Elephant Management and Poaching in African Countries

[Lisbeth]

Journalists and wildlife activists threatened over use of false statistics

A “Statistics Bill” and one dealing with “Cybercrimes” recently passed the Tanzanian parliament which aim to severely punish the publication of statistics and data seen or perceived by the powers that be to be “defamatory, likely to disturb the public peace,” and being considered “misleading or inaccurate” by those in government who think that their dirty linen should not be hung up in public by the mainstream media or bloggers. This will very likely put a dampener on individuals and organizations who are willing to blow the whistle or go on public record over wildlife crimes.

Should Tanzania President Kikwete sign the bills into law, wildlife conservationists and activists could face jail time for publishing any figures on poaching which are not approved and officially released by the government even though they might be based on the findings of such reputable organizations as the Frankfurt Zoo, which conducted the last elephant population survey in the Selous and can came up with devastatingly low figures.

Tanzania had for long denied that there was a poaching crisis while tens of thousands of elephants had been mowed down already for their tusks and only under public pressure, and when the opposition in parliament raised the issue, gradually and grudgingly owned up to the problem. Former Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Amb. Khamis Kagesheki paid for his zeal to expose the masterminds behind the industrial-scale slaughter with his job when he produced the now notorious “List of 300” which while handed to the President at the time, remains under lock and key. The reaction from the poaching gangs and their political godfathers was swift and without mercy as he was hung out to dry over allegations of a series of botched anti-poaching operations which his enemies used to demand his sacking in public and in parliament and soon got their way.

While admittedly a new anti-poaching operation has claimed some scalps, mostly of foot soldiers but notably few if any significant middle men or financiers and none associated with the slaughter of past years, many conservationists have expressed their fear that much of it is to hoodwink the international conservation fraternity into believing that finally some real action is taken. The Selous – visited as recently as a few months ago – has been stripped of the large herds which even ten years ago roamed one of Africa’s greatest wilderness areas and the not too distant Ruaha where the elephant population has halved since 2014 to just over 4,000 of these magnificent animals.

According to reports seen and figures heard from regular Tanzania-based sources, the wider Ruaha ecosystem has in fact lost even greater numbers. Trustworthy sources, understandably no longer willing to go on record, claim that from a population in the 2013/14 time frame, only just over 8,000 remain, and this all happened since Amb. Kagesheki “had been dealt with” for daring to challenge the apparently limitless powers of those behind and benefitting the most from the killings. When then news emerged that such data and findings had in fact been handed to the Tanzanian government but was not published, apparently to allow for independent verification, it is all but clear that there is again the same gang of suspects at work to block and stall action so that their bloody handiwork can be finished.

A case where TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks Authority) last year threatened a conservation NGO with unspecified action, repercussions, and punishment after research data was published, reminiscent to a case in Kenya where former Director General of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), one Julius Kipngetich had the Executive Director of Ecotourism Kenya arrested over what he then claimed were unvalidated claims over poaching incidents and figures which contrasted sharply with KWS’ official “count,” claiming under an obscure law that such publications were bringing him into disrepute.

Into disrepute, Julius quickly fell then when the proverbial social media storm emptied its buckets over his head and eventually he withdrew the complaint but not before his reputation took a serious beating.

As referred to earlier, the Serengeti elephant census by the Frankfurt Zoo and other reputable organizations had established that from nearly 70,000 elephant counted in 2007, the numbers were down to some 13,000 only when the census took place, a shocking indictment of failed anti-poaching measures and leaving the outgoing Tanzanian president – his second and final term of office ends in November this year – as having presided over the world’s greatest elephant slaughter and done little if anything to prevent it in the first place or stem the tide when he was aware of it. Allegations of top connected political cronies and officials being behind and being the main financial beneficiaries have left a cloud of stink hanging over Tanzania’s once unblemished conservation record, but it is clear that this legacy left by the founding father of the nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, and his close friend, Prof. Dr. Grzimek, has since been trampled into the dust of history alongside many other political principles.

With the political campaigns now heating up and the focus firmly set on who the candidates for president of the various political groups will be, there is little hope that the poaching menace will face a full-scale counter operation, not until the elections are over and a new government, after recovering from the celebrations of victory, can then look at the problems they inherited from their predecessors. It is votes which now count, and as elephant have neither votes nor voices, their fate appears to be hanging by a thread with the proverbial scissor ready to cut it.

[Toko]

[Lisbeth]

One of the largest busts ever of blood ivory
BY PROF. WOLFGANG H. THOME, PH.D., ETN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT | MAY 19, 2015



Nearly 1,800 tusks were confiscated yesterday by authorities in Singapore, making it one of the largest busts ever against global syndicates trading in blood ivory. The consignment, found in a container shipped from the Kenyan port of Mombasa, reportedly weighed some 3.7 tons and represents over 900 dead elephant. The seizure was made possible after Kenyan customs and security services alerted their Singaporean colleagues after finding similarities in the shipping documents of this container vis-a-vis one seized two weeks ago, bearing the same names.

Kenyan conservation sources conceded that the ivory may not have originated from Kenya itself but most likely only used Kenyan transit routes and could have come from either Tanzania or else via Uganda from South Sudan or Eastern Congo.

This is the second container where blood ivory was hidden in a shipment of tea nabbed within weeks as a similar amount of blood ivory was found weighing around 3 tons. Questions are now being asked if the scanner normally used to check containers before being heaved on ships was sabotaged to ensure that major shipments of blood ivory could leave the Kenyan port without detection and demands were immediately made to inspect every tea container manually and not pick just some of them at random.

The East African ports have in recent years become major trafficking points for blood ivory, rhino horn and other prohibited wildlife items such as skins, although illegal live exports of birds and reptiles have also significantly increased over the past years, in line with rocketing demand in mainly China, Vietnam and other South and Far Eastern countries.

Only last month a delegation of the Kenya Wildlife Service was in China to engage with the Chinese government to come on board to stem the poaching tsunami which has decimated the East African elephant population, in particular in Tanzania, by the tens of thousands over the past few years, threatening the very survival of the species if domestic demand for ivory trinkets and carving is not halted in China. While the Chinese government has made token gestures towards reducing the greed for ivory among affluent Chinese citizens, the international conservation community has blamed them for not doing enough to criminalize possession and processing of ivory and in particular shutting down the ivory carveries which continue to do booming business.

[Flutterby]

[Mel]

Questions are now being asked if the scanner normally used to check containers before being heaved on ships was sabotaged to ensure that major shipments of blood ivory could leave the Kenyan port without detection

Do they really wonder about that???

Not sure what to think about that... Luck, because the smugglers were daft enough to use the same name twice? But still (another) 900 elephants had to die which is sadder and more infuriating than words could express...

[RogerFraser]

Facebook Post : Rory Young
ZIMBABWE - RORY YOUNG'S PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF WHY HE AND HIS FAMILY HAD TO FLEE THE COUNTRY

To say that I am relieved to see my family safe and sound in ...... would be a great understatement. I can now explain the main reason for us leaving Zimbabwe..
On my way to do further training of Zimbabwe Republic Police and scouts in the Nyaminyami area I received a message from a third party to "report to Office of the President in Kariba" (OP is the Zimbabwe Central Intelligence Organization- the local secret police goons).

After a full and long interrogation I was told that I was "not allowed to train anyone and if I did I would be arrested". When I protested that I had been given a two year residence permit in order to train anti poaching personnel, that I was training police with the authority of Police HQ and with the permission of the appropriate authority for the area, I was told to shut up, that they were "above the police", and that even if I had done nothing wrong they would find a reason to arrest me and throw away the key unless I stayed "away from the area and did no training in Zimbabwe". No explanation was given and they clearly didn't care if it was obvious that they are involved in poaching or trafficking. They were so stupid, arrogant especially incompetent that they actually bragged that two Europeans working for NGO's in the Kariba area were keeping them informed of all activities in the parks and adjacent wildlife areas, and that if I did any anti poaching work with the police or parks that they would know immediately.

I ceased all anti poaching training, ops and other assistance in Zimbabwe and we only used Zim as our base of residence, continuing our efforts all over Africa, while we planned to leave in good time, staying well away from the Kariba area and not saying a word about Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately CIO didn't stop there and we began to hear via third parties that CIO were making more threats against me, obviously to ensure I didn't come back to the area. They wanted me and anyone like far away from Matusadona and Nyaminyami. I subsequently heard that another well-known international anti poaching organization was told to stay away and also threatened.

Aside from the worry that I might be "picked up" or disappear without my family knowing every time I landed at Harare airport on my return from anti poaching training and ops in other countries, we had to sit and watch the number of reports of elephants being poached in the Matusadona, Nyaminyami and other areas sky rocket to the point where there are now almost daily reports. Previously in one of the main areas we had been training and advising we had reached a point where there had been zero eles poached in many months.

We finally scraped together enough to get out and are determined to redouble our efforts in those places where we are welcomed and where we are currently enjoying unprecedented successes. However, we left Zimbabwe with heavy hearts.

Now you know who is behind the poaching of the elephants in Northern Zimbabwe and why we left Zimbabwe. Mugabe's government is desperate for cash and this is why they are going to the extremes they are, such as tearing wild baby elephants away from their mothers and herds and sending them to China. What people don't realise though is that Mugabe's political party and his secret police minions are desperate for cash too. CIO needs cash to pay its secret informers who spy on their neighbours and report any opposition. That cash has to come from somewhere and whilst the official government departments use legal but unethical means to raise funds, the political and secret security appartus and often the army use any means they can.

They (CIO and ZANU PF) are nothing less than an organized crime syndicate. They are behind the poaching in Zimbabwe and as they become more desperate they are going to "allow" more of it. Don't be fooled when there is a report of Zambian poachers being shot. That is just them allowing parks or police to deal with the competition. When CIO is behind it no one does a thing. With their tentacles reaching every corner of every village they could shut down the poaching in Zimbabwe in a day.

Zimbabweans cannot talk about any of this or even comment on this post for example. It is one thing to take on National Parks for exporting baby elephants legally albeit unethically but they cannot breathe a word against CIO and mention the fact that they are the biggest and most ruthless mafia in Zimbabwe.

[Lisbeth]

[Richprins]

Disgusting!

And a warning to SA!

[Mel]

This is just unbelievable! And the poor guy will probably never be really heard because it's his word against the many of the officials.

[Flutterby]

Disgusting! And a disgrace!!