East African Prosecutors to Crack Down on Wildlife Crimes

State prosecutors from 11 East African countries have vowed to tighten their cross border cooperation and tackle money laundering crimes, to combat wildlife crimes and other emerging transnational crimes.

The commitment was made during the closing of the East Africa Association of Prosecutors' (EAAP) technical committee meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. The partnership is expected to strip wildlife traffickers of their ill-gotten gains, disrupt networks, and send the message that wildlife crimes won't prevail.

EAAP members include Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Rhino poaching in South Africa decreases but the truth is something different

 

Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, recently released the latest rhino poaching statistics. The stats claim that poaching in South African National Parks (SANParks) reserves has decreased.  

While the DA has nothing but praise for the efforts of our brave rangers and anti-poaching teams who have worked so hard to stem the poaching, the reality regarding rhino poaching numbers is far bleaker than what is being alleged.

The reality is that rhino numbers in SANParks reserves have decreased by 75% over the past 10 years. The most likely reason that the poaching numbers in SANParks reserves appear to be slightly lower on the raw data is simply because the overall numbers of rhinos are continuing to drop. 

If one compares the population with the incidents of rhino poaching in SANParks reserves, there is an average increase in poaching and not a decrease as alleged. SANParks reported that 247 rhinos out of approximately 3,500 remaining wild rhinos were poached in 2020, which works out to 7% of the wild rhino population. The numbers for the middle of 2021 indicate that 209 wild rhinos were poached out of a population of +-2,800, which is 7.5% of the remaining wild rhino population.

SANParks is still unable to adequately account for the decline in wild rhino numbers from 3,500 to 2,800 in one year. If one subtracts the 247 rhinos poached that year, there are still approximately 400 rhinos missing with no explanation given. These rhinos cannot simply disappear.

It is also concerning that no estimate of rhino numbers is provided for the end of 2021. There are unofficial estimates of fewer than 2,000 rhino in SANParks reserves at present and the DA calls on SANParks to provide the latest estimates as soon as possible to combat the growing concern and uncertainty.

Rwanda's lion population is increasing

 Rwanda on Tuesday, joined the global community in celebrating the World Lion Day which is observed every year on August 10 to raise awareness about lions and mobilise support for their protection and conservation.

In Rwanda, according to Drew Bantlin, the Conservation and Research Manager at Akagera National Park, the lion population in the park has grown five times to 35 since 2015, when seven lions were translocated into the park in 2015.

Great news but this is still an isolated population and will need help to maintain genetic viability

Mozambique: No elephants poached in Niassa for third consecutive year

 

Good news about Elephants for a change.

Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced on Saturday that, for the third consecutive year, no elephants have been poached in the Niassa National Reserve in the far north of the country, or in the Gorongosa National Park in the central province of Sofala.

 

Speaking in the Niassa Reserve, during celebrations of World Ranger Day, Nyusi attributed this success to the combined efforts of the forestry and wildlife rangers, the defence and security forces, the bodies of the administration of justice and the local communities, in the fight against environmental crimes.

 

"Mozambique will continue to transform itself into a natural reserve for elephants, and we shall extend our genuine love to all other animals - and, as a priority, to lions, which are now under great threat from poachers in Mozambique", declared the President.

 

 

 lets hope the good news continues. Mozambique could become a great safari destination

Rhino population in Kenya on the UP

 Nairobi — The Rhino population in Kenya has risen by 11pc due to a continuous decline in poaching incidents in the last eight years.

In a statement, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Regional Director for East Africa, James Isiche noted that the rhino numbers rose from 1,441 in 2019 to 1,605 in 2020.

IFAW said the pandemic elicited fears of an increase in wildlife poaching as tourist revenues used to pay wildlife rangers reduced drastically.

However, measures put in place by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and partners like the IFAW ensured the safety of these pre-historic animals highly sought after for their horns.

"We congratulate all wildlife security partners and agencies for this major achievement in fighting wildlife crime and keeping Kenya's rhinos safe. We are glad that the rhino population in Kenya has increased and for the first time in a long time had no rhinos die due to poaching," stated James Isiche, IFAW's East Africa Regional Director.

Recent rhino poaching stats in South Africa are far WORSE than they would appear

To the JOURNALISTS: Please do not keep copying and pasting the rhetoric press releases that the South African government spits out. The internet is filled now with headlines that claim rhino poacing has declined - as if we can all kick back now and celebrate - rhino poaching figures are down because there are not many rhino left!

Recent reports on rhino numbers in South Africa’s Kruger National Park reveal a far larger loss of rhino life than previously thought, dropping by 70% in the last decade. This national park in South Africa is the largest repository of rhino in the world so the implications are grim for the species.

A lot of fingers have been pointed at Kruger staff, some of that is justified but for the vast, vast majority of Kruger’s field staff, these are people up against ridiculous odds. They are underpaid, understaffed, surrounded by dysfunction and corruption from their own as well as surrounding governments who do not prioritize this issue. They are threatened by sociopathic criminals and confronted with their own limitations on a daily basis as they confront carcass after carcass.

They have had to watch their most effective poaching court be closed down in 2019, experts agree due to the influence of corrupt magistrates in cahoots with the very syndicates this court was successfully prosecuting.

Kruger’s most effective rangers have been targeted with smear campaigns and false charges, their families threatened. What kind of message must this send to the field personnel at Kruger? This is a heartbreaking job for most of these men and women and they deserve our support. Most signed up to be conservationists, not soldiers, policeman, lawyers or forensic pathologists. We need to be asking how we can support them, not demonize them.

That said, unless the courts are cleaned up, there is no solution in sight. rhinos will be the ultimate victims.

Credit: Jamie Joseph of Saving the Wild for this article.

Six more rangers klilled in Virunga National Park

At least six rangers were ambushed and killed by armed men in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday.

Famous for its mountain gorillas, the UNESCO World Heritage site has been the site of persistent unrest as a wide variety of armed groups battle for control of oil and other rich mineral deposits.

"Mai-Mai carried out an ambush at Nyamitwitwi in the far end of the park. The provisional toll is six park rangers killed along with two Mai-Mai," local government delegate Alphonse Kambale told AFP. Another park warden from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) was also seriously injured. Mai-Mai is an umbrella term for community-based militias.

With a multi-ethnic population of over 100 million, the Democratic Republic of Congo is Africa's second-largest territorial state after Algeria and is almost seven times the size of Germany. It is also home to the largest remaining rainforest areas in Africa.

Virunga park itself was created in 1925 and covers some 7,800 square kilometres (3,000 square miles). It is home to about a quarter of the world's critically endangered population of mountain gorillas, many of whom live within a protected area at the foot of the Nyiragongo volcano.

The park is guarded by 689 armed rangers, at least 200 of whom have been killed in the line of duty over the past decade. In April 2020, a dozen rangers and 4 civilians were killed by a still unidentified group.

Infamous ivory trafficker extradited to US to face trial

 

Infamous ivory, rhinoceros horn poacher and drug trafficker Abubakar Mansur Mohammed Surur alias Mansour was extradited from Kenya to New York over the weekend, coming just months after he was arrested at Moi International airport.

New York District Attorney Audrey Strauss revealed on Monday that Mansour is part of an international syndicate engaging in the illicit trade that has been evading law enforcement officers for years.

The suspect was arrested on July 29, 2020 by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) immediately when he landed at the airport after a chartered flight from Yemen.

Mansour is wanted in the US for allegedly conspiring to sell 10 tonnes of elephant ivory and more than 181kg of rhinoceros horn across a seven-year period.

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has said the trafficker was part of a transnational criminal enterprise known as the "Enterprise" based in Uganda and surrounding countries.

Namibia : What has been done to avert a wildlife 'crime'

Namibia cuts accidental seabird deaths by 98%

Namibia's fishing fleet, working along the country's 1,500 kilometre-long coastline, was until recently considered among the most deadly in the world for seabirds. But in 2015 Namibia adopted new regulations that require all hake fishing vessels to use bird-scaring lines and other measures to protect birds from fatal encounters with fishing gear. The result? The accidental deaths of seabirds, including endangered albatrosses, has been reduced from up to 30,000 per year more than a decade ago to just 215 at the last count. 

Zimbabwe: lions poisoned in Gonarhezu NP

Three lion carcasses were recently recovered in the wildlife-rich Gonarezhou National Park, south-east of the Lowveld amid fears that poachers from Mozambique were using cyanide to poison animals.

The recovery of the carcasses preceded a raid by a joint team comprising members of the army, police and rangers from ZimParks, on a makeshift camp set up by suspected poachers in Gonarezhou, which led to the discovery of lion skulls and canine teeth, whose carcasses have not yet been accounted for.

The raid led to the arrest of five suspected poachers who will soon be arraigned before the courts.

Feed them cyanide if convicted, I say.

Poacher in DRC gets 30 years

 

Authorities in Republic of the Congo have put a notorious poacher behind bars for 30 years for the attempted murder of park rangers and ivory trafficking, according to a wildlife conservation group.

Mobanza Mobembo Gerard, commonly known as Guyvanho, is thought to have killed more than 500 elephants since 2008 during poaching expeditions, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said.

"This unprecedented conviction in the criminal court is a major milestone in the protection of wildlife in the Republic of Congo," said Emma Stokes, WCS director for Central Africa.

Deliberate fires started at Tsavo West

The Kenya government is in a race to end national park fires following several cases that have put wildlife and vegetation at risk of being wiped out.

Fires broke out at Tsavo West National Park, Mgeno and Lumo conservancies on Saturday night. Tsavo West has been a grazing ground for illegal herders who sneak in their livestock in search of water and pasture.

Recently, KWS said the fires were caused by locals living adjacent to the park.

Teams from government agencies and non-governmental wildlife organisations as well as residents joined Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) firefighters in putting out the fires.

Elephants almost extinct in Nigeria

 

Andrew Dunn, Country Director of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Nigeria, says elephants are almost becoming extinct in Nigeria.

Mr Dunn made the disclosure in an interview with journalists in Calabar while commemorating the World Elephant Day.

The World Elephant Day is an international annual event marked on August 12, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world's elephant population.

He said that the number of elephants in the country had continued to dwindle at a frightening pace following negative human activities.

He further appealed that all hands should be on deck to prevent the total extinction of elephants, adding that it was worrisome that Nigeria was a leading source of elephant tusks sale worldwide up till last year.

"The international ivory trade which is a major cause of the extinction of elephants is still booming in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos.

"Poachers are daily going after the tusks of the elephants to enrich the sale of ivory in foreign markets.

"There are less than 500 elephants remaining in Nigeria, so we should not allow our elephants to go extinct.

"We need many more people to supports elephant conservation by regularly visiting the Cross River National Park, Yankari Games Reserve and other parks in the country where some of these animals are," he said.

Tanzania hands out 100 year+ prison sentences to poachers

 

Manyoni District Court has sentenced five poachers to jail terms ranging between 60 and 180 years for their role in poaching activities within Chamwino District, Dodoma City and Manyoni District in Singida Region.

They are Jonathan Joseph, alias Baraka Mlungushi, who was jailed 180 years, Noah Sajilo, Shukran Nyang'a alias Patrick and Hassan Juma, alias Mpembee Mjendwa, who were each sentenced to 100 years imprisonment and Gabriel Akyoo, who was jailed a total of 60 years.

Resident Magistrate Stella Kiama imposed the sentences last week against the poachers after convicting them of the offences they were charged with.

She ruled that the prosecution, led by State Attorneys Salim Msemo, Patrida Muta and Tulumanywa Majigo, proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

The charges preferred by the prosecution against them included unlawful possession and dealing in government trophies, unlawful hunting of a scheduled animal, unlawful possession of weapons in certain circumstances and failure to keep safe custody of firearms.

Elephant and rhino populations on the UP in Tanzania

During the past few decades elephants and rhinos populations have been enlisted as the most vulnerable and endangered animal species.

However, in Tanzania, both animals' populations have recently begun to tremendously bounce back, thanks to robust anti-poaching measures by the government.

Moving a speech to dissolve the Parliament in Dodoma last Tuesday, President John Magufuli said the number of Jumbos roaming national parks and other conservancies had risen from 43,000 in 2015 to 51,000 last year.

The rhino population, which in the recent past, decimated from over 10,000 individuals to just about 100 rhinos, rebounded from 162 in 2015 to 190 in 2019, he revealed.

The President, who was giving an overview of the tourism sector performance, attributed the resurfacing of the otherwise endangered species to the government's crackdown on criminal networks involved in industrial-scale poaching.

He said the establishment of the paramilitary force was the government's strong commitment of controlling poaching and depletion of natural resources in the country.

The departure from civilian to paramilitary system by the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), Tanzania Wildlife Management (Tawa) and Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS) not only seeks to protect natural resources, but also instill discipline in the institutions which fall under the Tourism and Natural Resources Ministry.

Interestingly, in Botswana, the new government did away with the paramilitary force, and poaching of rhinos, has skyrocketed.

Who is responsible for Coronavirus: CHINA and the international trade in wildlife

Make no mistake about it. The reason that around a third of the world's population are currently in a coronavirus lockdown and 87% of the world's children are missing out on a proper education is because of the illegal international trade in wildlife.

The reason that the world economy is crashing, that international and local travel is forbidden is because of the illegal international trade in wildlife.

The reason that you cannot walk in the mountains, surf at the beach, go to football matches, ski down the slopes or cycle through the woods is because of the illegal international trade in wildlife.
The reason that millions of us will likely lose our jobs and some will lose their houses and families is because of the illegal international trade in wildlife.

Pangolins, the world's most trafficked animal and a likely cause of coronavirus, live baby chimps and other apes for the illegal pet trade, elephant ivory, rhino horn or lion claws and any host of other creatures used as 'bush meat' or in traditional medicine are all examples of this illegal trade. Many of these products are smuggled around the world destined for one country: China.

Coronavirus originated in the wildlife markets of China and no other country on Earth shows such blatant disregard to international law on the wildlife trade than China. It’s China’s attitude to wildlife, and the environment in general, that has directly led to coronavirus and the catastrophe the world currently finds itself in. This is not even the first time China's insatiable desire for illegal wildlife products has led to major health emergencies (remember SARS and bird flu among others?) and if they are allowed to continue unchallenged then it won't be the last time. After the SARS outbreak China said they would ban the trade in wildlife, but as soon as the world eased off the pressure they went back to old ways. Last month China again announced that they would ban this wildlife trade, but even before the coronavirus disaster has even peaked they are reverting on that commitment and actually suggesting that bear bile can be used to counter coronavirus! Yes, you read that correctly (see link here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/…/chinese-government-p…/…).

The Chinese authorities are perfectly aware of this trade yet do little to really prevent it because the world does not really put enough pressure on them. For many of us across the world right now our governments are insisting that we stay indoors. Most countries have drafted in very strict rules on what we can and cannot do and the authorities are fining us for small infringements. We have in many ways had our freedoms removed. But, are any of our governments demanding compensation from China? Are any of our governments insisting that China change its ways? Are any of our governments asking China to apologise? No, in general, they are not. China is wholly responsible for this current mess (they even suppressed news of the outbreak when it first started) and China should be shamed and made to pay for their crimes until they crackdown on the illegal trade in wildlife forever.

Our governments will not stand up and point the figure at China for this unless their own citizens demand it, That means you and I. But if China is not shamed into cracking down on this trade and changing their environmental outlook then it’s only going to be a matter of time until another virus explodes out of the exotic wildlife markets of China and sweeps around the world. And the next time it might not be something as ‘tame’ as coronavirus with its 1-2% mortality rate. Next time it could be something along the lines of Ebola with its 60%+ mortality rate.

Coronavirus and friends

Been saying for long enough that if we don't stop destroying nature then mother nature will have us, most likely with a virus.

Well coronavirus is just a gentle warning folks. The next one could be 50-60-70+ % deadly and then its game over for civilization.

We are one Far Eastern live animal market away from complete Armaggedon.

We should act as a global voice to stop the animal markets. It'd be cheaper to send thousands of tons of beef to pooer people in the far east and Africa to eat for free.

Seriously - if we don't stamp bushmeat out completely we are fucked.

Rare white giraffes killed in Kenya

A rare white giraffe and her calf were killed by poachers near a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary, conservationists said earlier this month

The bodies of the two giraffes were found "in a skeletal state after being killed by armed poachers" in Garissa in eastern Kenya, the Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy said in a statement.

White giraffes are very rare; only a few have been sighted in Kenya. They are not albinos, but instead have a condition called leucism, which means an animal's skin does not contain pigment-producing cells.

Game numbers up and down in Selous-Mikumi

Tanzania recorded a slight increase of elephants and a considerable surge in zebra and hippopotamus populations in the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem between 2014 and 2018, a new report shows.

The report of the aerial wildlife census that was conducted between October and November 2018 covering 27 wildlife species indicates that elephants have increased by 284, zebra 6,190 while number of hippopotamus rose by 7,843.

It covered a total area of 104,143 km² that embrace Mikumi National Park, Selous Game Reserve, Kilombero Game Controlled Area and Selous-Niassa wildlife corridor.

Current statistics from the report have it that, the surveyed area has 15,501 elephants, up from 15,217 that were recorded in the previous study conducted in 2014.

This means that there is no further decline in the elephant population in the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem, and that the stabilising of the number of elephants combined with few incidences of fresh carcasses indicates that poaching has been brought under control.

Wildebeeste numbers, however have fallen by 72 percent over the last 22 years, and 'lesser' antelope by a whopping 97% in the same period. The very high carcass ratios suggest a lot of bushmeant hunting is taking place. However the carcass ratio has dropped significantly by the time this last survey was conducted.

Criminal elephant sales in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean wildlife activists are in a race against time to stop the government from selling 35 baby elephants to China and Pakistan after it emerged that the state was planning to secretly trade the young jumbos.

Lenin Chisaira, Director of Advocacy4Earth, an environmental lobby group which is suing the government over the sale, alleging that government has been trying, since last year, to nicodemusly sell the baby elephants to China but were delayed by a High Court application which they filed in May this year.

"The ongoing case has been that the state wants to sell the elephants through the backdoor and we have reliable information that they can fly out tomorrow and Thursday.