African Environmental Police: Cameroon deploys Special Forces to counter poachin...

African Environmental Police: Cameroon deploys Special Forces to counter poachin...: November 2012. Cameroon has mobilized its Special Forces units in an effort to prevent Sudanese poachers from entering its territory to ...

Cameroon deploys Special Forces to counter poaching gangs

November 2012. Cameroon has mobilized its Special Forces units in an effort to prevent Sudanese poachers from entering its territory to hunt elephants for their ivory, in an operation it called "a first of its kind". WWF congratulates the Cameroonian government for taking concrete steps to address poaching and illegal wildlife trade, a lucrative criminal activity that undermines the sovereignty, security and economic prospects of the Central African region. Killed hundreds of elephants in 2012 According to information obtained by WWF, this is the same group of poachers that in early 2012 travelled more than 1,000 km on horseback from northern Sudan across the Central African Republic and Chad to kill over 300 elephants in the Bouba N'Djida National Park in northern Cameroon. This information says that the group had decided to return earlier than usual this year in order to take advantage of the greater ground cover available during the rainy season and to catch the park guards by surprise by arriving sooner than expected. Rapid Intervention Battalion On Friday, high ranking officials of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), Cameroon's special forces, told WWF that the high command had as a priority "the conservation of biodiversity, including the fight against cross-border poaching." "We are committed to avoid a repeat of the elephant massacre of early 2012," a BIR official said. "We are already on the ground, we know the poachers are coming, and we have forces deployed in the reserves. "It is highly unfortunate that the military had to be called in to address this situation, but the reality is that we are dealing with well-armed and highly trained individuals, who do not hesitate to terrorize local populations to achieve their aims." "It should be noted that this is one of the top priority missions that the BIR is dealing with at this time, and the operational and logistical scale of this operation is the first of its kind," the BIR representative said. Elephants numbers down by at least 50% since 1995 High demand for ivory coupled with porous borders and weak law enforcement capacity is seriously threatening the survival of elephants in the region. Although concrete numbers are hard to come by, it is estimated that the population of elephants in the Central African region was cut in half between 1995 and 2007, with the number of elephants killed still increasing. "The elephant killings in Bouba N'Djida earlier this year put the crisis on the map. But over the past decades, poachers have already wiped elephants across large swaths of the Central African Republic," according to Bas Huijbregts, head of policy on illegal wildlife trade for WWF Central Africa. 40,000 elephants have disappeared "The elephant population in the north-eastern parts of Central African Republic, which used to number around 35,000 in the seventies, has effectively been massacred, with only some 50 individuals remaining. And in neighbouring Chad, in the Zakouma National Park, elephant populations collapsed by 90 per cent compared to the levels that were recorded in 2006, with only 450 animals left in 2011," Huijbregts explained. "This is literally the last stand of elephants in these parts of Central Africa, and the operations of the Cameroonian Special Forces are indispensable to address this crisis," Huijbregts added. Ivory trade across borders is currently banned under international law. But rising income levels and increased demand in Asia, primarily China and Thailand, is pushing ivory prices to record levels, fuelling illicit trade. "Poaching is a harmful practice on so many fronts. Besides endangering wildlife, it degrades fragile ecosystems, corrodes respect for the rule of law, and weakens national security. It threatens the livelihoods and economic growth opportunities of local communities. Any nation that turns a blind eye to poaching essentially invites transnational criminal organizations to operate freely, bringing with them a host of other related problems and tainting the country's international standing," said Greg Thorne, Chargé d'Affaires at the US Embassy in Cameroon. "The United States applauds Cameroon's announced efforts to combat and eliminate poaching. These efforts, once launched, will have numerous positive benefits, including preservation of natural patrimony, strengthening of law enforcement and border security, and reduction in crime," he said. Chad and the Central African Republic are collaborating with Cameroon to fight this poaching threat, and are currently in the process of finalizing a tri-national urgency action. WWF is campaigning for greater protection of threatened species such as rhinos, tigers and elephants. In order to save endangered animals, source, transit and demand countries must all improve law enforcement, customs controls and judicial systems.

WWF is also urging governments in consumer countries to undertake demand reduction efforts to curb the use of endangered species products. Source: Wildlife Extra

African Environmental Police: Record ivory seizure in Hong Kong

African Environmental Police: Record ivory seizure in Hong Kong: In a joint operation involving Hong Kong and Guangdong customs officials, 1,209 pieces of ivory tusks and 1.4 kilogrammes of ivory ornamen...

Record ivory seizure in Hong Kong

In a joint operation involving Hong Kong and Guangdong customs officials, 1,209 pieces of ivory tusks and 1.4 kilogrammes of ivory ornaments, weighing about 3,813 kilogrammes, were found inside two containers shipped from Tanzania and Kenya to Hong Kong. The total seizure is worth about $26.7 million. This seizure comes just 2 months after Kenyan authorities seized two tons of ivory at Nairobi airport. The ivory was destined for Malaysia. African elephants are being slaughtered at a faster rate than at anytime since the 1980s when as many as 100,000 were killed every year. Certainly 10s of thousands are being killed, often in the most brutal ways, by gangs of well armed and organised poachers with modern weapons, communication equipment, and in at least 1 case, helicopters. 792 tusks Acting on information provided by Guangdong Customs, Hong Kong Customs monitored the two suspicious containers. On October 16, Customs officers located one container arriving from Tanzania which was declared as containing "plastic scrap". Upon examination, the officers found 972 pieces of raw ivory tusks, weighing about 1,927 kilogrammes, and 1.4 kilogrammes of ivory ornaments inside 91 bags of plastics scraps, with an estimated value of about $13.5 million. 237 tusks On the following day, Hong Kong Customs inspected another container from Kenya which was declared as containing "roscoco beans". Upon examination, a total of 237 pieces of raw ivory tusks, weighing about 1,884 kilogrammes, were found inside 50 bags of "roscoco bean", with an estimated value of about $13.2 million. Wildlife trafficking The Head of Ports and Maritime Command, Mr Lam Tak-fai, said at the briefing that Hong Kong Customs will continue to work closely with the Mainland Customs to combat against transnational smuggling activities. In addition, Hong Kong Customs will continue to co-operate with Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to enforce the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance and deter the trafficking of wildlife. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing unmanifested cargoes is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years. Under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance, any person found guilty of trading endangered species for commercial purposes is liable to a maximum fine of $5 million and imprisonment for two years. Source: Wildlife

Extra

African Environmental Police: Temic poison used to wipe out at painted dogs at N...

African Environmental Police: Temic poison used to wipe out at painted dogs at N...: Notugre is a conservation area near the Tuli Block in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. This is Andre Synman's personal account of the poiso...

Temic poison used to wipe out at painted dogs at Notugre wild dog camp

Notugre is a conservation area near the Tuli Block in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. This is Andre Synman's personal account of the poison attacks: Recent illegal activities inside Notugre have resulted in the termination of the last remaining wild dogs. With the death of two wild dogs at Talana Farm still fresh in our minds (20th May 2012), the last remaining pack members, including the alpha female, have been poisoned to death by local Motswana men. During the end of June 2012 the alpha female of the pack started showing signs of pregnancy. The pack then settled in the northern section of Luenza property in what looked like a possible denning area. Around the 4th & 5th of July the female gave birth. Number and sex of pups were unknown. Tragically on the 6th of July two men from a nearby cattle post walked into the den site and laced carcasses with highly poisonous Temic in a deliberate attempt to kill these carnivores. After investigation of the site, two wild dogs, a large male leopard, African wild cat and an African Hawk Eagle was found dead within a 70m radius of the den. An impala - and a goat carcass was found laced with Temic. The goat carcass was found high up in a Leadwood tree, cached by a leopard. The spoor of the cat was quickly traced and the body of the leopard found not 30m away. The tracks of two men were easily traced back to a nearby cattle post and apprehended. Reports indicate that these men apparently lost two goats to predators on the 5th of July 2012, possibly by the wild dog pack, but it could also be from spotted hyaenas. The men then returned to their cattle post to fetch Temic-poison, which they apparently bought from someone at Talana Farm. The men then went back to the two goat carcasses and carried it closer to the den site, which they admitted knowing was there. They were also after a large male leopard, which they knew were walking along a specific drainage line, close to the den. They then laced both carcasses with Temic but then found the remains of an impala carcass close to the den, which they then also laced. What happened next is what we could figure out from tracks and spoor. The male leopard walked along the drainage line and found one of the goat carcasses. It then dragged it to the nearest tree and cached it up there. While the leopard was feeding on this poisoned carcass, the wild dogs then returned to their den, having been scared off by these poachers, and presumable fed on the last remaining poisoned scraps of the impala carcass. Needless to say, every animal that fed on these carcasses died within 30m of each. These include the African Hawk Eagle and African wild cat. These are only the animals we could find and it is believed that there could be more dead predators in the surrounding area. Regarding the pups, I personally crawled into the den with a torch to search for any pups, but I found none. The second poisoned goat carcass was apparently burned by these culprits, on hearing the commotion of vehicles from their crime scene. What will happen to these men? Will the penalties for these poachers be severe enough, or will they just get a slap-on-the-wrist from the authorities? They are both between the ages of 24 to 26 and live with their parents at this cattle post. It's located just north of the Lentswe Le Moriti four ways crossing. What makes matters ever worse is that in 2007, Rex Masupe from Mashatu Anti-poaching, found a dead cheetah at this cattle post. Killed by this same family. You have to wonder, how long have these people been poisoning and killing our carnivores? This right under our noses. In 2008 a single lioness was found dead along the main road past this cattle post. Cause of death was poisoning. Furthermore, in 2010, between 4 to 5 spotted hyaenas and one leopard carcass was found scattered along the main road past this same cattle post - all carcasses were poisoned. Coincidence, I think not... This senseless act of hatred towards carnivores is a major setback and waste of countless hours of research, financial support, political backup and commercial publicity and marketing. If people are going to live inside Notugre with livestock, our predators are in serious peril. They will not survive. If not for the use of GPS collars, we would have never known the fate of these animals. How many more do we not even know about? It was Armageddon for the wild dogs. What's next, our lions? Cheetah? Regards, Andrei Snyman Source: Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce

Poachers abandon 8kg elephant tusk haul

Police have recovered three elephant tusks weighing 8kg that were abandoned by five fleeing poachers at the Mandaza Islands along the Zambezi River. The value of the tusks is yet to be established. Police spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri yesterday confirmed the incident. He said police also recovered about 50 kg of game meat, an axe, 5 x 5-litre empty containers, a blanket and a bedsheet. “On 14 September, police from Kazungula were patrolling along the Zambezi River at the Mandaza Islands. Poachers frequent the area in search of wild animals,” he said. “At around 7pm, the police saw five suspected poachers carrying luggage and they opened fire at the poachers. Sensing danger, the poachers abandoned the goods,” he said. Supt Phiri urged the public, especially those in conservancy areas, to alert the police when they see suspected poachers. The Government gazetted replacement value for each elephant is US$50 000. Recently, a man was arrested together with three accomplices for illegally possessing two elephant tusks in Harare. Source: The

Herald