Kenyan Officials Crackdown on Ivory Trade
2009-7-20 3:29
Kenyan wildlife officials unload a million dollars worth of elephant tusks and rhino horns.
They were impounded en route to illegal markets in Asia.
The officials say the haul proves poachers are cashing in on a partial lifting of the ban on the trade in ivory.
[Patrick Omondi, KWS Head of Species and Conservation Management]:
"Last year we lost 98 elephants to poachers and up to today, this year, we have lost up to 73 elephants. This is a big worry and all this is stimulated because there was an experiment to trade."
Almost 20 years ago the U.N.'s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species banned ivory trading in an attempt to protect elephants.
But late last year the organization approved a one-off auction of stockpiled ivory worth around seven million dollars.
[Patrick Omondi, KWS Head of Species and Conservation Management]:
"It has sent a signal to poachers and it has stimulated poaching across the Africa and Asian continents and also it led to smuggling of ivory across the world. So Kenya remains opposed to lifting of the international trade in Ivory."
Animal welfare groups also called the auction irresponsible.
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to around 700,000 elephants - there used to be millions of them.
And only 18,000 rhinos remain in the wild.
Some environmentalists say there is now as much poaching as there was 20 years ago
And the methods used by the poachers are as cruel as ever.
