tagged w/ CITES
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KINSHASA (Reuters) - Poachers in Congo have killed a fifth of the elephants in Africa's oldest national park this year as China buys more ivory, the park's director said on Friday.
Rwandan rebels have killed seven Savannah elephants in the past 10 days alone in the Virunga National Park, along Congo's eastern border with Rwanda and Uganda, Emmanuel de Merode told Reuters.
"We've definitely lost 20 percent of the population this year and probably more," he said. "We have rangers with them, and we're trying to reinforce them. But (the rangers) are outnumbered 20 to one."
The 790,000-hectare (2 million-acre) reserve was home to one of central Africa's largest Savannah elephant herds in the 1970s numbering around 5,000.
But a brutal 1998-2003 war, heavy poaching, corruption and mismanagement of the park have taken a heavy toll. Today conservationists believe no more than 300 elephants remain.
China, among the world's main destinations for illegal ivory, was granted permission last month to buy 108 tonnes of ivory stocks from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
De Merode singled out China's growing appetite for ivory as one of the root causes of this year's increase in elephant killings, as poachers attempt to launder their illegal ivory for legitimate sale.
"It's very difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal stocks," he said.
Despite the official end of the conflict in Congo, the eastern borderlands remain a volatile patchwork of rebel strongholds and militia controlled zones.
Armed clashes between rival armed groups are a regular occurrence, limiting the rangers' ability to patrol, and providing cover for poaching.
The Savannah elephant is a sub-species of the African elephant, which is classified as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
KINSHASA (Reuters) - Poachers in Congo have killed a fifth of the elephants in... more
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Going once, going twice: Remnants of 10,000 elephants may be on the auction block
For the first time in nearly a decade, the international sale of ivory from endangered African elephants has been authorized by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat. An estimated 119 tons (108 tonnes) of ivory, put up for sale from four southern African nations, which was in part conditionally approved in 2002, has been audited and verified by the CITES Secretariat. This sum represents the deaths of over 10,000 African elephants.
Japan is the sole country yet approved by CITES as a trading partner for these ivory stocks while China is up for consideration at CITES SC57 next month. “China is the single largest destination for illegal ivory and to accept them as an importer for these legal stocks will only sustain the rampant poaching that African nations are faced with today,” says Michael Wamithi, Director of the global Elephants Program at International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org), and former Director of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
“Furthermore, each day rangers are putting their lives on the line to defend elephants and other wildlife. Poor African nations do not have the resources to endure the level of ivory poaching being experienced today. There are an estimated 20,000 elephants slaughtered each year for their tusks. And, the bloodshed extends to human lives as well. There are countless rangers continuously killed in the line of duty. How many lives must be lost to realize the gruesome reality and reach of the elephant ivory trade?”
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=229642
Going once, going twice: Remnants of 10,000 elephants may be on the auction block... more
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