Kenya holding 138 tonnes ivory, 1,519kg of rhino horns

Author(s)

BY WILLIAM MWANGI, The Star

Date Published
The government is holding 137.679 tonnes of ivory and 1.519 tonnes of rhino horns, new statistics have shown.
Environment CS Judi Wakhungu released the statistics on Wednesday following an inventory that was commissioned on July 21 and completed on August 27, 2015.
The project has seen the counting of about 25,052 pieces of mostly raw ivory and more than 1, 248 pieces of rhino horns.
From the pile, more than 2,300 ivory and 800 rhino horn samples were collected for DNA analysis and profiling.
The ivory and rhino horns were from normal stocks of dead animals while others that are being used as court exhibits.
Others were seized and kept under police custody at the Mombasa port.
Wakhungu said the government will install a Trophy Stockpile Management Software, to ensure all trophies are accounted for in real time.
“Based on the recommendations of the inventory exercise, my ministry will put in place such robust systems to enhance security and management of Kenya’s trophy stockpile,” she said.
Wakhungu said this will particularly help the government to keep a check on trophies obtained from animals killed in national reserves.
She addressed a press briefing accompanied by KWS Board of Trustees chairman Richard Leakey and KWS director general William Kiprono.