Posted on 26 August
2013 | A man who has admitted trafficking
over 500 endangered chimpanzees out of the
West African country Republic of Guinea
has been captured and sentenced to the maximum
possible jail term and a fine, according
to a law enforcement group involved with
the case. The project GALF project, run
by non-governmental organization WARA, says
the kingpin and his two accomplices, who
also received prison sentences, have been
implicated in the trafficking of chimps,
lions, leopards, hyenas and tropical birds
over the past decade.
“Breaking these networks
will require a real commitment from the
Guinean authorities as major criminals take
advantage of the lack of political will
and the lightness of the penalties,” said
Charlotte Houpline, GALF Founder and Coordinator.
“But this time the result is excellent,
we arrested one of biggest ape traffickers
and we obtained one year in prison against
him, the most severe penalty under Guinean
law for this type of offense. It is a historic
decision.”
Poaching and trafficking
of chimpanzees has driven the species into
severe decline. All cross-border trade in
great apes like chimps, gorillas and orang-utans
is prohibited under international law, but
demand for the animals by zoos, wildlife
parks and as exotic pets has continued.
Republic of Guinea was sanctioned by the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species earlier this year for circumventing
rules meant to safeguard the country’s wild
animals.
“Poachers target young
chimpanzees for the illegal pet trade, but
their families will often fight to the death
to protect them. For every baby that is
captured another 10 chimps may have died,
either directly from the barrel of a poacher’s
gun, but also the infants frequently succumb
to extreme stress once they’re removed from
the wild, thus necessitating the need for
the poacher to pursue another live infant—essentially
repeating the killing scenario,” said David
Greer, WWF’s African Great Ape Programme
Manager. “There are as few as 20,000 chimpanzees
remaining in of Republic of Guinea. To prevent
ape populations from careening toward extinction,
countries across West and Central Africa
must provide better protection, more thorough
investigations, rigourous prosecutions,
the eradication of corruption in the legal
system and stronger penalties to deter poachers
and traffickers.”
The operation to apprehend
the fugitive syndicate was undertaken by
the Guinean government’s INTERPOL bureau
and GALF. WWF supports GALF’s work on wildlife
crime investigations by financing partially
its activities. The group conducted 10 months
of investigations leading up to the arrests.
During the sting, authorities seized 150
birds and were able to release them safely
back into the wild.
+ More
WWF’s flying squad elephant
gives birth to a female calf
Posted on 23 August
2013 | Pekanbaru, Indonesia: A female elephant
calf has been born to the elephant Flying
Squad in Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National
Park.
The calf’s mother is
part of an elite team of critically endangered
Sumatran elephants that help protect communities
from conflict with wild elephants. Four
births have been recorded since the squad
was established by WWF and the Indonesia
Ministry of Forests in 2004.
This Flying Squad consists
of four trained adult elephants and eight
elephant handlers called mahouts, which
are deployed to drive wild elephants back
into the forest when they stray into nearby
villages or farms. As elephant habitat shrinks,
the animals become more likely to raid crops
for food.
Human-elephant conflict
is a threat to the safety of both the people
living around the national park and the
wild elephants that call it home. So far
this year, three elephants have been found
dead in Tesso Nilo, and 12 were killed last
year. Most were believed to be poisoned.
“The Flying Squad is
a highly successful model for reducing conflict
between people and elephants in a way that
is safe for everyone,” said Christy Williams,
WWF’s Asian rhino and elephant programme
manager.
“Human-elephant conflict
is a problem in many elephant habitats across
Asia and in Africa. We are hoping that with
greater resources we can establish even
more squads in order to prevent elephant
and human deaths that don’t need to happen.
People and elephants can live in harmony,”
Williams added.
Recently, a Flying Squad
in Assam, India, safely drove wild elephants
from a tea plantation. Images of the encounter
show a large elephant herd first deep in
the crop field, then heading back into the
forest after being confronted by the squad.
The Tesso Nilo calf’s
mother is 35 years old and was pregnant
for 20-22 months before giving birth to
the 90 kilo baby on August 9, just days
before World Elephant Day.
