Jane Goodall, one of the world’s greatest conservationists, has made an impassioned plea for a worldwide ban on the sale of ivory to prevent the extinction of the African elephant. Her call follows the seizure in Malaysia last week of 24 tonnes of illegal ivory and a report by conservationists warning that the illegal ivory trade now threatens governments as rebel groups use the sale of tusks to fund their wars.
“A massive tragedy is unfolding in some parts of Africa. This is desperately serious, unprecedented,” she said. “We believe that Tanzania has lost half its elephants in the last three years. Ugandan military planes have been seen over the Democratic Republic of the Congo shooting elephants from the air. Armed militia are now shooting the elephants.”
African governments and China must respond as ivory trade reaches preposterous proportions
Royal Malaysian Customs have just announced the seizure of 24 tons of ivory in Port Klang. This is the largest-ever seizure of ivory in transit through the country. The 1,500 pieces of ivory came from over 750 elephants and were exported from Togo, a tiny west African country that has fewer than 200 elephants. The ivory was hidden in containers containing wooden crates that were built to look like stacks of sawn timber. The two crates were shipped from the port of Lomé in Togo, and were going to China via Algeria, Spain and Malaysia. Richard Leakey, the former Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), who set Kenya’s ivory stockpile alight in 1989, responded to the announcement.
Wildlife trafficking is $19 billion-per-year illicit business, but governments fail to treat it as such
Illegal wildlife trafficking is a $19 billion-a-year business, making it the fourth largest illicit market after drugs, counterfeiting, and human trafficking, yet efforts to control it are “failing”, asserts a new report commissioned by WWF.
Newly discovered slow loris species already threatened
The ‘teddy bear’ face of the nocturnal Nycticebus kayan, discovered in Borneo, makes it attractive for illegal poaching.
