Poaching News: from David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation

[Guest guest]

DSWF News - Chinese dealers buy wildlife riches from Zimbabwe and other

African nations

 

A recent report claims that Chinese dealers have bought 30 tons of ivory,

representing the tusks of an estimated 2,250 elephants from the Zimbabwe

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. One game ranger claims that this

massive sale has not only emptied the parks’ stockpile but also resulted in

the poaching of elephants from nearby Botswana.

However, wildlife body parts are not the only items on the Chinese shopping

list which also includes many of the continent’s riches such as oil,

minerals and raw materials.

The purchase of ivory has been made possible by a loophole in CITES which

allows President Mugabe a special concession to sell ivory in lots worth

£270 or less. However, this concession has resulted in increased widespread

poaching as it provides a cover for the deliberate mixing of legal and

illegal ivory. Two months ago Zimbabwe police caught Chinese dealers with

seven tons of ivory, of which four tons came from illegal sources.

 

 

DSWF News - Continued poaching of Indian rhinos in Nepal

 

Park officials from Nepal’s Chitwan National Park stated last week that

three rare Indian one-horned rhinos were killed and one was wounded by

poachers in areas around the park. One of the dead rhinos was pregnant and

her horn had been extracted but the poachers were unable to take the horns

from the other two. The injured rhino is being treated and is out of danger.

Chitwan National Park is home to most of the country’s Indian rhino, but

rampant poaching has reduced the endangered population from 544 in 2000 to

372 in 2005. Their horn is much in demand in traditional Chinese medicine.

The precarious situation of rhinos in Nepal underlines the vital importance

of the DSWF-supported anti-poaching work in Kaziranga National Park, Assam,

home to ¾ of the world’s remaining Indian rhino population. For further

information,

http://www.davidshepherd.org/projects/xtown_and_kaziranga.shtml

 

DSWF News - New report highlights the problems of tigers in the wild

 

A new study released by WWF, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Save the

Tiger Fund estimates that wild tigers have lost up to 40% of their

traditional habitat in Southeast Asia, India and Indochina within the last

decade. Another such decade would be truly catastrophic especially as tiger

numbers are further threatened by the increasing demand for their body parts

from China and Southeast Asia for use in medicines, traditional clothing and

jewellery.