NAMIBIA: Anti-hunting Lobbyists Cost Namibia Heavily – Tourism Minister

Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, says that anti-hunting lobbyists cost the Namibian government US$650 000 last year after pressurising the United States government on the legal auction of a black rhino hunt.

Shifeta said the hunt received negative publicity from people who did not understand the principle of conservation through sustainable utilisation.

“The permit sold for US$350 000, but could have generated more than US$1 million, which was in fact the offer on the table as confirmed by Dallas Safari Club, but which was withdrawn shortly before the auction due to pressure from anti-hunting lobbyists.

“One could therefore say that the lobby groups cost Namibia’s Rhino conservation initiative US$650 000, as the total proceeds from the auction were earmarked to go to the Namibia Game Products Trust Fund and would have been distributed among a number of rhino conservation projects,” said Shifeta at the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the Namibia Professional Hunting Association (NAPHA).

Shifeta explained that scientists from his ministry select mature, post-reproductive Black Rhino that have previously been identified as overtly aggressive and which pose a serious threat to herd growth and sustainability for the hunt.

“Such animals often charge and kill younger bulls, cows and also calves. These facts are well substantiated, and are very much at the core of our ministry’s strategic effort to reduce natural herd mortality,” said Shifeta.

Meanwhile, the hunt for the identified black rhino was delayed due to the hold-up for more than a year of the issuing of an import permit for the Black Rhino trophy because of pressure by animal rights activists on the U.S. government.

“During that period the bull, which had been scientifically select to be hunted had killed another black rhino. The non-hunters did in fact not only cost our country’s conservation efforts hundreds of thousands of US dollars, but also the life of an additional Black Rhino,” said Shifeta at the AGM, which ended at a local hotel yesterday.

Shifeta explained that Namibia is a pro-wildlife country with a progressive national constitution that has formally enshrined the sustainable utilisation of living natural resources.

“We are a hunter-friendly nation with a very proud hunting heritage, and our trophy hunting community is well respected by our government and fellow Namibians as an essential and integral part of Namibia’s wildlife conservation, tourism, agricultural and business sectors,” the minister said.

He said trophy hunting currently provides more on-the-job training and promotional opportunities, as well as pays better salaries than any other form of agricultural land employment options, and invests heavily in a variety of social upliftment and educational programmes in rural areas throughout Namibia.

Namibia is firmly established as one of Africa’s most popular hunting and tourism destinations, and all reports indicate that 2015 was again an excellent year for the local hunting and conservation community.

However, Shifeta warned that trophy hunting was currently threatened by a number of factors, exacerbated during the last five months by the unfortunate saga of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe. This anti-hunting sentiment, said Shifeta, is fuelled by rabid anti-hunter sentiments based on emotion rather than fact. These had spread like wildfire on both social media and international news.

“The hype has humanised the lion and demonised the hunters. Zimbabwe, like Namibia, has a sound wildlife management policy in place, which provides rural communities with an incentive to protect their valuable natural living resources. It is up to each and every one of us to raise our voices as enthusiastically as the anti-hunting community does, in order to promote the concept of sustainable hunting as the ultimate conservation triumph,” he said.

Namibia is recognised as a world-leader in conservation, with specific focus on rare and endangered species such as the Black Rhino. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has granted Namibia an annual export quota of up to five hunter-taken Black Rhinos.

“Only post-reproductive males are hunted, and the revenue derived from such hunts is reinvested in Rhino management, including addressing challenges such as poaching, which is a real threat to Rhinoceros all over the world, and increasingly so in Namibia,” noted Shifeta.

INDIA: Five More Held For Poaching Pangolins

Five more people from the district were arrested by the forest department officials from Bhavanisagar in Erode district on Saturday evening for smuggling pangolins scales from Coimbatore and Erode districts.

A team of forest officials are camped at Chennai to nab Ravikumar, who is having a close link with international smugglers.

The arrested were identified as Subramani, 53, of Thudiyalur, Murugan, 37 of Velliankadu, Chandrasekar, 32 of Narasipuram, Vellingiri, 44 of Narasipuram and Sakkarapani, 34 of Nallampathi. They were working as daily wage labourers. Forest officials claimed they used to collect the pangolin scales from villagers in districts.

The collected scales would be handed over to main smugglers- Ezhumalai and Rangam, from Karamadai and Ponnaian in Thudiyalur respectively, who will in turn send the scales to Ravikumar of Chennai. They told the forest officials that they had collected 6kg of pangolins scales from various villages in and around Coimbatore and Sathyamangalam area. Ravikumar gave Rs 10,000 for a kilo.

BOTSWANA: Botswana To Use Military To Combat Poaching

President Ian Khama has said that incidents continue to show that Botswana’s tourism industry is under threat from poaching activities, prompting his resolve to resort to the military to curb the practice.Recently Botswana was embroiled in a controversy with its neighbours who accused her soldiers of being trigger-happy after they shot dead suspected poachers.

Speaking at an officer cadet parade in Gaborone, Khama said Botswana has an economy that relies on diamonds, beef and tourism amongst others.

Addressing the soldiers he declared: You will from time to time, be called for duty to curb such incidents in our operational areas and to secure our borders.

Perhaps in reference to encounters with armed poachers, Khama warned the officers that they will be exposed to hardship, danger, fatigue and many challenges.

He said they will need the strength of will and confidence to take the right path which may not necessarily be easy.

He exhorted the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) to succeed in whatever endeavour they undertake.

We must win but mediocrity is unacceptable. The BDF has never been found wanting Khama added.

TANZANIA: Ivory Queen, Biggest Ivory Smuggler Arrested

Yang Feng Glan leaves the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday after she was charged with smuggling ivory worth £1.62 million.

A Chinese woman accused of heading one of Africa's biggest ivory smuggling rings has been arrested and charged.

Dubbed the "Ivory Queen", Yang Feng Glan is alleged to have smuggled 706 elephant tusks from Tanzania to the Far East.

Glan, 66, is said to have been a crucial link between East African poaching gangs and Chinese buyers.

She is also believed to have financed poaching gangs, allowing them to buy weapons and vehicles and to pay bribes to cover their activities.

At a court appearance in the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam, Glan was charged with smuggling ivory worth £1.62 million between the years 2000 and 2014 although investigators believe she may have been active since the 1980s.

Appearing before magistrates yesterday alongside two Tanzanian men said to have been her key lieutenants, Glan did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody to await a further hearing.

Tanzania has long been the epicentre of the illegal ivory trade, recent figures show elephant numbers there have dropped to just 43,330 from 110,000 in 2009 and 350,000 at independence in 1961.

Demand for the material in China has been blamed and Tanzanian authorities have long been accused of turning a blind eye to ivory kingpins, especially those linked to the large and influential Chinese community there.

Recently the government signalled a change of approach, promising to crack down on the trade. However, it is still extremely rare for an ivory kingpin, especially a Chinese national, to appear in court.

The arrests followed a year-long investigation by Tanzania’s secretive but highly-effective Anti-Poaching Task Force. Based in Dar es Salaam and supported by anti-poaching NGO Pams Foundation, their members are hand-picked from police and military special units.

The task force has taken a high-profile role in combating poaching gangs in recent months.

ZIMBABWE: Fourteen Elephants Poisoned All Killed With Cyanide

Fourteen elephants were poisoned by cyanide in Zimbabwe in three separate incidents, two years after poachers killed more than 200 elephants by poisoning, Zimbabwe’s National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said Tuesday.

Three elephants were killed in Matusadona National Park in the Kariba area in northern Zimbabwe and 11 more pachyderms were found dead in two different spots in Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe over the past two weeks.

In all cases the elephants were killed by cyanide, according to kidney and liver samples from the dead elephants tested by the Biological Sciences Department, said a parks spokeswoman.

Six elephants were found dead with their tusks removed in Hwange National Park, 600 kilometers (372 miles) west of the capital, Harare, authorities said on Tuesday.

After discovering the first group of bodies on September 26, the rangers also came across five more elephant carcasses less than a week later. The dead animals still had their tusks, suggesting that the alleged poachers were disrupted.

Poisoned oranges
In a separate incident, the authorities in Matusadona National Park also found three dead elephants whose kidney and liver samples tested positive for cyanide.

In all three cases, the suspected poachers spiked food with cyanide, leaving poisoned oranges, maize cobs and salt sticks as bait for the pachyderms, said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokeswoman for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

"No arrests have been made in all the cases and investigations are still in progress," she added.

The Matusadona Anti-Poaching Project, a private organization, offered $400 for information leading to arrest and conviction of the poisoners.

Cyanide is a commonly used chemical in Zimbabwean mining industry and is therefore easy to obtain.

Poaching on the rise
The Hwange National Park first captured headlines in July this year, after an American dentist killed its most famous animal, Cecil the lion. Despite the international outrage, poaching in western Zimbabwe remains a serious concern.

"We have had a number of poaching activities in the province, they are actually increasing each day," said Clement Munoriarwa, police commander for Mashonaland West province, on state television.

Smuggling a python skin
Traditionally, poachers in the African country have used firearms and traps to get ivory. This changed in 2013, after a group of poachers laced salt pans with cyanide targeting the elephants in Hwange.

Hundreds of elephants have died in the incident, conservation activists claim, although the official figures are much lower.

On Tuesday, authorities arrested a Zambian who was allegedly trying to smuggle 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of ivory from Zimbabwe to South Africa. The ivory would reach $6,320 (5,600 euros) on the South African market.

The Zambian was also carrying a 3 meter (10 feet) python skin, national parks spokeswoman Washaya-Moyo said.

THAILAND: Thailand Destroys Ivory Stockpile Amid Junta Crackdown

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha (2nd R) looks at pieces of ivory on display during a destruction of confiscated ivory exercise at Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Bangkok on August 26, 2015

Thailand destroyed more than two tonnes of ivory Wednesday—a victory for animal rights groups fighting against the trade in a country renowned for being a hub for illegal tusks.

The ceremony, in which 2,155 kilograms of raw tusks and carved trinkets were fed into an industrial rock crusher before being incinerated, was presided over by the Thai junta leader Prayu Chan-O-Cha and is the first time the kingdom has taken steps to destroy part of its stockpile.

"This is to show the Thai government's strong determination to oppose ivory trafficking and that Thailand will comply with international rules," he said during the ceremony.

Animal rights campaigners have long accused successive Thai civilian and military administrations of turning a blind eye to the lucrative trade.

They have pushed for Bangkok to destroy its stockpile to signal its determination to stamp down on the trade and avoid the risk of seized ivory finding its way back onto the black market through corrupt officials.

Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). But that has not stopped criminal gangs seeking to exploit a continued demand for tusks in Asia.

Ivory and other body parts of elephants are prized for decoration, as talismans, and for use in traditional medicine across parts of Asia with Thailand a key transit point.

The country's generals, who seized power in a coup last spring, have vowed to crack down on the illegal ivory trade.

A security guard stands next to pieces of ivory on display during a destruction of confiscated ivory exercise at Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Bangkok on August 26, 2015

Earlier this year, they ordered all Thais to register any ivory they owned, warning that those who failed to do so would see their items confiscated.

They have also made a series of high profile seizures including four tonnes of ivory found hidden in containers in April that originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was destined for Laos.

Thai police seized more than three tonnes of ivory a week later in a second haul, this time from Kenya that was again destined for Laos.

The ivory destroyed on Wednesday accounts for nearly all of Thailand's stockpile where criminal cases have been completed.

A further 540 kilograms has been donated to museums, government institution and universities to be used for educational and awareness raising purposes.

GABON: UK Troops Sent To Gabon To Fight Illegal Trade

British troops have been sent to Gabon to tackle an increase in ivory poaching.

The 12 Northern Ireland-based soldiers are on their way to the African country, which has seen widespread elephant killings for their tusks.

Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba requested help in battling the international trade.

Most of the country's elephants have been illegally poached for trade to Asia, leaving the population dwindling.

The elephants inhabit the Minkebe National Park, which has a forest the size of Belgium.

About 15,000 of the forest's 22,000 elephants are said to have been killed by poachers.

The UK soldiers have been drawn from the Royal Scots Borderers, the Rifles and other specialist corps and will work alongside local rangers at a training centre in Mokekou.

Military input cannot solve this alone, but it can help at the tactical level, said Maj Mark Shercliff.

The ivory trade has been banned since 1989 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, but a black market is still thriving.

About 30,000 African elephants were killed by poachers last year, according to charity WWF.