Guess there's no shortage of elephants in Zim...



Harare (AFP) - Wildlife authorities in Zimbabwe on Wednesday announced plans to export at least 62 elephants to top up scant state funding and curb a ballooning pachyderm population.

"Zimbabwe got allocations from CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) to export elephants to suitable destinations and one of the destinations is China," Jerry Gotora, chairman of the parks and wildlife authority, told AFP.

Exports would start in the first quarter of next year after assessment of their destination, he said.

He said buyers from the United Arab Emirates want 15 elephants, China 27 and France between 15 and 20.

But a local animal rights group claimed that elephant calves dragged from their mothers were being sent squashed in containers to Maputo for export to China.

"There is nothing unusual about the exports," Gotora countered. "The major reason we are selling off the elephants is because we want to ensure sustainable use of our natural resources.

"We have 80,000 elephants against a carrying capacity of 42,000 and this is not sustainable in the long run. The exports are carefully controlled by CITES.

"All those making noise about it are people who do not want Zimbabwe to benefit from its resources."

State game parks in Zimbabwe operate with limited government funding and often rely on the charity of private companies.

Last year at least 300 elephants died in Hwange national park after poachers poisoned the environs of their watering halls with cyanide.

Park authorities said lack of funds limited patrols by game rangers leaving animals at the mercy of poachers.

Gotora said proceeds from the export of the elephants would fund running of game parks while a portion would be allocated to communities bordering game reserves.


Karl

Wait just a minute here!
Did they get this cleared with USFW?
Everyone knows they are the all knowing all seeing when it comes to other countries wildlife recourses.
Go get em big brother!

This might be a way to get your ivory back from Zim? Just bring'em back alive!! I know it would be a great conversation piece here in the Mountains of New Mexico, hum.

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
R8 Blaser
Sabatti "trash" Double Shooter

quote:

Originally posted by bwana cecil:
Wait just a minute here!
Did they get this cleared with USFW?
Everyone knows they are the all knowing all seeing when it comes to other countries wildlife recourses.
Go get em big brother!

I think China, France and the UAE will tell the idiots at USFW to stick it!
USFW are only relevant to themselves - what a bunch nutters!!

http://allafrica.com/stories/201412300359.html



Zimbabwe: Wildlife - Latest Imperialist Cover for Zim Attack


OPINION

By Benny Tsododo

Latest attempts by the United States to scuttle trade of wildlife from Zimbabwe should not be read in isolation from the wider machinations by the West to sanction any economic activities that could breathe life to the country's sanctions-saddled economy.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) recently imposed a unilateral ban on imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe on frivolous grounds that there was a poor wildlife management system in the Southern African country.

Before this debilitating measure could even crystalise, the US had moved to front an indiscriminate propaganda drive to malign the planned sale of live wild animals, including elephant calves, from Zimbabwe to other countries.

The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management had indicated that it was considering wildlife requests from South Africa, France, China, United Arab Emirates and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This torched a well-engineered Western media campaign aimed at derailing the planned wildlife trade by projecting it as inhumane and about to contribute to the alleged extermination of the elephant herd in Zimbabwe.

As per the neo-imperial norm, the campaign was cunningly given a local overtone by enlisting the services of a shadowy local group calling itself the Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce.

This group was given the depraved task of timeously releasing injurious and unsubstantiated doses of information vilifying Zimbabwe's wildlife management systems. It was also charged with commandeering one million signatures for a global petition to block the intended wildlife sales.

To further hoodwink the Hollywood-addicted global audiences, the US also conscripted its former James Bond actor, Pierce Brosnan, to spearhead a social media campaign to degrade the planned sale of wildlife in Zimbabwe.

Nevertheless, it could never be masked that this multi-pronged campaign was premised on false claims that the elephant population in Zimbabwe was facing extinction.

Statistics from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management have antithetically revealed that the country's elephant population had actually grown to levels disproportional to the country's carrying capacity.

Against a combined capacity of around 20 000 elephants, Zimbabwe's national parks and conservancies were holding over 80 000 elephants.

This not only goes to prove the effectiveness of the country's wildlife management systems and anti-poaching measures but also unassailably justified plans by Government to commercially offload excess animals to interested countries.

Contrary to reports of possible extinction, elephants in Zimbabwe were actually flourishing beyond capacity, resulting in the destruction of some plant species in their sanctuaries.

It is reported that the overstocked elephants are decimating the mukwa, teak, baobab and other plant species in their environs. Clearly, it is these plant species that could face extinction and not the ever-growing elephant population.

The elephants are also overgrazing grass in their habitats, living the soil loose and exposed to the vagaries of weather, causing gradual desertification of the national parks and conservancies. Such destruction of plant species disturbs biological diversity and negatively affects the ecosystem.

Faced with such an environmental time bomb and the inevitable need to generate income for its economy, it was not only logical but imperative for the Zimbabwean Government to affirmatively consider requests of countries wanting to buy some of its wild animals. This was made more necessary by the fact that the country was struggling to maintain a soaring stock of Rhino horns and elephant tusks, which it could not dispose because of a western-lobbied trade ban imposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

http://www.zimbabwesituation.c...ant-deal-the-herald/



France bows to pressure, cancels Zim elephant deal
Posted on February 9, 2015 by ZimSitRep


via France bows to pressure, cancels Zim elephant deal | The Herald February 9, 2015

FRANCE has cancelled plans to buy up to 20 live elephants from Zimbabwe, as the EuroZone’s second biggest economy succumbed to pressure from global animal rights groups, French authorities have said.

Zimbabwe plans to dispose of over 40,000 “excess” elephants, according to Government, but this has drawn worldwide condemnation.

Wildlife conservationists want the sales halted citing cruelty to animals. Depending on age, each animal fetches between $40,000 and $60,000.

French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Segolene Royal told a meeting of nearly 40 NGOs in Paris on January 28 that “France would receive no elephant in Zimbabwe as had been suggested by the authorities of that country,” according to French website, Boursier.com.

A week earlier, the non-governmental organisations, led by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, petitioned the French government to boycott the Zimbabwean elephants arguing the trade was illegal and that it traumatises “an intelligent animal.”

Here at home, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force led by Johnny Rodriguez has been ramping domestic and international support against the country’s planned or in progress live elephant exports.

The Parks and Wildlife Authority of Zimbabwe was not immediately available to comment.

However, the Authority’s director for conservation, Mr Geoffreys Matipano told Bloomberg in December that talks had opened with unnamed buyers from France for the sale of between 15 and 20 live elephants. China was negotiating for 27 animals and the United Arab Emirates 15.

Official statistics put Zimbabwe’s elephant herd at 80,000, half of these concentrated in the Hwange National Park, which has an elephant holding capacity of 15,000.

Environment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has told the Press the herd is twice as much the country can accommodate and support.

He accused the excess herd of destroying biodiversity and crops, and of escalating competition for natural resources such as water and forage with humans, as well as with domestic animals. Now, what is the potential impact of France’s withdrawal on Zimbabwe’s future live elephant trade?

When the French Ecology minister Segolene confirmed to the NGOs the cancellation of the Zimbabwe live elephant imports, she also announced France’s banning of raw ivory exports, promising to influence fellow EU members to impose similar bans.

If the country was hoping to secure more European buyers, that market is now seriously compromised, unless some miracle happens, which is unlikely.

The French wield some substantial power within the EU, and are sufficiently capable of influencing key decisions against Zimbabwe’s favour, if they choose to do so, which choice has since been made.

This influence may not immediately expand to infiltrate systems at CITES, the global watchdog for endangered animal species.

But France’s reaction should now be viewed as a precursor or the first steps towards a future complete or controlled ban of live elephant trade at the CITES level.

Secondly, the French cancellation will unfortunately be booked as an important victory for wildlife conservationists who have been unrelenting in their anti-Zimbabwe elephant campaigns.

Governments can be reckless. Organisations such as the ZCTF are crucial for keeping governments accountable, transparent and humane.

But animal rights groups should play this role in a reasonably acceptable manner.

So far on Zimbabwe’s live elephants trade, they are not.

After France, there is undeniable guarantee the ‘boycott Zimbabwean elephants’ crusade will become much stronger, and sensing more victories, greatly determined than ever before.

It will be interesting to see how the Parks and Wildlife Authority handles this spanner that has been thrown into its important conservation plans.

Yamamoto illusion

Ken Yamamoto, a fierce critic of the Zimbabwe Government writing for the website Newzimbabwe.com, last week drew unreasonable parallels between Zimbabwe’s live elephant sales and that of Esau, the Biblical twin cheated of his birthright over a bowl of soup by his younger brother, Jacob.

Yamamoto, being Japanese, a cacophony society of predominant non-Christian believers, clearly misunderstood Jacob’s pre-determined deceptive intent in the birthright transaction. By selling its surplus herd, Zimbabwe is certainly not “selling its birthright,” as asserted by Yamamoto.

The Rudd Concession fits that bill perfectly well.

Moreover, Esau did not sell his birthright. He was cheated of it by a calculating sibling taking advantage of his brother’s desperate hunger. Yamamoto calls that “clever.” Who would do that to their blood brother?

Eventually, God had to change Jacob’s name, which means “deceiver,” to a more suitable one Israel, meaning “contender with God.”

It is notoriously misleading for anyone to try and reduce Zimbabwe’s live elephants trade to the birthright selling charade.

It should be repeated, Zimbabwe possesses the right from birth to manage its nature-given resources in a manner that is ecologically, socially and economically sustainable.

There is no point in keeping elephants or any other animal species at levels that cannot be supported by the country’s severely limited finances and pressured ecosystems.

As one reader put it, “sustainability means you keep the animals at levels that are manageable now and in future.”

If Zimbabwe was indeed selling its birthright, then who is the deceiver?

Yamamoto argues elephant exports will in the long-run be damaging to Zimbabwe’s tourism, as tourists will have the option to view the African elephant in their own European backyards, in zoos.

But the African wild experience cannot be remotely compared to, or replaced by anything like the zoo confined (in) experience.

It is one thing to be in a restricted animal sanctuary and totally another to gaze at the elephant in its natural habitat, early morning as different species gather to drink at the water hole, birds singing and the cool, gentle African breeze saying “hello.”

Seeing that Africa is found only in Africa, not at a symbolic African park in the volatile islands of Japan, the real threats to African tourism are sponsored wars, and warped Western thinking that regards the continent as a boundless homogeneous state, even when the Europeans are themselves creators of the national boundaries in use today. We have already seen tourism numbers drop sharply across Africa in 2014 due to the ebola outbreak in just four West African states, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Liberia.

Potential visitors from source markets did not take long before withdrawing bookings for fear of contracting the disease.

For instance, while Southern Africa did not record any Ebola cases, its tourism suffered as scores of tourists from Asia cancelled their trips.

In South Africa, a total of 1 500 tourists from Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Japan who were to visit that country between August and October 2014 cancelled their trips, official statistics from South Africa reveal.

Those that proceeded to visit requested game meat be removed from their menu.

With all their education, technology and money, it is astonishing the major European source markets have cancelled planned visits to Africa on the ebola excuse.

There are 54 independent countries in Africa, and 50 of those are ebola free.

God is faithful.

jeffgogo@gmail.com

And I suppose the elephant lovers will find places for the elephants to live?
Maybe someone ( pine cone eater expert ) should say on internet that elephants could be carrying ebola.
That might keep Chinese away?

They are exporting 60 out of 38,000.
Not much of a dent in the problem.

Mark

http://www.zimbabwesituation.c...-in-elephant-export/



Chinese agent named in elephant export
Posted on May 27, 2015 by ZimSitRep_M


via Chinese agent named in elephant export – The Zimbabwean 27 May 2015

A Zimbabwean woman of Chinese descent, Song Li, has been named as a central agent in the controversial exportation of elephants to China. She is believed to be working in cahoots with powerful Zimbabwean politicians and a cabal of underworld dealers.

The government has of late been under fire for the capture and sale of baby elephants to China and other overseas destinations. Minister of Environment Saviour Kasukuwere has defended the exercise, arguing that the sale of elephants would bring much-needed revenue to the state coffers. But government has so far failed to divulge where the profits from the sales are going.

Concerned environment activists say the sale of the elephants is shrouded in mystery and benefits only corrupt dealers and politicians.

Li has been identified as having been born in China’s Henan province but, as her current ID card shows, she has obtained Zimbabwean citizenship. A document leaked to The Zimbabwean by a reliable source shows that she was involved in the animal leather business, and is a shareholder in Eagle Tannery.

The sources said Li exports animal hides and crocodile skins and owns an array of other companies, as indicated on the CITES data base. He also alleged that Li uses various routes across Africa to export her loot.

“We have reason to believe that a Chinese national, Ms Li Song, with a variety of unethical business links and ties in Zimbabwe, is in partnership with various ministries and officials across Zimbabwe in a variety of dubious business ventures, all directly involved in the exploitation of Zimbabwe’s natural resources,” states the document.

“This individual (Li) was spotted at Hwange National Park in April 2014 – with a delegation of Chinese business (people) ear marking elephants for export. She is dangerous and powerful – but now she is NOT INVISIBLE.”

“She is the head of the China Trade Association in Zimbabwe (and) it was this position that put her in contact with Kasukuwere,” added the sources.

Li is believed to have played an active role in identifying markets for the “mass exportation” of Zimbabwean elephants. Two other elephant experts, Rowan Martin and Hank Jenkins of Australia, have been named as Li’s other collaborators in the sale of elephants, and sources are convinced that the racket has the blessings of senior government officials. The sources named Martin as having been behind the exportation of some 200 elephants.

Kasukuwere’s ministry represents government in the appointment of environment related boards such as the Parks and Wildlife Authority, which in turn oversees animal welfare, export sales and management. The authority in 2010 agreed not to export elephants or other endangered species, but Kasukuwere has since over-ridden that decision.

“Her (Li’s) unethical business practices have impacted on the Zimbabwean people and animals for a number of years. All her businesses are registered …in China,” said the sources.

They accused her of conniving with parks’ officials and a named minister in constructing the Mana Pools Safari Camp using a company identified as ECIS Investments in 2010, a project they said was a threat to the natural environment.

Other animal activists, like the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), have in the past also fingered Li. “We believe she brought some wealthy Chinese people into the country in connection with the exportation of the elephants and she is apparently connected with high ranking officials in the government ministry (environment),” said ZCTF at one time.