This news is taken from BirdLife’s Think Pink Campaign

18-02-2010

The 2010 World Wetlands Day celebrations in Tanzania focussed on a meeting to support the conservation of Lesser Flamingo, Phoenicopterus minor, (Near Threatened) through the completion of a National Single Species Action Plan.

“This is an important step in ensuring the protection of this important species not only for Tanzania but also for the world”, said Lota Melamari – CEO of Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST, BirdLife Partner). “This action plan provides Tanzania with an opportunity to ensure that threats facing Lesser Flamingo are thoroughly addressed”, he added.

Tanzania is home to the most important breeding site in the world for Lesser Flamingo – Lake Natron. Of the world’s global population of Lesser Flamingo, 75% breed at Lake Natron.

These flamingos drew global attention when a proposal to build a soda ash processing plant at Lake Natron came to light in 2006. The global community, led by BirdLife International, WCST, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB, BirdLife in the UK), and the Lake Natron Consultative Group opposed the plans citing serious threats to the critical flamingo breeding site.

During the meeting, actions were agreed aimed at ensuring that the species is protected at Lake Natron and eleven other lakes within Tanzania. “It is commendable that Tanzania now has developed an action plan for Lesser Flamingo”, said Paul Kariuki Ndang’ang’a of BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat. “It is critical to put in place necessary measures to begin implementation immediately.”

“This is an important step in ensuring the protection of this important species not only for Tanzania but also for the world” —Lota Melamari, Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania

The meeting was held at the Lake Manyara National Park Hostel, and participants included local community groups such as the Ilkisongo Pastoralists Initiatives. Other participants included: local government officials, Protected Area managers, officials from the Wildlife Division and the Ministry of Environment, academic institutions and BirdLife Partners, WCST and the RSPB.

“It is fantastic to see such wide ranging support for the finalisation of the plan”, added Sarah Sanders – Head of RSPB Country Programmes Unit. “It is now down to all of us to make sure that the plan is not put on a shelf but implemented so the conservation of Lesser Flamingo is secured in the long-term.”

Participants had a chance to visit Lake Manyara National Park to see flamingos and observed fascinating pairing and mating rituals. The consultative meeting was organised through the National Wetlands Working Group led by the WCST and the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute under the auspices of the Wetlands Unit of Tanzania’s Wildlife Division.

The facilitators were drawn from the BirdLife Africa Partnership Secretariat who also used the opportunity to launch a three year project to enhance the conservation of Lake Natron Ramsar Site, funded by the Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation. Local participants were kindly supported by the Wetlands Unit of Tanzania’s Wildlife Division and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Following severe drought in Kenya late last year that was particularly harsh on Amboseli National Park in southern part of the country, there was an estimated 80% loss in herbivore numbers in this Park. As a result, lions and other predators that rely on this herbivore population for food have been having a rough time.

To feed themselves and their offspring in light of the decline in prey, they have been raiding cattle bomas and killing livestock. Tension has been mounting and retaliatory lion hunting outings are being carried out by the local Maasai people much more often than before the drought.

To try and diffuse the high human-wildlife tension in the area, the Kenya Wildlife Service has started moving zebras and wildebeests from Soysambu Conservancy in Naivasha to the Amboseli National Park in order to restock the prey population and bring about a balance in the ecosystem. This is one of the stories that we have in this month’s issue of WildlifeDirect News.

We also have the good news of the return of Wild Dogs to the Serengeti after a 20-year absence and the sad news of the death of Mountain Gorilla infant Sekanabo from injuries associated with snaring. We also have a list of other important blog posts coming from the conservation frontline in the last month

Kenya Moves Zebras to Amboseli

During the drought that ravaged this land late last year, many herbivores either died or moved away leaving lions and large predators without much prey. This has resulted in more frequent predation on Maasai cattle. The consequent threat of retaliatory killing of predators by the Maasai has been mounting to highly tense levels.

The KWS recons that the move will provide natural prey for large predators, thus reducing attacks on cattle and eventually diffusing the threat of retaliatory killings.

Paula was on site this weekend and took some amazing pictures of Day 20 of the translocation exercise and posted them on Baraza.

Read more about the expected effect of the translocation on the Lion Guardians blog.

Wild Dogs Return to Serengeti After 20 Years

Photographer captures this important moment in history

A classic example of being at the right place at the right time granted Uwe Skrzypczak a rare chance to photograph the first sighting of Wild Dogs in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, in 20 years. It seems that Wild Dogs had returned to Serengeti – after two decades.

Uwe Skrzypczak, a friend of WildlifeDirect and a photographer whose work mostly covers Serengeti was having lunch at the Ndutu Lodge when he got word that some 7 wild dogs had been spotted near Lake Masek, some 3 km from the lodge. At first skeptical about the sudden appearance of these highly endangered predators, Uwe rushed to the site immediately after, and took amazing photographs. The low resolution versions of these photos were published on Baraza together with his account of how lucky he was on that day.

Wild Dogs are among the most endangered predators in Africa with only a fraction of their original population still remaining. They have suffered persecution for decades and, with the growing human population, their range has shrunk, and is still shrinking.

The return of the dogs into Serengeti is a good sign that perhaps the northern Tanzania park may have again become friendly to this most efficient of hunters.

Donate on Baraza to enable us keep you updated on what is happening in the conservation frontline.

The Death of Sekanabo

Mountain Gorilla infant despite promising vet intervention

An infant Mountain Gorilla of the Kabirizi group in DRC’s Virunga National Park died in early February from what is thought to have been complications from snaring.Virunga rangers had found the male infant, Sekanabo (Nsekanabo) son of the female Tumaini, snared and had been freed.

He was badly injured, presumably by the snare, and the nylon rope snare was still tied tightly to his ankle. Veterinary intervention was deemed necessary.

Gorilla Doctors thus went to the forest, darted both mother and son and treated the wounds. Part of his mouth and nose were badly ripped and needed two layers of stitches to hold together. Once the infant was treated, he was left with his group which was then monitored closely by trackers.

Sekanabo was showing some improvement the following day but by the end of that day, news got to the Gorilla Doctors that the infant had died. An ‘autopsy’ would follow to determine the cause of death.

You can support Gorilla Doctors’ work by donating on their blog.

News Snapshots

Things you need to know

• Furadan most common poison in USA
• Baby elephant rescued and reunited with mother
• How to donate to Lion Guardians and where your money goes
• Compensating Maasai herders for cattle killed by lions
• Little Tompey, the chimp with a bullet in the chest
• Tacugama takes in their 100th chimp
• Three cheetah brothers break tradition by hunting together
• Highlights of Nairobi National Park game count

Stay up to date – check what’s happening in the new WildlifeDirect Breaking News page. It’s new – but we’ll be keeping it updated.