Elephant poachers released after paying small fine in Kenya
Elephant poachers released after paying small fine in Kenya
Wildlife Extra blog at http://www.wildlifeextra.com/index.html
June 8, 2009
29 Elephant Tusks Seized in Northern Kenya
May 2009. Twenty-nine elephant tusks and three AK-47 rifles have been
recovered after a three-month long sting operation in Samburu East in
Northern Kenya, 450 kilometres from Nairobi.
Eight poachers escaped
The operation, which involved Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers,
Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust (NWCT) scouts, and the local
administration, began with the arrest of two Kenyan Somali poachers and
one from the local community. An estimated eight other poachers escaped.
"Some of the tusks appear to have been sawn off from the elephants,"
said Titus Letaapo of NWCT. The three suspects were charged in court and
released soon after paying a small fine, which is like a slap on the
wrist and does not act as a deterrent at all, according to Letaapo.
"We have noted an increase in elephant poaching in this area since last
December. It has been tough, but we must protect these elephants at all
costs."
This follows on from the recent seizure of 500 Kgs of ivory near the
Tanzania border. James Isiche, Director of IFAW's Regional Office in
East Africa, is raising the red flag over an escalation of elephant
poaching incidents in the region.
Unprecedented ivory seizures
"It is scary. The rate at which African ivory is being seized by law
enforcement officers is almost unprecedented. There is need for urgent
action to arrest this situation. Otherwise, elephants, which have been
on the brink in the past, will be history. International Fund for Animal
Welfare (IFAW) strongly maintains that ivory trade anywhere is a threat
to elephants everywhere. The correlation between this rise in elephant
poaching and ivory seizures and the one-off sale of stockpiles by CITES
can no longer be ignored," said Isiche.
These poaching incidents comes barely five months after the sale of 108
tonnes of ivory stocks from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe
having been sanctioned the first time in nearly ten years by the
UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Ivory seizures have been rampant in the couple of months, with over six
tonnes seized in Vietnam, smuggled in from Tanzania and one tonne seized
in Thailand from Uganda. Kenya has also experienced a series of poaching
incidents since the start of the year, including in Kenya's most
critical elephant habitat, Tsavo National Park.
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