Kenya drops poaching charges against prominent Amboseli Trust elephant conservationist

Nairobi — The State has dropped ivory possession charges against a renowned Amboseli elephant conservationist Susan Soila and her son Robert Ntawasa. Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Kioko Kamula told a Nairobi court that the evidence in the file against the two had been compromised. Soila, the Deputy Director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and her son were arrested in May last year with 19 kilograms of ivory valued at Sh1.9 million. They were later arraigned in court and were charged on three counts of having ivory without permission, found in their car when police arrested them in Emali. They pleaded not guilty to all charges and were released on a bail of Sh200,000 each. They had alleged through their lawyer Philip Murgor that they were framed by Kenya Wildlife Service rangers. “This case serves as a good example as to why all KWS investigations on serious poaching of elephants and rhinos together with prosecutions should be directed and conducted by DPP’s office. My clients are grateful that they stand vindicated of the false accusations and that they can now resume their work in conservation in the country,” Murgor said after the charges were dropped. Last year, poachers slaughtered 302 elephants in Kenya, while in 2012 KWS said 384 were killed up from 289 in 2011, from a total population of around 35,000.In 2012 and 2013, more than 1,000 people were arrested for committing wildlife crimes. A new report by INTERPOL on poaching recommended the need for greater information sharing to enable a more proactive and effective law enforcement response against trafficking syndicates. The report for 2013 by INTERPOL’s Environmental Security Unit highlights the need for increased intelligence analysis in order to provide sound evidence for multiple count indictments where the trafficking is linked to fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. Source: Capital FM, Nairobi

Zim parks and wildlife authority too broke to stop rhino poaching, parliament told

National Parks and Wildlife Authority of Zimbabwe (ZimParks) Monday revealed that it is critically underfunded to perform effective operations resulting in continuous local and transnational poaching syndicates. Giving oral evidence on rhino poaching to the Water, Tourism and Hospitality Industry parliamentary portfolio committee, ZimParks director general, Edson Chidziya said although there was a slight increase in rhino population over the last three years poaching activities had intensified with Zimbabweans being labelled senior poachers by their foreign counterparts. Chidziya said despite all efforts by the authority, their conservancies had remained prone to poaching compared to privately owned parks in the country owing to lack of funds. “As much as we have put much effort to control this, it is a matter of concern that Zimbabweans account for the majority of poachers. We are still very far from curbing this problem because of (lack of) resources both human and financial considering that this practice cuts across the whole profile including villagers, ZimParks and also other countries. “Transportation of wildlife extracts includes shipping, air transportation and there is also a destination and all these stages will require some investigations. The whole system is just complex hence the need for more funding to carry out investigations at all these levels,” he said. The black and white rhino populations which had risen to 2 200 were in the 1990s reduced to 390 in Zimbabwe but through various interventions, according to Chidziya, the number had risen to 753 with 256 of these being the white rhino. Chidziya said the authority needs more resources to maintain or allow this number to increase and called for a multi-sectoral approach. According to ZimParks statistics, between 2010 and 2013 the total mortality of rhino as a result of poaching was 128 which is a very high number considering that Zimbabwe only has a total of 753 rhino. The total number of arrests during the last three years reached 66 while 30 people were given jail terms ranging from six to 21 years. Source: The Zimbabwe Mail

SOUTH AFRICA INITIATES GLOBAL MARCH FOR LIONS: PRESS RELEASE

6th January 2014: LIONS IN THE INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT Local non-governmental organisations have initiated the first ever Global March for Lions that will be held in 17 designated cities throughout the world to highlight the plight of the endangered lion populations presently embroiled in the canned hunting industry in South Africa. The march will be held on Saturday 15th March 2014 and the coastal city of Durban will host the main event in South Africa where lion conservation activist Christine Jordaan who initiated the campaign will lead a march along the beachfront promenade with other local celebrities, sport stars and conservation giants. Marches will also be held in the cities of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Nelspruit, Ceres and Grahamstown. The organisers hope that the event will be a great success and the accent will be on creating public awareness for current failures in wildlife legislation that have allowed the once mighty lion to be degraded and traded as common livestock on farms of misery and horror. “From the heat of the African summertime to the winter cold of the northern hemisphere we want people to rise up and give out a ROAR for South Africa’s lions and populations elsewhere.” says Christine. “Many of our supporters are from overseas and so far we have marches being organised in London, Brussels, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Tampa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Modena, Melbourne, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Sao Paulo, Kampala and Oslo with new cities coming on board daily. Local cities include Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Nelspruit, Ceres and Grahamstown. A local NPC, Wild and Free SA is hosting the Durban march and they are calling for Kwa-Zulu Natal to stand united in absolute outrage at the total betrayal of South Africa’s lions. Wild and Free SA was recently involved in exposing a consignment of lions that were sent from a farm in Botswana belonging to the Botswana Minister of Agriculture, Christiaan de Graff to a lion breeder in the Free State. There is still a furore in Botswana over their origin and ownership. Wild and Free CEO Margot Stewart says: “Investigative reports from inside and outside of South Africa have revealed that a significant number of captive-bred lions are sold into trophy hunting. "Furthermore, certain South African lion breeders are selling lion skeletons and bones to Asian wildlife traffickers and so, from birth till after their death lions are being cruelly exploited in an industry that includes petting zoos and gimmicky tourist venues before ending their lives as a canned hunting trophy or euthanized for their bones.” At most, there are 32,000 – and perhaps as few as 15,000 according to Dr. Pieter Kat of Lion Aid – lions remaining on the entire African continent, as compared to 100,000 lions in the 1960s. The population trend of the African lion is classified as Decreasing by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The March also seeks to shore up support for the Campaign Against Canned Hunting(CACH), a Western Cape based charity led by Chris Mercer and Bev Pervan. Source: Wild and Free SA (editing, summarisation by AEP) ________________________________________________________________________________

Ex-policeman, accomplices get total of 24 years in jail for elephant poisoning

A former Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officer, who connived with four villagers and poisoned to death 23 elephants using cyanide was Monday sentenced to four years in prison for disposing hazardous substances and illegal possession of ivory, by a court in the northern town of Hwange

. However, magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa remanded William Ncube, 53, to a later date on another case of illegal possession of ivory where he is being charged without two of his accomplices because he pleaded not guilty to the charge. Accomplices Sikhumbuzo Sibindi, of Fatima Village and Elvis Nkomo of Bhangale Village all from Chief Mabhikwa in Lupane who were also slapped with four-year prison sentences each for violating sections of the Environmental Management Act. Two other accomplices who pleaded guilty to illegal possession of ivory, Mkhululi Ncube, 36, and Johannes Munkombwe, 29, were each slapped with 10 year prison sentences for committing the offence. The two were further slapped with four years each for violating the EMA Act and were also ordered to pay the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority $850,000 compensation for the 20 elephants they killed. The poisoning took place between August last year and last month at Ngamo Forest and the elephants they killed together with the tusks were valued at $1,1 million. Ncube was implicated by his accomplices as the supplier of the cyanide. On the other hand, Ncube told police investigators that he was introduced into the act by some people some of them in Government departments. The five mixed cyanide with water and put it in buckets which they deposited in the bush where the elephants drank. In August last year Ncube took out two tusks of elephants and in September this year he killed three jumbos using water laced with cyanide. He went on to kill two more elephants last month in connivance with Sibindi and Nkomo. Mkhululi Ncube and Munkombwa received an undisclosed quantity of cyanide from Ncube and using the same modus operandi, killed 20 elephants and took away 34 tusks. About 5.67 kgs of cyanide was recovered at Munkombwa's homestead while 4kgs was recovered at Ncube's homestead buried in a kraal. Sibindi, Nkomo, Mkhululi Ncube and Munkombwa said Ncube had promised them money. A statement by an official from the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority which is included in the record showed that a total of 149 jumbos have been poisoned and killed by poachers from February this year to date.

Tanzanian security forces intercept 50kg of elephant ivory

Zanzibari defence and security forces have seized a container full of elephant tusks which was in transit to overseas. The ivory was impounded at Malindi port of Zanzibar, Tanzania’s semi-autonomous region by the anti-smuggling force in collaboration with intelligence officers after they received a tip-off. The container was filled with plastic bags, each containing about 50 kg of ivory. It was impounded a week after Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said that poaching of elephants in Tanzania was alarming and vowed that no stone will be left unturned in the hunt for poachers. According to the latest figures, poachers kill an estimated 30 elephants every day in Tanzania. The number of elephants in the country has dropped from 130,000 in 2002 to 109,000 in 2009, and wildlife experts have warned that the entire population could be wiped out by 2020 if the poaching continues. Source: Wildlife Extra

Kenyan police gun down two poachers

Two suspected poachers have been gunned down by security personnel at Matigari in Laikipia West sub-county. Speaking to the Star yesterday, Laikipia county police boss Angelus Karuru said the two were tracked from Ol Pejeta Conservancy at 12.30am. A gun, four bullets and a motorcycle were recovered. "Two Kenya police reservists at the conservancy spotted the suspects and pursued them," Karuru said. After an hour's chase, the reservists caught up with the suspects at Matigari where a shootout ensued. Karuru said police officers from Rumuruti police station heard the gunshots and proceeded to the scene. The bodies of the unidentified suspects were taken to Nyahururu District Hospital mortuary.Karuru urged residents to volunteer information that could lead to the arrest of more criminals. Mid last month, Kenya Wildlife Service rangers shot dead a suspected poacher and injured another at the neighbouring Solio ranch in Laikipia Central sub-county. Mountain Region Conservancy assistant director Aggrey Maumo said a gang of three suspected poachers had gained entry into the ranch with an aim of killing a rhino. He said one of them, believed to be in his 30s, was shot dead while another escaped with gun wounds in the incident. The body of the unidentified suspect was taken to Nyeri Provincial General Hospital mortuary. Maumo said aerial and ground surveillance have been intensified in the ranch and others in the area, to curb poaching activities. Poaching incidents have escalated in the region in the recent past, with several rhinos having been killed. Source: The Star (Nairobi)

Zim poaching crisis: 300 elephants estimated dead through cyanide poisoning

Aerial images taken by a team of British hunters seems to show that cyanide-poisoning has been used to kill 300 elephants in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe's biggest nature reserve - three times the original estimate. The full extent of the devastation wreaked in Hwange, the country's largest national park, has been revealed by legitimate hunters who discovered what conservationists say is the worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years. Pictures taken by the hunters, which have been obtained exclusively by The Telegraph, reveal horrific scenes. Parts of the national park, whose more accessible areas are visited by thousands of tourists each year, can be seen from the air to be littered with the deflated corpses of elephants, often with their young calves dead beside them, as well as those of other animals. There is now deep concern that the use of cyanide – first revealed in July, but on a scale that has only now emerged – represents a new and particularly damaging technique in the already soaring poaching trade. Zimbabwean authorities said that 90 animals were killed this way. But the hunters who captured these photographs say they have conducted a wider aerial survey and counted the corpses of more than 300. Poachers killed the elephants over the past three months by lacing waterholes and salt licks with cyanide. Animals are drawn to them during the dry season in the already arid and remote south-eastern section of the 5,660-square mile park. After the elephants died, often collapsing just a few yards from the source, lions, hyenas and vultures which fed on their carcasses were also struck down, as were other animals such as kudu and buffalo that shared the same waterholes. Zimbabwe's authorities say the cyanide has been planted by villagers who sell the elephants' tusks for around £300 each to cross-border traders. They can be resold in South Africa for up to £10,000 a pair, according to court papers relating one recent incident, sometimes re-emerging as carved artefacts such as bangles in Cape Town's craft markets. Zimbabwe has one of Africa's biggest surviving elephant populations, since herds in neighbouring regions of Eastern and Central Africa have been severely damaged by poaching, and half of the country's estimated 80,000 elephants are thought to live in Hwange. Conservationists say the African elephant is so much under threat from habitat loss, conflict with humans and illegal poaching and hunting that on present trends it could die out within 50 years. In 2011, at least 17,000 African elephants were killed for their tusks according to Cites, the international body that focuses on endangered species. Ivory is highly prized as a "white gold" in Asian countries where a growing middle class is seeking safe investments, and United Nations wildlife experts say the trade in illegal ivory has more than doubled since 2007. The poisoning was first uncovered by a European hunter and his Zimbabwean guides who spotted a dead cow and her calf as they flew over the park in a helicopter. As they flew lower they saw scores more. The corpses of endangered white-backed vultures which had fed on the toxic carcasses were dotted near each dead elephant. "We couldn't believe our eyes," one hunter, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals from poachers, told The Telegraph. "We thought at first that they must have been shot. There were too many to have died of thirst or hunger." They flew back to camp and drove into the park after alerting government rangers as they went. "We found that elephants we saw from the air were not shot, but the tusks were gone," the hunter said. His group spotted a man walking into the park carrying a four-gallon bucket and a packet. They watched him dig a hole for the bucket in the sand, lower it in and then mix powder from the packet into the water. Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Authority sent investigators and police to the area, where there are normally few patrols. The water was discovered to contain cyanide – available cheaply for use in informal gold mining that is conducted locally. After further investigation police arrested eight men from a village in the Tsholotsho district which borders the park, along with a number of fellow officers who were allegedly bribed to ignore the poachers, and a Harare-based cyanide distributor to whom more than 100lbs of the poison were traced. So far, 14 people have been arrested since the first poisoning was discovered. As news of the killings spread, the Zimbabwean authorities took usually swift and harsh action – putting captured poachers before the courts where they were given sentences of up to 16 years in prison along with stiff fines. When Saviour Kasukawere, Zimbabwe's environment minister, visited a village just outside the park two weeks ago she was told that the poachers had acted out of desperation as their crops had failed and tourism fees from hunters and safari operators had dried up. Caroline Washaya-Moyo, a spokesman for Zimbabwe's National Parks, said 10 more poisoned elephants were found last week, none of which had been dead for more than three weeks, suggesting that the poisoning had not stopped. She said she was "surprised" by the report that 300 elephants had died, but conceded that ZimParks only begun its own aerial survey last week. "We did find that (looking for carcasses) is more efficient from the air," she said. Police have discovered tusks near a railway line which passes through Hwange and last week found more, hidden in a concealed compartment of a luxury bus on the way to South Africa. Some of the carcasses have now been burned, Mrs Washaya-Moyo said, but others had been kept for further investigation. Mrs Washaya-Moyo said they were struggling to persuade those in custody to identify the organisers. "It is a pity that they all seem so reluctant to identify the big people involved, as ivory, like the rhino horn, is not used in Zimbabwe. It is used by foreigners," she said. Tom Milliken, programme leader for the Elephant and Rhino Traffic network, a conservation organisation, said he was "astounded" by the scale of the killings. "This is the largest massacre of elephant in this part of the world for the last 25 years," he said. "This (use of buckets of water) is seductive for elephants at this dry time of year when they're looking hard for water. Cyanide is a new weapon against wildlife." Tim Snow, a South African expert on wildlife poisoning, said the emergence of cyanide in poaching was "really scary". "Quite apart from these elephants' deaths, what about all the other animals using that water source and scavenging from those corpses? The knock-on effect must be horrendous," he said. Cyanide has not been used in poaching before because in most countries it is strictly controlled and its use in agriculture had been phased out, he said. "In Zimbabwe, because of the challenges they are facing, I would imagine it's a free for all," he said. "If this is a gold mining area then that's where the investigators should be looking. If controls are not put in place, its use could become rife." Conservationists say ZimParks needs 10 times the number of rangers it currently has to be able to prevent cyanide from being used again. Thys de Vries, one of Zimbabwe's best known professional hunters and conservationists, said: "There are some very good people out there but they are short of resources and need help." Source: Telegraph, UK