CONSERVATION: Wildlife Smugglers Nabbed And Sentenced

The smugglers wrapped the 316 radiated tortoises in tinfoil to avoid x-ray detection, flew them from Madagascar to China last February, and turned them over to an airport employee who snuck them to an apartment.

The goal of the scheme: to breed the creatures, sell the offspring, and rake in big bucks from the sales.

But things didn’t work out that way.

Police soon busted the employee, who worked for Guangzhou Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, a city in southeast China. They later arrested other members of the gang, including buyers from Beijing and Guangxi, a region in southern China that borders Vietnam.

Now a court has sentenced the leader of the operation to 11 years in prison, announced the NGO Wildlife Conservation Society, which provided guidance during the prosecution.

The airport worker cooperated with investigators and received a five-year punishment, and sentences for the other five defendants ranged from 21 months to seven years.

The gang began smuggling tortoises as early as 2014, investigators rescued an additional 130 tortoises.

Radiated tortoises, found in the forests of Madagascar, get their name from the intricate yellow star patterns that adorn their upper shells, or carapaces.

They're critically endangered, though it's unclear exactly how many remain in the wild.

Habitat loss has wiped out many of these beauties, and the ones that hang on contend with poaching for their meat and the pet trade.

Trade in radiated tortoises or their parts is banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty signed by 182 countries that regulates wildlife transactions across borders.

Through the arrest and sentencing of these smugglers, many radiated tortoises were saved—both directly through the confiscation of the animals, and by the message sent by the sentencing, said Aili Kang, director of the Asia program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, in a press release.

Here are other wildlife crime busts, convictions, and investigations around the world:

RHINO RENEGADES: Members of South Africa’s Hawks investigative unit busted three men accused of possessing nearly 120 rhino horns. The men allegedly intended to sell five of the horns to an undercover agent.

The men were released on bail, and the case was postponed until October 12. Poachers hunt rhinos to sell their horns to Vietnam and China, where they’re used in traditional medicine and viewed as a status symbol.

TIGER TRADING: A judge sentenced a tiger skin trader and two men who killed a tiger in the Amravati District in Maharashtra, a state in central India, to three years in prison each.

The poachers sold the tiger’s skin and bones, which are used in tiger wine, a potion claimed treat rheumatism and impotence.

SEAHORSE SEIZURE: French customs officers confiscated about 2,000 dead seahorses.

They were found in parcels from Guinea that were destined for Vietnam, where people sell them as souvenirs and for use in traditional medicine. An estimated 24 million seahorses are plucked from the wild and traded illegally each year.

SNAKES IN A SUITCASE: Police arrested a German man at Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport after customs officials found dozens of snakes, lizards, and other reptiles hidden in his suitcase.

Forty of the reptiles didn’t survive, and the others were taken to a reptile shelter. The man was on his way from South Africa to Germany to sell the animals at a reptile fair, according to the report.

WILDLIFE AT SEA: Law enforcement officers discovered 17 protected animals inside boxes on a cargo ship at the port of Soekarno-Hatta, in Makassar, a city in eastern Indonesia.

The police found three black eagles, two wild cats, two weasels, two otters, and six owls hidden on the ship.

They arrested two people suspected of picking up the wildlife from the port.


Tourism Observer

WEST AFRICA: Gorillas And Chimpanzees Under Threat

Gorillas and chimpanzees may be twice as numerous in West Africa as previously thought, but the apes are still endangered, declining fast and in dire need of protection, an international study found Wednesday.

Prior estimates were based on nest counts taken from isolated areas across the great apes’ habitat range, said the report in the journal Science Advances.

The new count uses mathematical modelling to project likely ape numbers in areas where their nests haven’t been directly surveyed by people.

The estimates are based on other factors known to influence ape numbers, such as proximity to roads and people, and recent outbreaks of Ebola virus which can be deadly.

Spanning 59 sites in five countries surveyed over 11 years, it is the most comprehensive and accurate dataset ever compiled on these apes, said one of the lead authors, Fiona Maisels, conservation scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The results show that western lowland gorillas in western equatorial Africa number nearly 362,000, up from prior estimates of 150,000-250,000 individuals.

And chimpanzees in the area are expected to number almost 129,000, up from earlier counts of 70,000 to 117,000.

But despite the larger numbers, researchers still found a speedy drop in the population in recent years, which means the apes are still in danger of going extinct.

Some 19.4 percent of the gorilla population was lost between 2005 and 2013, said the report.

At this rate, the gorilla population is expected to plunge 80 percent in just three generations.

Maisels said researchers are pleased to have a more accurate number, but cautioned that it does not change the gorillas’ status as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Nor does it change the characterization of chimpanzees as endangered.

What we are worried about is the gorillas are going down to a tune of 2.7 percent per year, Maisels said.

The other kind of worrying thing is that the majority of gorillas and chimps do not live in protected areas, she said.

As many as 80 percent of the great apes live outside protected areas, according to the study.

About 60 percent of all known gorillas and 43 percent of chimpanzees live in the Democratic Republic of Congo, while Gabon is home to 27 percent of the gorilla population and 34 percent of chimpanzees.

High densities of both apes also live in southern Cameroon.

Even though killing gorillas is illegal worldwide, hunting remains the top threat to survival, followed by disease and habitat loss.

More anti-poaching efforts are needed, both inside and outside protected areas, said the report.

Better land planning could help preserve the apes’ high-quality habitat.

Given that gorillas are more numerous and chimpanzees are more ecologically resilient than expected, and that large areas of ecologically functional great ape habitat remain, we are hopeful that robust conservation policies.

Well-managed parks, and responsible industrial practices can stop their declines and provide for secure and thriving populations, the study concluded.


Tourism Observer

RWANDA: Rwanda Tourism And Challenges

During a brief meeting with travel journalists recently, Dr Michel Masozera , the Country Program Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Rwanda, highlighted the five key challenges that Rwanda's tourism sector is currently facing.

According to the WCS boss, the biggest challenge Rwanda’s tourism sector has to deal with is population growth and density of Rwanda. Masozera said that other countries do not have a huge problem with population pressure like Rwanda which, according to him, has a population density of close to 300 people per square kilometre. The big population means that people will often want to partake in the resources in the country's game parks, especially land for agriculture and wood and water resources.

The second challenge he pointed out was the need to clearly show the link between conservation and economic development. He pointed out that many people do not appreciate the value of tourism resources and why they should be conserved and yet tourism remains a key source of revenue for Rwanda.

Insufficient human capacity is the third challenge that Masozera identified. He stressed that Rwanda still has to train qualified people to take charge of game parks and other conservation roles.

The fourth challenge that Rwanda has to address is to do with sustainable financing. Currently, Rwanda’s game parks have not yet reached a level where they can self-finance their activities. There is still a lot of reliance on government support as well as the magnanimity of foreign donors. Masozera insists that this situation is not sustainable.

Lastly, there is the challenge of ensuring that Rwanda doesn’t deplete its tourism resources by failing to practice sustainable and responsible tourism. Masozera admits that there is always a temptation to open them up to more visitors so as to earn from it but this should not be done at the expense of the biodiversity and general health of these facilities.

ANGOLA: World Environmental Day 2016 For Angola

Angola, which is seeking to conserve its biodiversity-rich wildlife and rebuild its elephant population, will this year host the 2016 World Environment Day (WED).

WED is the largest single day event aimed at positive action on the environment worldwide. It takes place on 5 June each year. This year’s theme is fighting the illegal wildlife trade, an issue of large importance in Angola, where poaching is threatening efforts to rebuild an elephant population decimated by decades-long civil war.

According to Angolan Environment Minister Maria de Fatima Jardim Angola is delighted to host WED because the illegal wildlife trade and particularly the trade in ivory and rhino horn is a major problem across the African continent. “By hosting this day of celebration and awareness-raising, we aim to send a clear message that such practices will soon be eradicated.”

The United Nations Environmental Programme says very little is known about the size of Angola’s remaining elephant population, which historically lived in the southeast of the country, also crossing the borders to neighbouring countries.

The Great Elephant Census, the first aerial survey of known elephant ranges in Angola, started last year in attempt to build a clearer picture of the population in Africa, and with regards to Angola, in the Kaza Area. The information collected will be used in the Angolan government’s elephant inventory programme and for the conservation of wild habitats in the Okavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area and the Cuando-Cubango province.

Angola is also currently revising its Penal Code to ensure tougher punishments for poachers in its efforts to reverse the damage to its wildlife populations.

The Great Elephant Census is designed to provide accurate and up-to-date data about the number and distribution of African elephants by using standardised aerial surveys of tens of hundreds of thousands of square miles. Conceptualised by Elephants Without Borders, it is supported by African Parks, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group and several influential individuals.

CAMBODIA: Prek Toal Designated As New Ramsar Site

South-East Asia’s largest waterbird colony, the 21,342 hectares Prek Toal (Ramsar Site no. 2245) has been designated as a Wetland of International Importance (also known as a ‘Ramsar Site’), by the Royal Government of Cambodia and recognized by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The declaration of Cambodia’s fourth Ramsar Site was made on 2 October 2015 by Prime Ministerial Sub-Decree.

Prek Toal’s Status as South-East Asia’s largest waterbird colony was under threat due to overharvesting of the waterbirds until the Ministry of Environment in close cooperation with the Wildlife Conservation Society started working back in 1999 to conserve the colony. The colony was a fraction of its current size, due to decades of egg and chick collection. Former egg collectors were employed as nest guardians, stationed on tree-top platforms throughout the breeding season to protect and monitor the breeding birds.

The protection continues to this day, and Prek Toal now supports more than 50,000 breeding waterbirds of at least ten globally threatened species. These include Southeast Asia’s only breeding Spot-billed Pelicans, nearly half of the world’s Greater Adjutants and many thousands of storks and darters. It is for this reason that Prek Toal has received recognition as a Ramsar Site. Prek Toal attracts thousands of tourists annually and supports the most productive fishery in the Tonle Sap Lake.

“Cambodia should be proud that Prek Toal has been declared as a wetland of international importance. It recognises the years of hard work between government, local communities and NGOs, and opens the door to many more years of this exciting collaboration that has restored Prek Toal to its place as a natural wonder of Cambodia” said Dr. Ross Sinclair, WCS Cambodia Director.

“We congratulate the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia for putting forward Prek Toal as a new Ramsar Site”, said Dr. Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania (Ramsar Secretariat), “and we look forward to supporting the Government of Cambodia to designate more Ramsar Sites in future, and to ensure their sustainable management for the benefit of the local people and the environment.”

30% of Cambodia is covered by wetlands and the majority of them have been identified as globally important, owing to the populations of threatened species that they support. In 1999 Cambodia became a Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. However, up until now only three Ramsar Sites had been designated. They are:

• Boeng Chhmar and Associated River System and Floodplain (Ramsar Site no. 997);

• Koh Kapik and Associated Islets (Site no. 998), and;

• Middle Stretches of the Mekong River north of Stoeng Treng (Site no. 999).

“Recognizing Prek Toal as a Ramsar Site not only draws attention to the international importance of this wetland but it will be a bridge for Cambodia to nominate more wetlands as Ramsar Sites in the future”, said H.E. Say Samal, Minister of Environment of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

BirdLife International and the Department of Freshwater Wetlands Conservation, Ministry of Environment have been working together towards designating more wetlands as Ramsar Sites in Cambodia since 2008. Prek Toal is the first new Ramsar Site declared in Cambodia in the last sixteen years.

“In addition to its biodiversity value, Prek Toal Important Bird Area delivers ecosystem services such as fish which support the livelihoods of the surrounding floating villages, we are delighted at this result” said Mr. Bou Vorsak, BirdLife Cambodia’s Programme Manager. “Ramsar status for this wetland will attract international interest in this fantastic site.”

Each Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention designates at least one wetland for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance, and these sites are selected by the Party based on the site’s international significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology or hydrology. Worldwide, there are 2,240 Ramsar Sites, making this the largest network of wetland managed for conservation.

Financial support was provided by the Darwin Initiative, a small grant of Japanese Ministry of the Environment, the Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund, a Ramsar Small Grant, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

THAILAND: Camera Trap Pictures Help Nab Tiger Poacher

Stripe pattern of confiscated tiger skin matches that of a tigress photographed by camera traps in Huai Kha Khaend Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand this year.
Experts compared the confiscated tiger skin with camera trap photos and found that it matched a tigress last photographed alive by a remote camera in Huai Kha Khaend Wildlife Sanctuary with cubs.


Thailand police confiscated tiger skin and body parts at a police checkpoint in Mae Sot District in Western Thailand.
By comparing camera trap photos with those of the confiscated tiger skin, WCS experts have identified the dead tiger: a female last photographed alive in Huai Kha Khaend Wildlife Sanctuary.
Thailand police have arrested the alleged poacher, who now awaits trial.

Photos captured by camera traps could seal the fate of an alleged tiger poacher in Thailand, WCS announced last Wednesday.

Thailand police have confiscated tiger skin and body parts at a police checkpoint in Mae Sot District in Western Thailand. Since poaching of tigers in Thailand is illegal, proving the geographic origin of tiger parts is crucial to prosecute the accused.

Fortunately, camera traps set up across Thailand’s Western Forest Complex by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have come to the rescue.

A tiger’s stripe pattern is unique and comparable. By comparing stripe pattern of the confiscated tiger skin with those wild tigers photographed by hundreds of camera traps, WCS experts have identified the dead tiger: a female last photographed alive in Huai Kha Khaend (HKK) Wildlife Sanctuary this year.


The tigress had also been photographed with cubs in some photos earlier this year. The fate of the cubs, estimated to be two years old now, remains unknown, according to the statement by WCS.

Thailand police have arrested the alleged poacher, who now awaits trial. Since, the camera trap photos confirm that the tigress was last seen inside a protected area in Thailand, WCS remains optimistic about a conviction.

“The Wildlife Conservation Society commends the government of Thailand for arresting an alleged tiger poacher for possessing a tiger skin from an animal killed in a wildlife sanctuary,” Joe Walston, Vice President of WCS’s Global Conservation Program, said in a statement. “WCS is confident that the poacher will be fully prosecuted, which will send a strong message to wildlife traffickers that Thailand takes wildlife crime extremely seriously.”

In a previous case in 2011, WCS’s camera trap photos helped Thailand authorities arrest — and eventually prosecute — tiger poachers. The poachers were sentenced to five years in prison, “the most severe punishment for wildlife trafficking in Thailand’s history,” according to WCS.

Fight Against Poaching Turning From Guns To Smart Phones

Poaching remains a serious existential threat for many species, in spite of global efforts to combat it. But an innovative app could help thwart poachers in remote areas and beyond.

The digital age might be a good thing for man, but the same doesn't ring true for beast. Mobile technology has enabled wildlife traffickers to decimate animal stock around the world by placing a simple phone call. And that is a massive problem.

According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Southeast Asia is ground zero for setting the pace toward an extinction crisis. The organization lists 150 land and water species native to the region as critically endangered. Some face being eaten out of existence; yet others are poised to be eradicated as a result of wildlife trafficking.

In Central Africa, studies estimate that systematic poaching has resulted in the loss of 100,000 forest elephants - a 64 percent decline over the past 10 years.

But rather than engage poachers in firefights bullet for bullet - which is dangerous, not to mention being a drain on resources - an international consortium of conservation organizations has embarked on a new high-tech strategy to combat such losses.

Hunting the illegal hunters
New York-based nonprofit organization Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), working with seven conservation groups, has developed software aimed at helping rangers in remote locations to anticipate poaching activity rather than merely reacting to it.

The SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) application, as it is known, provides users with information on illegal hunting, telling them what happened and where. Designed to work in tandem with GPS-enabled devices, such as heavy-duty cell phones, it also allows conservation managers to map and follow a ranger's activities.

"You can collect data on where rangers have been, while on patrol, but also make observations on what they've seen," SMART program coordinator Alexa Montefiore said. "What's key about SMART is that it also operates in offline environments. It streamlines collecting data to make it more efficient."

What results is that patrol data is no longer stored at isolated field stations, rather transferred to and stored on secure servers at headquarters. After rangers enter information into a handheld device, this is then fed into data visualization software. From there, patterns emerge that Montefiore says enable site managers to direct rangers and resources to critical areas.

This ability to gather field intelligence on animals and well-armed poachers could be a game-changer - especially for rangers and non-governmental organizations facing multiple threats in the Global South.

Conservation groups have already implemented SMART in 130 protected areas across 29 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and the technology is also slated to be adopted elsewhere.

Colombia, for example, intends to implement the free and open software throughout its vast network of 58 parks, Montefiore told DW.

Exploiting the mobile phone rise
Although not a cure-all for illegal activity, an observant ranger equipped with a handheld device capitalizes on two technological trends. Firstly, the system enables users to upload and share information over digital networks.

Secondly, it's cheaper. "Rugged" mobile devices, which range in price from around 120 euros to 500 euros, are far cheaper than the old equipment, which was bulky and expensive. These days, smart phones function much like laptops did 10 years ago.

Moreover, mobile phone use in Asia and Africa has skyrocketed. According to a Gallup Poll from 2013, nearly two-thirds of all households in sub-Saharan Africa own at least one cell phone.

Smart phones also play a major role in modern life in Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, for example, 58 percent of the urban population and 47 percent of the rural population own a mobile phone.

"In many of the places we're working, people already embrace technology," says Antony Lynam, program manager for the WCS Asia programs. "They're already using smart phones to text and communicate - SMART is another piece of technology that they can get into," Lynam explains. SMART is going to be rolled out at five or six pilot sites, he added.

App plus people power
Other research institutions and NGOs are testing similar approaches to conservation and the battle against poaching. For example, one crowd-funded conservation project hopes to put smart phones in the hands of the JulHoansi people, hunter- gatherers who serve as the guardians in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in Namibia.

The site Crowdfunder describes how the JulHoansi intend to use smart phones to monitor the illegal encroachment of cattle onto their ancestral homelands.

Yet another app called Sapelli is a mapping tool, created to help indigenous people living in the Congo Basin to monitor and chart the illegal activities of poachers operating in their area.

But Lynam says the technology is only as effective as those using it. "Poachers can compromise rangers quickly, especially in regions with luxury timber and high value species to poach," he says. "Pretty soon, traders get to these rangers and start to corrupt them."

Lynam, who is a lifelong wildlife conservationist, says traffickers pay rangers large sums of money to turn a blind eye.

Technological risks
But there are also risks to embracing such technology. If a wildlife trafficker were to bribe or hack their way into a SMART database, that could have devastating consequences for conservation personnel and the species they try to protect.

But the battle is on. And with well-organized traffickers having what Lynam describes as the "best communications gear, vehicles and networks of people" to help shift illegal goods through international checkpoints, anti-poaching efforts need good weapons, too.

Lynman welcomes SMART and its ability to reveal the true state of protected areas to stakeholders - and to provide conservationists with the information required to take action.