Huge seizures of 1169 kgs of elephant ivory in Kenya and Ethiopia

From http://www.wildlifeextra.com

Are fears being realised that the auction of ivory from Southern Africa will increase elephant poaching?

More than 1 tonne of ivory seized in East Africa in days.

September 2009. The Kenya Wildlife Service has seized the largest haul of ivory in recent history at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi.

61 tusks

The interception of 61 whole tusks of raw ivory weighing about 532 kg at a Kenya Airways warehouse at 6pm followed joint efforts by the Kenya Wildlife Service Dog Unit, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Airport Police as well as the Nairobi-based regional wildlife organisation Lusaka Agreement Task Force.

The unaccompanied luggage was to be air-freighted to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the way to Bangkok, Thailand. The ivory had been falsely declared as "Polishing bench" on the Air Bill and was packed in four boxes.

Second seizure in Addis Ababa

This follows closely on the seizure of another consignment of 637 kg of ivory that was intercepted by Ethiopian authorities just two days earlier on Sunday (September 27, 2009) at Addis Ababa. This consignment had also originated from Nairobi and was destined for Bangkok via Addis Ababa by the same consignee. This consignment had been labelled as "Dye polishing bench". This makes a total of 1169 kg of ivory seized within two days in Addis Ababa and Nairobi, all suspected to be from Kenyan elephants.

In the past, illegally obtained ivory from Kenya usually transited out of the country through porous borders and Moyale has long been suspected to be a point of exit. From Ethiopia, the trophies would find their way to the lucrative black markets in South East Asia.

Intensified surveillance

Kenyan laws allow confiscation and seizure of illegal goods while on transit. Kenya Wildlife Service has intensified surveillance at all the international airports in the country using sniffer and tracker dogs to enforce these provisions. 24-hour surveillance has been mounted at JKIA and will be extended to Mombasa and Eldoret, the other international airports in Kenya. KWS intend to ensure that it's almost impossible to leave Kenya with any ivory and other illegal trophies.

Poaching on the risePoaching for Elephant ivory has been on the rise across the continent since the partial lifting of international trade in ivory in 2007 to allow the one-off sale to China and Japan by four South African Countries: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

125 elephants killed in 2009 by poachers in Kenya

The recovered ivory is suspected to have been sourced locally and from the neighbouring countries. Kenya has this year lost 125 elephants through poaching but most of the poached ivory has been recovered by KWS through security operations. Kenya lost 47 elephants to illegal killings in 2007 and 98 last year. In absolute terms this is not alarming. However, the percentage increase in illegal killings within the last three years is worrying. The current prolonged drought has also taken its toll on the elephant population but has mainly affected the young and sub-adult elephants, about 70.

KWS is concerned that the CITES decision to allow the one-off sale of ivory was not well supervised and has led to the death of other species like rhinos, buffalos and antelopes. Investigations show that killers of elephants take everything in their wake.

Our message to the world is: "Please don't wear ivory. It belongs to elephants"

Investigations have been launched to ascertain the origin of the ivory and the culprits behind this illegal trade in wildlife.