Kenya seizes shipment of ivory, rhino horn heading to Asia on cargo plane

TOM ODULA

Associated Press Writer

1:40 PM EDT, July 14, 2009

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya seized more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of illegal ivory and black rhinoceros horn — some of it still bloody — on a cargo plane headed to Asia on Tuesday, wildlife officials said.

The blood on some of the 16 elephant tusks and two rhino horns suggested the animals had been killed recently, said Patrick Omondi of the biodiversity and research division of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The contraband was hidden in wooden boxes shaped like coffins.

The flight originated in Mozambique and stopped in Nairobi en route to Thailand and finally Laos. It was not clear where the items came from; Omondi said they could have been smuggled into Mozambique from Tanzania or South Africa.

Poaching elephants and black rhinos is illegal. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species banned trade in ivory in 1989 after a wholesale slaughter of African elephants by poachers in the 1970s and 1980s.

But some countries have done little to enforce the ban.

The black rhino is only found in eastern and southern Africa.

Rampant poaching decimated the black rhino population from a high of 65,000 across Africa in the 1970s. Southern Africa now has a population of 3,600 black rhinos.

I worked in the bush just outside tsavo last the end of last yr. 6 kilometers out of the park. and it was an open secret that the village a few miles away was a poachers haven. the game rangers stayed away from it unless they where there for chuga( white lighting ) to use southern boys. also if you wanted an AK there 350usd. this is in a cpuntry where it's very hard to geta permit for a gun. since hunting was banned there poaching has increased 10 fold or more. but corruption is the rule not the exception there too.

It appears that left leaning govt's the world over seem to appeal more to criminal activity rather than traditional activities. Once the crown Jewel of African wildlife, Kenya is on the verge of wildlife collapse, and no-one can agree on how best to solve the problem.

John

Tree huggers payed corrupt politicians 10.000.000usd to ban hunting with no plans for what to do when this problem started and we all knew it would start. another good idea from the tree huggers of the world.

quote:

16 elephant tusks and two rhino horns

Hmmm....so there WERE some left.

Brett

http://www.thisday.co.tz/


Photo of seizure.