The "Gorilla King" Titus has passed away from old age.
September 2009. On the morning of Sept. 14, trackers at the Karisoke Research Centre found the legendary silverback gorilla Titus, dead on his night nest in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. He was 35, which is quite old for a male mountain gorilla. Titus had been the dominant male in one of the gorilla groups studied for many years by Karisoke and was the subject of the documentary "Gorilla King" TV series.
Born in 1974
Titus' eventful life began in 1974, observed by Dian Fossey and her research assistant Kelly Stewart, daughter of actor Jimmy Stewart. Kelly was the first to see the newborn, so she named him Titus after a character in a novel she was reading. His mother, the elderly Flossie, lived in Fossey's Group Four, led by his father, Uncle Bert. Fossey noted in Gorillas in the Mist that Titus seemed to be "underdeveloped and spindly" and had difficulty breathing. He soon overcame these disabilities, the first of many challenges he faced in childhood.
Father killed by poachers
When Titus was 4 years old, poachers killed his father Uncle Bert, his uncle Digit, and his younger brother. Soon after, a newly arrived silverback named Beetsme killed Titus' infant sister, causing his mother and older sister to flee to another group. Titus was left at age 5 to live with a few unrelated males, including Beetsme and Tiger, that were soon joined by Peanuts and two others. The group remained all-male for several years, until another group's silverback died and five females came to join the bachelors. Beetsme eventually drove off all the other males except for Titus, who was favoured by Papoose, the dominant female.
Even tempered
An unusually even tempered and skillful leader, Titus maintained his dominance over a group of some 25 individuals without difficulty for many years.
...
Please follow link to learn more about Titus and his incredible story...
* Follow the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International on Twitter.com and get the latest updates http://twitter.com/savinggorillasThe "Gorilla King" Titus has passed away from old age.
September 2009. On the... more
"NAIROBI, Kenya - Poaching and drought-related hunger have killed more than 100 of Kenya's famous elephants in the north of the country so far this year, conservationists say.
More excerpts:
"Around 23,000 elephants live in Kenya but populations can be devastated by poaching within a couple of years. A recent survey in Chad showed its elephant population had declined from 3,800 to just over 600 in the past three years.
'The drought is one of nature's big events," he said. "It hits all animals, elephants, people and others but the ivory trade is much more serious and could do much more damage if it remains unchecked'."
More at the link above.
Get involved and watch all of these clips below.
There is a picture in particular that will not leave my mind no more.
Heartbreaking"NAIROBI, Kenya - Poaching and drought-related hunger have killed more than 100 of... more
"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species
(DRC, Africa)
GORILLA HANDS FOR SALE AT A MARKET IN THE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO... FOR 6 US DOLLARS.
*WARNING: GRAPHIC & DISTURBING IMAGES
This slideshow includes other critically endangered species also for sale.
Some are STILL ALIVE.
Please follow link to 'Endangered Species International' (ESI) for more information & to see what you can do to help..
For the first time, ESI reveal's photos of their field monitoring using undercover methods at key markets in the republic of Congo. Their research reveals that most of illegal bushmeat sold in markets originates from one single region where primary and unprotected rainforest still remains.
ESI estimates about 300 gorillas are illegally killed each year for the bushmeat market in the city of Pointe Noire.
With your help, ESI can stop the illegal commercial hunting of endangered species in Central Africa.
DID ANYONE HEAR THIS?
$6.OO...
THIS IS UNEXCEPABLE!"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species... more
According to a recent report by WWF and other conservation groups, pangolins are being hunted to the edge of extinction. One of the main causes is the growing demand for pangolin meat and scales, which are believed to have medical properties. According to Asian traditional medicine, pangolin fetus-soup could increase a man's virility. However, since "pangolin mothers typically produce just one pup per litter, the soup comes laced with a deadly irony."
[The article at the link shows a picture of a pangolin-fetus soup. Viewer discretion is advised.]According to a recent report by WWF and other conservation groups, pangolins are being... more
Bloody and incomplete, their horns hacked away by poachers, rhinoceros carcasses are appearing in greater numbers, due to growing Asian demand and international trade, groups say.Bloody and incomplete, their horns hacked away by poachers, rhinoceros carcasses are... more
Incidents of rhinoceros poaching are on the rise in Nepal, an official said.
Poaching of the one-horned rhino in Chitwan National Park has increased even amid security measures. As recently as Wednesday, park officials found the carcass of a pregnant rhino shot with its horn missing.
"We have resources to mobilize rhino conservation efforts inside the park," said park conservation officer Narendra Babu Pradhan. "But we have not been able to identify the poachers."
Since March 2008, 10 rhinos have been killed, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation said.
Mangal Man Shakya, a wildlife expert, said a lack of punishment is to blame for the rise in poaching.
"Poachers are not afraid of punishment because they get bail soon after arrest," he said.
its already bad enough when we inadvertently destroy our ecosystem; but, this poaching culture... you know what? it's not the poaching, it's the horn-mongering industry that perpetuates the barbaric mutilations and murders of these endangered animals.
it's just cold.Incidents of rhinoceros poaching are on the rise in Nepal, an official said.... more
Undercover officers rescued a baby gorilla from suspected animal traffickers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a national park in the country announced Tuesday.
The gorilla, thought to be about two years old, was hidden at the bottom of a bag and covered with clothes when Congolese Wildlife Authority officers arrested the suspected trafficker on Sunday, Virunga National Park said.
The gorilla, a female, was overheated and dehydrated after six hours in transit. She also had a puncture wound on her right leg, among other injuries, and is malnourished, but is responding to treatment, the park said in a statement.
It is not clear if the young gorilla's mother is alive or dead, park spokeswoman Samantha Newport said.
"You can assume that a gorilla family was attacked in order for the traffickers to obtain a baby -- but it is impossible to know if a whole family was wiped out, just a few individuals, or none at all," she said. "In most cases gorillas have to die to get a baby -- but we cannot know specifically for this case."
The animal is now being looked after by specially trained carers, Newport said.
"This is of course not an ideal replacement for a mother -- but the best option we have," she told CNN via e-mail. Carers often have some veterinary training, but are not fully fledged vets, she added.
But gorillas do not do well in situations like this, she warned.
"Gorillas, it is worth noting, are notoriously difficult to keep alive," she said. "Chimps are fighters, as are bonobos. But gorillas -- when the going gets tough -- tend to just shut down. So it really is a critical time right now to ensure she gets the veterinary attention and human warmth that she needs to get through this."
The suspect was getting off a plane from the interior of the country, near the gorillas' habitat, the park said.
One person has been charged under the country's law forbidding the destruction of flora and fauna, Newport told CNN. The park did not name the suspect.
Gorillas can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market, the head of Virunga National Park said.
"Investigations have yet to reveal where these animals are being sent and who is buying them, but on the ground sources tell us that a baby gorilla can fetch up to $20,000," said Emmanuel de Merode, the director. "We must remember that for each trafficked baby gorilla, several gorillas have probably been killed in the wild."
He led the three-month undercover operation that netted the suspect and the gorilla, the park said.
The gorilla is a lowland eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), also known as the Grauer's Gorilla, a subspecies of Eastern Gorilla only found in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the park.
Virunga National Park calls itself the oldest national park in Africa, established in 1925. It lies in a region that has been badly affected by the long-running war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The gorilla section is in a strategically important area near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda.
A ranger was killed earlier this year, and rangers lost control of a large part of the park to rebels for over a year.
But a census earlier this year suggests mountain gorillas are surviving despite poaching and war.
Officials have long said that the 250-square kilometer gorilla reserve in the southern part of Virunga National Park is where around 200 of the world's 700 mountain gorillas live.Baby gorilla rescued from suspected traffickers -
Undercover officers rescued a... more
PHOTO: Playmates 'June' and 'Junior'. They are rescued infant orang-utans being care for at "The Infant Care Unit for Orang-utans in Bukit Merah". The non-profit rescue facility is the only one of it's kind. Please note, the missing hair covering the bodies due to burns. June was found still clinging to her burned (and deceased) mother.
A team surveying forests nestled on the eastern edge of Borneo island counted 219 orangutan nests giving a rare boost to one of the world's most endangered great apes.
Experts say at the current rate of habitat destruction, the animals could be wiped out within the next two decades.
The countries are the world's top producers of palm oil, used in food, cosmetics and to meet growing demands for "clean-burning" fuels in the U.S. and Europe. Rain forests, where the solitary animals spend almost all of their time, have been clear-cut and burned at alarming rates to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations.
The steep topography, poor soil and general inaccessibility of the rugged limestone mountains appear to have shielded the area from development, at least for now, said Meijaard. Its trees include those highly sought after for commercial timber.
Birute Mary Galdikas, a Canadian scientist who has spent nearly four decades studying orangutans in the wild, said most of the remaining populations are small and scattered, which make them especially vulnerable to extinction.
"So yes, finding a population that science did not know about is significant, especially one of this size," she said, noting that those found on the eastern part of the island represent a rare subspecies, the black Borneon orangutan, or Pongo pygmaeus morio.
The 700-square mile (2,500-square kilometer) jungle escaped the massive fires that devastated almost all of the surrounding forests in the late 1990s. The blazes were set by plantation owners and small-scale farmers and exacerbated by the El Nino droughts.PHOTO: Playmates 'June' and 'Junior'. They are rescued infant orang-utans being care... more
Every hour in Indonesian rainforests, an area the size of 300 soccer fields is mowed down and burned. Often this clearing is done to make way for oil palm plantations. The resulting palm oil is used for cooking, cleaning and even as a biofuel. But the fires farmers set to clear their land have helped to make Indonesia the world’s third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide — exceeded only by the U.S. and China.
A 29-year-old Australian “green” entrepreneur named Dorjee Sun believes he has a solution to reduce those harmful greenhouse gas emissions. He has canvassed the world pitching the sale of Indonesia’s carbon credits to polluters in the West.
His business model would maintain the standing swaths of Indonesia’s rainforests by selling their carbon credits. Burning Season follows Dorjee Sun on a whirlwind trip into boardrooms around the world – from Starbucks to eBay to Merrill Lynch – as he tries to convince skeptical financiers that his proposal is viable.
To carry out his plan, local political leaders in Indonesia must also agree that their forests are worth more alive than dead. Small farmers like Achmadi, who makes a living by cutting down trees to plant oil palms, fear the layers of government officials will be the only profiteers from the carbon credit sale.
Burning Season kindles both sides of the climate divide and explores whether capitalism can step in where altruism has so far failed to succeed.The Burning Season
Video: Full Episode
Every hour in Indonesian rainforests, an... more
FYI: 300 football fields worth of trees are destroyed every hour. The wildlife and native peoples have no 'claim' to the land. The animals are simply killed or sold into the wildlife-trade as pets, meat, or as laboratory research specimens.
PLEASE BE A RESPONSIBLE CONSUMER!
Look at ingredients when you purchase food. You'll be surprised to see how many products contain some form of palm! PLEASE call or write the manufacturer and let them know that you do not support palm derived from unethical or unsustainable methods (ex. destroying rain-forest for palm plantations!).
Efforts to slow the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations at the expense of natural forests across Southeast Asia are being hindered by industry-sponsored disinformation campaigns, argue scientists writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. The authors, Lian Pin Koh and David S. Wilcove, say that palm oil may constitute the "single most immediate threat to the greatest number of species" by driving the conversion of biologically rich ecosystems — including lowland rain-forests and peat-lands.
"Why have efforts by conservationists failed to halt the expansion of oil palm plantations at the expense of tropical forests? We contend that part of the reason could be the aggressive public relations campaigns undertaken by the oil palm industry to promote public acceptance of palm oil and to dismiss the concerns of conservation biologists and environmentalists," Koh and Wilcove write. "It is not unlike the campaign that some energy companies waged against efforts to curb global climate change."
Under fire from environmental groups, which are now pushing for consumer boycotts of products containing palm oil in some markets, industry groups have launched marketing campaigns to depict palm oil as a environmentally benign — or even ecologically beneficial — product. Despite substantial scientific evidence to the contrary, the industry claims that expansion has not occurred in natural forest areas and that oil palm plantations sequester more carbon than rain-forests.
Ultimately, pressure on the industry to improve environmental performance will hinge on whether environmentalists can overcome this propaganda to convince consumers and governments on the merits of eco-friendly palm oil. Until then, biodiversity will continue to be at risk from the palm oil industry, conclude Koh and Wilcove.
"To effectively mitigate the threats of oil palm to biodiversity, conservationists need to persuade consumers to continue to demand both greater transparency in land-use decisions by governments and greater environmental accountability from oil palm producers."
"A prohibition on the conversion of primary or secondary forests to oil palm is urgently needed to safeguard tropical biodiversity. Until that happens, oil palm might well be the single most immediate threat to the greatest number of species."
* Lian Pin Koh and David S. Wilcove. Oil palm: disinformation enables deforestation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution Vol.24 No.2FYI: 300 football fields worth of trees are destroyed every hour. The wildlife and... more
The Island of Bali in Indonesia has been the hub of the sea turtle trade for two decades. The buyers of turtle meat, shells and eggs are mainly found in the Asian markets as well as in Indonesia itself. Turtle meat and eggs are not going to feed the poor, instead they are a privilege of affluent societies. Turtle shell is being used for jewelry and ornaments, all unnecessary objects, for which hundreds of thousands of turtles have to lose their lives.
All eight species of sea turtles are threatened with extinction and therefore strictly protected by CITES, the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species. Nevertheless, the number of animals - who have inhabited our oceans for over 150 million years - is constantly declining. Until four years ago, in Bali alone, an average of 25,000 sea turtles a year were brutally cut out of their shells alive!
As a result of several action and campaigns by Indonesian and European animal welfare organizations, this number has dropped to around 3000 a year.
However, in view of sea turtles being threatened with extinction, every single life is important in order to preserve the population.
Please tell your friends about the terrible threat to these magnificent reptiles which have inhabited our oceans for over 150 million years!
Please read the petition that will be given personally to the Governor of Bali Drs. I Dewa Made Beratha, by the ProFauna Organisation Indonesia and representative of SOS.Seaturtles: http://www.oceanica-tv.com/petition_tortue_en.php
Zimbabwe’s government, which so far has made no effort to relieve the suffering of it’s starving people, has now resorted to slaughtering the country’s elephants to feed Robert Mugabe’s soldiers.
According to ZimOnline, the state Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has since last week supplied elephant meat to army barracks, which, like the rest of the country, have run out of food. The crippling food shortage has left up to half the nation already facing starvation and in the midst of the cholera crisis has left untold thousands of people dead.
The country’s elephants are now the latest victims in a crisis that the government has refused to accept responsibility for. The Mugabe administration reportedly views the supplying of elephant meat to soldiers as “killing two birds with one stone” as it enables it to cull allegedly excess animals while also ensuring its army has food.
The army is a critical part of Mugabe’s continued grip on power and the soldiers’ comfort has long since taken precedence over that of the people. With no food or goods to plunder in the ravaged country anymore, it is not surprising that hunger is rearing its head in the barracks. Analysts have ruled out the possibility of a military coup against Mugabe because all top commanders are still relatively comfortable. But some say that worsening hunger could at some point force ordinary soldiers to either openly revolt or to simply refuse to defend the government, should Zimbabweans rise up in a civil rebellion.
Meanwhile Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi has declined to comment on the matter or to discuss the availability of food at army barracks in general, while Parks director-general Morris Mutsambiwa reportedly would not take questions on the matter. It is as of yet unknown how many elephants have been turned into soldier fodder, but it does go without saying that the slaughter is not merely a method of feeding the troops. The ivory collected will undoubtedly be sold off to the country’s dubious Chinese business links, lining the pockets of government officials and further aggravating the illegal ivory trade.Zimbabwe’s government, which so far has made no effort to relieve the suffering of... more
Positive conservation from the Malayan government. Can they actually do it?
Malaysia aims to double its wild tiger population
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has launched an ambitious plan to double its wild tiger population within 12 years by protecting jungle corridors where poachers prey on the endangered big cats, activists said Monday.
The National Tiger Action Plan aims to have 1,000 Malayan tigers roaming in the wild by 2020, said Sara Sukor, a spokeswoman for Malaysia's chapter of the World Wildlife Fund, one of several conservation groups that helped the government create the plan.
Authorities estimate Malaysia's wild tiger population has fallen from 3,000 to 500 in the last half-century, largely due to illegal hunting and the human encroachment and destruction of the tigers' natural jungle habitat. Tiger meat is exported, served at exotic restaurants and used in traditional Chinese medicine — all illegal acts under Malaysian law.
Malayan tigers have been protected by wildlife laws since the early 1970s, but the National Tiger Action Plan is the government's first concerted effort to reverse the population decline instead of merely slowing it, according to the plan that was launched this month.
Government officials and conservationists will restore and manage key jungle corridors that connect tiger habitats, providing the animals with a wider territory and mitigating the impact of infrastructure such as roads, railways and oil pipelines.
Under the plan, the government has also vowed to better enforce its wildlife laws, remove tigers from areas where they might come into conflict with humans and boost scientific research in tiger protection, said the WWF's Sukor.
"We are optimistic the plan will succeed with cooperation among all the agencies involved," Sukor said. "We want to show that we are serious about wildlife protection."
Conservationists have long urged the government to step up wildlife protection, particularly by increasing penalties against poachers and smugglers of endangered species. Such offenses are typically punished by small fines without prison sentences.
Malaysia's tropical forests are home to a wide range of threatened animals, including orangutans, Borneo sun bears, Sumatran rhinoceroses and pygmy elephants.Positive conservation from the Malayan government. Can they actually do it?... more
United Nations declares 2009 'Year of the Gorilla'
Poaching, deforestation and the dreaded Ebola virus have taken a terrible toll on populations of the four remaining gorilla species. Now, in an effort to help save our primate cousins from extinction, the United Nations Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals has declared 2009 the "Year of the Gorilla."
Three of the four species of gorilla are considered critically endangered, with just 700 mountain gorillas, 300 Cross River gorillas, and 5,000 eastern lowland gorillas left. The fourth species, the Western lowland gorilla, is critically endangered in some of its home countries, although the total population is much higher, at around 150,000.
All four species face declining populations, with threats ranging from the bushmeat trade, poaching for traditional medicine, habitat destruction from logging or the charcoal trade (an important source of fuel in Africa), and disease.
Luckily, the Year of the Gorilla is already off to a good start. This week, the 10 nations with gorilla populations agreed to examine the effectiveness of their anti-poaching laws and, hopefully, improve their implementation. Some of the money pledged for the Year of the Gorilla campaign will go toward educating judges so they understand the need to strictly enforce current anti-poaching laws.
Other actions to be funded by the YoG campaign include training park rangers, supporting scientific research, raising awareness of the gorillas' threats, and developing alternative sources of income (such as eco-tourism) for people living near gorilla populations. The UN hopes to raise more than $600,000 to support these efforts.Extinction Blog
United Nations declares 2009 'Year of the Gorilla'
Poaching,... more
The design group has also conceived of a bulletproof vest for Bengal tigers, whose numbers have decreased by 95% since 1910 due to illegal hunting.ADDI Concepts' bulletproof vest for Bengal tigers
The design group has also... more
Whale Wars
Fridays at 9 PM e/p, starting November 7
Captain Paul Watson founded his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977 because he believed his new organization had to go even further to eradicate whaling, poaching, shark finning and habitat destruction — and to uphold international conservation laws on the high seas — than the Greenpeace group he had co-founded.
For several years, Watson's group of staff and volunteers have engaged in a campaign almost every winter to find and stop Japanese ships that hunt whales in the name of research, attempting to stop them by any non-violent means necessary. The eclectic group — labeled activists, heroes and/or eco-pirates — leave port in Melbourne, Australia for a two-month campaign that is dangerous, controversial and has garnered international media attention. Sea Shepherd's dedicated, international crew have spent their holiday the last several years and risked their lives at the bottom of the Earth to save whales.
In the Spotlight
During the 2007-2008 campaign, Animal Planet captured the intensity of Sea Shepherd's mission and the trials and tribulations of the crew in a new seven-part, hour-long weekly series Whale Wars, premiering Friday, November 7 at 9 PM. The series draws attention to this global conservation issue that has caused friction between several nations over the practice of whaling in oceanic territories. This year's campaign was particularly eventful with multiple engagements, capsizing, possible hostage taking and alleged shooting, and Animal Planet crews were onboard to document it as it unfolded.
Highlighting both the controversial whaling trade and the tactics that Sea Shepherd and its staff and volunteers use to attempt to cripple it, the series documents the group's three-month sojourn across the icy Antarctic waters at the far end of the globe. Each week on Whale Wars, Animal Planet will take viewers on a powerful and adrenaline-fueled adventure and spotlight how the group takes action against alleged illegal whaling operations.
Aggressive Tactics
The Society's fight to eradicate Japanese whaling on the high seas — where international laws are interpreted by different countries and organizations in different ways — utilizes some aggressive techniques, including ramming and disabling whaling ships; disrupting whale carcass processing; engaging in physical entanglement; and boarding and dispersing fleets of whaling vessels. For the campaign this season, Sea Shepherd christened its vessel in honor of the iconic conservationist Steve Irwin with the blessing of his wife Terri, both of whom support the organization independent of Animal Planet.
"Whaling has no place in the 21st century," noted Watson. "Sea Shepherd will not stop until the killing ends." Whale Wars
Fridays at 9 PM e/p, starting November 7
Captain Paul Watson founded... more
VIDEO: October 31, 2008—Already threatened by deforestation, rare Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkeys face doom as their babies are sold for a few dollars and their genital hair is taken as a trophy.VIDEO: October 31, 2008—Already threatened by deforestation, rare Peruvian... more
Made infamous by recent gorilla murders, a Congo refuge is seeing its endangered apes—and thousands of humans—under increased threat as rebels storm Virunga National Park.
The 1st ivory auction in a decade sold over seven tons of tusks to Chinese and Japanese bidders Tuesday in Namibia, raising more than a million U.S. dollars for elephant conservation.
The sale took place under a special exemption to the international ban on trade in ivory.
Last year the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) ruled that Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe could make a one-time sale of 108 tons of government ivory stocks.
Some environmentalists have condemned the sales, fearing they will encourage smuggling and poaching of African elephants.
$1.3 Million Netted - Tuesday's auction, held behind closed doors in the capital, was monitored by Willem Wijnstekers, CITES secretary general. In all, 7.2 tons of ivory were sold, fetching a total of $1.3 million at an average price of $164 per kilogram (2.2 pounds).
The 2 Chinese and 2 Japanese buyers were not named.
Namibia had expected to sell over 9 tons of ivory. The remaining tusks will be distributed to communities involved in making traditional jewelry. (Related: "Illegal Ivory Trade Boosted by Angola Craft Markets, Conservationists Say" [October 27, 2006].)
Over 44 tons will be sold in Botswana on Friday. Auctions next month will see 51 tons being offered in South Africa and almost 4 tons being offered in Zimbabwe.
Illegal—With Exceptions - No new sales from the four southern African countries will be allowed for the next 9 years. Ivory trade was banned globally in 1989, but reviving elephant populations allowed African countries to make a one-time sale in 1999 to Japan, the only country that had previously won the right to import ivory.
In July, CITES said China should also be allowed to bid for ivory, as the country had dramatically improved its enforcement of ivory-trade rules. CITES said it will monitor Chinese and Japanese domestic trade controls to ensure traders do not use this opportunity to sell ivory of illegal origin.
(See "Elephants Decimated in Congo Park; China Demand Blamed" [August 29, 2008].)
Open Season on Elephants?
The auctions have prompted widespread protests by animal rights activists. (Related: "Ebay Bans Ivory Sales Amid Conservation Concerns" [October 21, 2008].)
"The elephant ivory trade is responsible for the slaughter of at least 20,000 elephants a year," Christina Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said.
"Relaxing the current international ivory trade ban, such as these stockpile sales, will signal to poachers that it is open season on elephants and provide them means to launder their illegal ivory stocks," she said.
But CITES's Wijnstekers disputed this, "There is no proven scientific explanation that ivory sales lead to poaching," he said.
The 1st ivory auction in a decade sold over seven tons of tusks to Chinese and... more
(Cape Town, South Africa) - An elephant ivory auction totaling over 19,800 lb (9,000 kg) will begin tomorrow in Namibia. This is the first time in nearly 10 years that international trade in elephant ivory has been sanctioned by the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The sales will continue over the next two weeks in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, with a grand total of 119 tons (108 tonnes) of ivory up for bidding. This accounts for an estimated 10,000+ dead elephants.
Both China and Japan have been approved as trading partners for this ivory and are known to be among the world’s largest illegal ivory markets. The International Fund for Animal Welfare’s (IFAW – www.ifaw.org) Elephants Program Director, and former director of Kenya Wildlife Service, Michael Wamithi, has responded to the sales, saying, “Allowing this exorbitant amount of ivory to flood the market, considering the level of elephant poaching occurring today, is just plain irresponsible.”
IFAW’s 2007 China ivory trade poll report highlighted the low awareness of the ivory control system and also citizens’ unwillingness to comply with this framework. According to the report, among the 14.5 per cent that were actually admitted consumers of ivory, 75.7 per cent would willingly violate the control system in order to obtain ivory at a cheaper price. Much evidence also exists that Japan’s domestic market is out of control.
“Rangers on the front lines in elephant range states continue to lose their lives protecting elephants from poaching,” continued Wamithi. “Developing countries continue to bear the brunt of burgeoning Asian markets. By permitting legal trade in ivory, we are only encouraging the laundering of stocks by poachers, thereby increasing illegal hunting activities. The situation is very clear: more ivory in the marketplace equals many more dead elephants – and rangers.” (Cape Town, South Africa) - An elephant ivory auction totaling over 19,800 lb (9,000... more
