Concern over ivory raids

INLSA

Concerns have raised about the possibility of criminal syndicates turning their attention to SAs massive stockpiles of rhino horn and elephant ivory.

A recent series of raids on government ivory stockpiles in both Zambia and Botswana has raised concern about the possibility of criminal syndicates turning their attention to SA’s massive stockpiles of rhino horn and elephant ivory.

Last week, three tons of tusks were stolen from a vault controlled by the Zambian Wildlife Authority. Last month 26 tusks were stolen from a government vault in Botswana.

Commenting on the heists yesterday, a spokesman for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said the organisation was confident that its vaults were secure, while SA National Parks kept a low profile, saying it did not wish to comment on the matter.

SA has substantial stockpiles of both ivory and horn in several locations around the country. The stockpiles have been built up over several decades from natural deaths of elephant and rhino, or from seizures from poachers.

With the black market price of rhino horn and ivory continuing to soar, there have also been reports during the past two years of criminal syndicates targeting wildlife taxidermists in SA, along with a report of a raid on a government facility in the Eastern Cape in which several rhino horns disappeared.

Several museums and private collections in Europe and the US have also been hit by syndicates desperate to acquire rhino horns.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare has issued a statement warning that the “audacious looting” of at least two ivory stockpiles in Zambia and Botswana raises concern for the security of stockpiles throughout the subcontinent.

Missing

Last week, Zambia announced three tons of tusks had been found to be missing from a vault at Zambia Wildlife Authority headquarters. In May Botswana confirmed 26 tusks had been taken from its vault in the town of Kasane.

“Ivory stockpiles are a tempting source of rich pickings for crooks,” said Jason Bell, a spokesman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Cape Town. “They are a security headache for any country tasked with the responsibility of managing such a valuable commodity.”

Bell commended the Zambian wildlife authorities for their quick interception of some of the suspected thieves (two Zambian game scouts were arrested in connection with one of the thefts), but said it was disappointing to note that the three tons taken from the Chilanga strongroom in Zambia had been confiscated just three weeks earlier, and this ivory had not yet been recovered.

“The targeting of stockpiles, Africa’s most secure sources of ivory, indicates how far the illegal ivory trade is prepared to go to take to get what it wants. Unfortunately, it is the foot soldiers of the traders, the common thieves, who risk their lives to supply this trade,” said Bell.

“Stockpiled ivory places an enormous burden of responsibility on every African country that has it, demanding intense management and draining scarce resources.

“These countries need every bit of support possible to enable them to protect their wildlife.”

Most contraband ivory and rhino horn from Africa is smuggled into markets such as China and Vietnam, where criminals are able to launder black market wildlife.

Bell said more than 200 people had been arrested in 14 African states, and almost two tons of contraband ivory and 20kg of rhino horn had been seized since February as part of Operation Worthy, a project involving Interpol and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

“More than 320 officers from a range of agencies, including those in Zambia and Botswana, participated in wildlife crime interventions carried out at markets, ports, shops, border crossings and during roadside checks over the three-month period.

“This has, to date, been the most wide-ranging operation co-ordinated by Interpol against the illegal ivory trade, not just in terms of seizures and arrests, but also in targeting the criminal organisations making millions of dollars through the killing and destruction of wildlife and their habitat,” said David Higgins, manager of Interpol’s Environmental Crime Programme.

“The intelligence gathered during Operation Worthy will enable us to identify the links between the poachers and the global networks driving and facilitating the crime.

“By identifying their international trafficking routes, |arresting those involved at higher levels, and suppressing the crime at its source, in transit, and at its destination, we are making a real contribution to the conservation of the world’s environment and biodiversity,” said Higgins.