860kg hidden elephant tusks are seized

Published Nov 25, 2015

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Melanie Gosling

Environment Writer

VIETNAM customs authorities have confiscated 860kg of elephant tusks hidden among frozen fish heads in more than a thousand boxes.

There were also more than two tons of pangolin scales hidden among the fish heads. Both Asian pangolin species are endangered and worldwide the animals are threatened by the illegal wildlife trade.

An estimated 50 000 elephants are killed every year by gunmen working in the global illegal ivory trade – about one every 15 minutes.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said the illegal haul had been intercepted by customs officials in northern Quang Ninh province. It had come from Taiwan and was found in 1 300 boxes marked as frozen fish. The boxes were to be shipped to a third country.

This brings the total amount of ivory seized in Vietnam to 4 859 tons since August. On August 12 Vietnamese customs officials seized 603kg of ivory from a ship that had travelled from Mozambique, and on the same day 2.3 tons were confiscated in a separate incident.

Kelvin Alie, director of IFAW’s wildlife trade programme, said while the organisation applauded Vietnam’s tough stance against wildlife trafficking, it was crucial the Vietnamese government looked beyond seizures and tackled disrupting the trade.

“Seizures of ivory are always good news in the fight against poaching and illegal trafficking because they indicate improved levels of law enforcement, but seizures are the public face of a very tragic scenario that is killing up to 50 000 elephants a year,” Alie said.

So far South Africa’s elephant population has not been targeted by poachers, but there are signs this is changing. Last month SANParks reported that 19 elephants had been killed for their ivory in the Kruger National Park this year.

Wildlife experts had predicted that South Africa’s elephants would become a target once the populations to the north had become depleted.

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