Tons of Illegal African Ivory Seized in China

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http://ens-news.com/ens/oct2002/2002-10-01-05.asp

 

Tons of Illegal African Ivory Seized in China

 

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 1, 2002 (ENS) - The Kenya

Wildlife Service and conservation organizations have

expressed urgent concern about elephant poaching and

illegal ivory trade following the seizure in Shanghai,

China of a 3.6 ton shipment of ivory from Kenya. The

seizure occurred late in August and was revealed only

Thursday by Chinese customs officials. It is the

largest ivory smuggling bust in China to date.

 

The shipment intercepted at Waigaoqiao Port included

64 packages of smuggled ivory, containing 303 whole

tusks and 408 tusks that were cut into smaller pieces.

 

 

The heaviest piece is more than 10 kilos (22 pounds)

and the lightest about one kilo (2.2 pounds).

 

The ivory was hidden in a 20 foot container and was

declared to Chinese customs to contain wood board from

Kenya.

 

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has confirmed the

seizure, and KWS officials are now conducting

investigations at the Port of Mombasa to determine the

origin of the ivory and how the consignment left

Kenya.

 

The Kenyan wildlife authorities indicated that Kenya

is being used as a transit point for illegal ivory and

that the seizure is unlikely to have come from poached

Kenyan elephants. Kenya now protects a population of

between 25,000 and 27,000 elephants.

" Over 16 tons of African ivory has been seized, mostly

in Asia, this year. This is a dramatic increase since

last year and the volumes of ivory in trade are much

larger than before. It is clear that the illegal trade

is increasing, and we attribute this is a result of

speculation that the ivory trade will be opened later

this year, " said KWS Director Joseph Kioko.

 

Trade in most populations of African elephants or

their parts has been banned worldwide since 1990 as

they are listed on Appendix I of the Convention on the

International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Elephants in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South

Africa are protected under Appendix II which permits

trade only if that trade will not be detrimental to

the survival of the species in the wild.

" The information on this seizure should be taken very

seriously by the CITES Secretariat and the Parties to

the 12th Conference of the Parties to CITES, to be

held in Chile in November, " said Michael Wamithi, the

International Fund for Animal Welfare's regional

director for East Africa.

Wamithi said, " We certainly hope that Parties will

oppose moves by five southern African countries to

reopen a legal ivory trade and rather support the

proposal from Kenya and India to include all elephant

populations on Appendix I of CITES. "

 

Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe

are proposing to export specific quantities of ivory

under controlled conditions. Kenya and India are

proposing to protect all African elephant populations

under Appendix I, which prohibits commercial trade.

 

Dr. Paula Kahumbu, CITES co-ordinator for the Kenya

Wildlife Service, said in an interview Monday with

Ecoterra News in Nairobi, that the officer from

Shanghai Customs at the Waigaoqiao Port Authority

became suspicious because the container weight did not

tally with the declared contents of 22 cubic meters of

wood. The customs officer found that the English name

in the declaration form and the Chinese name in the

invoice did not match.

 

" When examined with X-ray, dozen of bundles of

cylinder shaped objects were found hidden under the

bottom layer of wood boards. They looked different

from the boards shipped in the same container, so a

manual inspection was ordered. After opening the

container inspectors found that under the disguise of

wood boards, there was that huge amount of ivory, "

said Dr. Kahumbu.

 

Dr. Kahumbu suspects that even the container may not

have originated from Kenya because export of such

timbers is illegal.

She speculated that poachers and dealers are taking

advantage of this time period of uncertainty " when

mechanisms are not in place to enforce the law or to

protect elephants, " and a lifting of the trade ban is

under consideration at the November meeting of CITES.

 

" Under the trade ban elephants have enjoyed some

security and some countries have become complacent, "

she said. " Enforcement and vigilance has dropped off

over the years and ivory prices dropped - so the

incentive to poach also declined. If the ivory trade

re-opens, there will be a greater incentive to poach

and deal in ivory, but it will be conducted in a more

secretive manner than now as we will all be on the

alert as it is what we expect. "

 

" One day we will realize that elephants cannot be

reduced to the value of their teeth, " said Dr.

Kahumbu. " Elephants are and will always be synonymous

with the greatness of Africa. "

 

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All

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