Pangolins in danger of being wiped out

Chinese demand for the pangolin, a scale-covered anteater, is forcing the endangered animals closer to extinction. Pangolins are disappearing in China and across their ranges in East and Southeast Asia. They have become the most frequently seized mammal in Asia's illegal wildlife trade, as smugglers sell the creatures to meet culinary and medicinal demand.

Traders are importing pangolins into China from as far away as Africa, where four of the eight known species of the anteater live.

Pangolins have been a staple of traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, but growing human populations and greater wealth across China have increased demand. Pangolin fetuses, scales, and blood are used in medicine, the meat is considered a delicacy, and stuffed pangolins are sold as souvenirs.

The creatures are often kept alive without food or water while individual scales are pulled off them as required.

The decline in pangolin populations and intensified efforts to curb the illegal trade have led to rising prices for pangolin products - further enticing organized crime rings to smuggle the endangered animals. A kilogram of pangolin scales that earned only 80 yuan (US$10) in the early 1990s would now yield 1,200 yuan ($175) on the black market, according to Zhang Yue, a wildlife trade expert in China's State Forestry Administration.

An estimated 25,000-50,000 wild pangolins lived in China in 2000, according to a national survey. Populations in Guangdong and Hunan provinces have since dropped as low as 10 percent of the 2000 estimate, and populations in Hainan, Henan, and Jiangsu provinces are likely extinct.

China - again.

R255 Million Donation to fight Rhino Poaching

The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, a private foundation in the United States, the Nature Conservation Trust, a South African public benefit organization and South African National Parks announced an historic R255 million (US$23.7 million), three-year initiative to combat rhino poaching in Kruger National Park and test anti-poaching tactics that can be applied in other regions of Africa.

The effort in Kruger will create an Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) using sophisticated detection and tracking equipment and infrastructure on the ground and in the air, elite canine units and highly-trained ranger teams and improved intelligence gathering and observation and surveillance systems.

Tanzania Sacks Wildlife Director over Incompetence

The Tanzanian government has announced the sacking of the director for wildlife, Alexander Songorwa, for failure to do his work properly.

Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Lazaro Nyalandu told a press conference that Songorwa and his assistant, who was also suspended, failed to oversee operation Tokomeza Ujangili (the anti- poaching operation).

The operation, aiming to weed out poaching and illegal ivory trade in various parts of the country, including evacuating those grazing animals in conservation areas, was suspended last November following reports of killings of animals, their owners and innocent citizens.

After the operation was suspended, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete sacked four government ministers following accusations of abuses committed by security forces. He made the dismissals after reports of arbitrary murder, rape, torture and extortion of innocent civilians by members of the anti-poaching crackdown.

Kenya loses six Rhinos in a week

Six rhinos have been killed in the last one week in spite of new anti-poaching laws that stipulate hefty fines or life imprisonment for offenders. One more rhino was wounded by poachers and is fighting for its life at Ol Pejeta ranch in Laikipia.

The six were killed in Solio and Ol Jogi ranches and Nakuru National Park, according to independent reports. Poachers killed two rhinos from each of the three conservancy areas and chopped off the horns.
The rising wave has startled conservationists, who fear Kenya's new punitive law may not have deterred poachers. Kenya is home to just over 1000 Rhinos.

The United States of America Bans Ivory Trading

The United States have announced a ban on the commercial trade of elephant ivory, which will enhance our efforts to protect iconic species like elephants and rhinos by prohibiting the import, export, or resale within the United States of elephant ivory except in a very limited number of circumstances.

The ban will include the following:
Prohibit commercial import of African elephant ivory: All commercial imports of African elephant ivory, including antiques, will be prohibited.
Prohibit commercial export of elephant ivory: All commercial exports will be prohibited, except for bona fide antiques, certain noncommercial items, and in exceptional circumstances permitted under the Endangered Species Act.
Significantly restrict domestic resale of elephant ivory: A proposed rule that will reaffirm and clarify that sales across state lines are prohibited, except for bona fide antiques, and will prohibit sales within a state unless the seller can demonstrate an item was lawfully imported prior to 1990 for African elephants and 1975 for Asian elephants, or under an exemption document.
Clarify the definition of “antique”: To qualify as an antique, an item must be more than 100 years old and meet other requirements under the Endangered Species Act. The onus will now fall on the importer, exporter, or seller to demonstrate that an item meets these criteria.
Restore Endangered Species Act protection for African elephants: We will revoke a previous Fish and Wildlife Service special rule that had relaxed Endangered Species Act restrictions on African elephant ivory trade.
Support limited sport-hunting of African elephants: It will limit the number of African elephant sport-hunted trophies that an individual can import to two per hunter per year.

Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London has agreed key actions to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade.

During the conference, chaired by Foreign Secretary William Hague and attended by the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, world leaders from over forty nations vowed to help save iconic species from the brink of extinction.

The London Declaration contains commitments for practical steps to end the illegal trade in rhino horn, tiger parts and elephant tusks that fuels criminal activity worth over $19 billion each year. The trade also undermines economic opportunity in developing countries, and threatens the survival of entire species.
Key states, including Botswana, Chad, China, Gabon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Vietnam, alongside the United States and Russia, have signed up to actions that will help eradicate the demand for wildlife products, strengthen law enforcement, and support the development of sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by wildlife crime.

These include:
Support for continuing the existing international ban on commercial trade in elephant ivory.
Renouncing the use of products within governments from species threatened with extinction.
Amending legislation to make poaching and wildlife trafficking “serious crimes” under the terms of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
Strengthening cross-border co-ordination and support for regional wildlife law enforcement networks.
Further analysis to better understand the links between wildlife crime and other organised crime and corruption, and to explore links to terrorism.

The conference heard first-hand from the Presidents of Botswana, Chad, Gabon and Tanzania, and the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia, who announced the proposal of an Elephant Protection Initiative to secure new funding from private and public sources for the implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan.

The plan includes commitment to an extended moratorium on ivory sales, as well as plans to put ivory stocks beyond economic use. The UK Government announced it would provide support to help the Initiative get up and running.

Botswana has now announced that it will host a further Conference in early 2015 to review progress against the commitments made in the London Declaration.

China Leads International Wildlife Crime Bust

Beijing — Tonnes of illegal animal products have been seized and over 400 suspects arrested in an China-led sting against international wildlife crime, authorities said on Monday.

The operation cleaned up over 350 cases, capturing more than 3 tonnes of ivory and its products, over 1,000 hides, 36 rhino horns and a large number of other wildlife products, said the China Endangered Species Import and Export Management Office.

The operation, codenamed Cobra II, was co-organized by China, the United States, South Africa, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force, the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network, and the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network.

China's authorities, including forestry, customs, police, judiciary and quarantine departments, put more than 100,000 staff on the operation, and uncovered over 200 cases involving more than 250 suspects.
China sent enforcement staff to Kenya for the first time, to arrest an ivory trafficking suspect and host lectures on wildlife protection.

Credit where it's due, it was a great effort

Kenya Rangers to use Drones in Poaching War

In collaboration with the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya, Airwave has begun testing a drone surveillance system that it says will enable park rangers to monitor wildlife and be alerted to the presence of poachers. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa. But even in a designated sanctuary, rhinos are not safe from poachers. In 2013 alone, 50 rhinos were killed within Ol Pejeta.
Airwave’s “Aerial Ranger” project is designed specifically to observe, track and protect wildlife by delivering video and thermal imaging feeds to teams on the ground, Ol Pejeta Conservancy said in a statement.”

Huge fine for Chinese Ivory Smuggler

A Chinese man accused of trying to smuggle ivory in a suitcase was arraigned in a Nairobi court this week. Under the law that came into effect on Jan. 10 and that the Kenya Wildlife Service had spent years been lobbying for, the man has been fined a record $230,000. If he can't pay he faces 7 years in jail. In the past, such poachers and smugglers could walk out of court with a fine of less than $1,000.

Good start but he's only small fry in this business.

Tanzanian Officials Suspended over Poaching Claims

Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has suspended 21 Wildlife Department staff for allegedly colluding with poachers to kill elephants. Deputy Minister Lazaro Nyalandu told reporters that the suspended employees join their colleague in Singida Region, Augustino Lori, who was recently suspended over poaching and corruption allegations. He said investigations have shown that there are certain members of the ministry’s staff who were directly involved in wildlife sabotage acts in collaboration with criminals, warning that they would be exposed and charged in court.

The suspended staff include 11 from the Anti-Poaching Unit in Arusha, four from the Rukwa-Lwari Forest Reserve, one from the Anti-Poaching Unit in Bunda, three from Maswa Forest Reserve, one from Selous Forest Reserve and one from the Lukwika-Lumesule-Msanjesi Forest Reserve.

“The ministry won’t hesitate in dealing with employees who use their position to sabotage the country’s natural resources or anybody partnering with poachers to kill wild animals. Tougher measures are going to be taken against them without any delay,” he said.