CoP17: New data shows 'staggering' extent of great ape trade

A new database suggests say there has been a dramatic under-reporting of the live, illegal trade in great apes.

Around 1,800 orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas were seized in 23 different countries since 2005, the figures show.

Since 90 per cent of the cases were within national borders they didn't appear in major data records, which only contain international seizures.

The new database has been published at the Cites meeting in Johannesburg.

Comprehensive data on the illicit trade in great apes is rare.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) only keeps records of international seizures, which experts in the field have long believed was giving a misleading impression.

The new Apes Seizures Database paints a more detailed picture, compiling figures for any seizure of a great ape in an unlawful situation dating back to 2005.

"It's definitely a staggering number, it's larger than we expected," said Doug Cress from the Great Ape Survival Partnership, who have put together the new database.

"We're finding that it's really averaging about two seizures a week around the world. That may seem small but the usual ratio for a chimpanzee is that to get one alive you've had to kill five or 10, for gorillas it's like four to one.

"That extrapolates quickly to a lot of dead in the wild."

Read in full at www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37513707

##CoP17 #apes #orangutans #chimpanzees #gorillas CITES

Image: Orangutan in Kalimantan, Indonesia (c) EIA ... See MoreSee Less

11 hours ago  ·  

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South Africa: Rhino poachers shot dead in KZN

The bodies of three alleged rhino poachers were removed from the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday after a shootout a day earlier.

Rhino poaching has been on the increase in the northern KZN reserve‚ with 21 killed so far this month.

In just two days last week‚ seven rhino were killed - six of them on World Rhino Day.

By the end of last week‚ 115 rhino had been killed in KZN since the beginning of 2016.

On Wednesday‚ anti-poaching rangers encountered suspected poachers in the reserve. The three men were killed in a shootout. SAPS units and IPSS Medical Rescue teams spent three hours recovering the bodies.

Full story at www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2016/09/30/Rhino-poachers-shot-dead-in-KZN

#Africa #SouthAfrica #rhinos #poaching

Image: Rhino in South Africa, by Steve Evans ... See MoreSee Less

11 hours ago  ·  

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CoP17: Namibia ducks elephants census but still seeks ivory trade

The results of the most comprehensive survey of African elephants ever undertaken – the Great Elephant Census (GEC) announced last month – have a worrying hole: Namibia. Although it was afforded the opportunity to have its elephants counted, free of charge and subject to the highest international standards, it elected not to participate.

Namibia’s stance at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference presently taking place in Johannesburg makes the reasons for not taking part in the census clear: it wants to be able to hunt elephants and sell ivory. Among the 10 countries of the African Coalition backing the closure of domestic ivory markets – a position agreed to by the CITES working group last week – Namibia was notably absent.

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* Get the key facts of the ivory trade and the threat it presents to wild elephant populations at eia-international.org/report/close-domestic-ivory-markets-secure-future-elephants
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The country insists it should be granted special permission to trade in ivory because it claims to have a stable, growing population of elephants. Its trade proposal was denied at a recent conference of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Hawaii. Namibia had already proposed the legalised ivory trade to CITES for consideration at COP 17 being held in Johannesburg this week

In a report to CITES, Namibia claimed its elephant population was 22,711, of which 13,136 live in the northeast of the country. But this is impossible to verify.

The fact that Namibia did not participate in the GEC survey begs the question about the data on which it bases its claim. There are also discrepancies in its poaching statistics. If the population is unknown and is subject to increased poaching or is in large part migratory, should trade even be considered at all?

... Namibia also signed the London Declaration on Illegal Wildlife Trade (2014) which binds signatories to oppose the trade in wildlife products where they could stimulate poaching, trafficking or demand. A recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research has demonstrated that legal ivory sales only serve to intensify poaching, trafficking and demand. At the IUCN conference it was noted and agreed upon.

Read this op-ed in full at www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-09-30-op-ed-namibia-ducks-elephant-census/

#Africa #Namibia #elephants #ivory #CoP17 CITES

Image: African elephants in Etosha, Namibia, by Hans Hillewaert ... See MoreSee Less

11 hours ago  ·  

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