Elephant poachers shot dead by rangers as they tried to steal tusks

A group of five people, believed to be from Uganda, illegally entered Mount Elgon National Park to kill the elephants and steal their tusks on Wednesday.

Two of them were carrying AK-47s.

Three of the poachers were killed and another two injured in the shootout, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said.

‘The officers were on routine patrol inside the park when they encountered five poachers, two of whom were armed,’ KWS said in a statement.

‘A fierce shootout ensued and three of the poachers were gunned down while two others escaped. AK-47 rifles were recovered.’

More than 33,000 elephants are poached each year, which equates to one every 20 minutes.

Poaching has declined sharply in Kenya from a peak in 2012 but it remains a problem, with some 69 elephants and nine rhinos killed last year.

Despite a ban on the international trade in ivory in 1997, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers.

Their tusks are the most sought after, with the ivory being carved into ornaments and jewellery. China is the biggest consumer market for the tusks

Earlier this month, three rhinos were found dead with their horns missing in Meru National Park’s Rhino Sanctuary, in what Kenya’s tourism ministry said was an act of poaching.

Three months earlier, a prominent American investigator of the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade was found dead in his Nairobi home with a stab wound in his neck


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China police seize ivory smuggled via Vietnam border

Customs officers in the Chinese Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have confiscated 368.5 kg of ivory, which were trafficked from Africa into the country via its border with Vietnam.

Three suspects were detained at scene. The 165 elephant tusks, worth over 29 million CNY (4.4 million USD), were illegally transported to Pingxiang city on the night of November 13 and were captured by customs officers the next day, a Nanning official said on December 8. Nanning is the capital of the region.

According to China’s State Forestry Administration, in 2016, the amount of smuggled ivory seized in China dropped by 80 percent from previous peak years.

The local law stipulates that the smuggling of precious animal products worth more than 1 million CNY can be punished with over 10 years in prison or a life sentence.

China will stop commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of this year.-VNA

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Chinese national exported $700K worth of ivory and horns through Mass. shipping business, authorities say

A Chinese national was charged with shipping $700,000 worth of elephant ivory, rhinoceros horns and coral through a Concord-based shipping business in what federal officials are calling a wildlife smuggling ring.

Guan Zong Chen was arrested and extradited in 2015 while traveling from China to Australia and made his first appearance in court when he was arraigned in Boston federal court Monday, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office press release.

Authorities say Chen purchased wildlife artifacts from U.S. auction houses in California, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Texas to resell in Hong Kong.

He allegedly took on a Chinese college graduate as a co-conspirator, who was tasked with traveling to the U.S. to prepare the goods for export.

The graduate would either hand deliver or mail the wildlife goods to a shipping business in Concord, which would then have them repackaged and smuggled into Hong Kong, authorities said.

The wildlife goods were allegedly shipped in packages with documents that falsely stated their contents and value.

Authorities noted one example from 2014 in which Chen visited the United States to meet with the Concord shipper and instructed them to smuggle an ivory-made sculpture by falsely stating it was made out of wood and worth only $50.

Trading in rhinoceros horns, elephant ivory and coral has been regulated since 1976. Exporting certain wildlife goods that were not imported before 1975 and without proper documentation can result in a $650,000 fine and up to two years in prison.

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HK seizes $12m worth of ivory

More than seven tonnes of ivory worth over US$9 million (S$12.4 million) were seized in Hong Kong, officials said, the largest bust of its kind in the city in three decades.

The 7,200kg haul was hidden underneath frozen fish and raised suspicions due to the high transport fees listed on the bill of import.

Hong Kong Customs officials said on Thursday the cargo had come from Malaysia and was believed to have been the work of a major smuggling ring. One man and two women have been arrested in connection with the find, Customs official Wan Hing Chuen said, warning that there could be more arrests.

Hong Kong is a major hub for ivory import and processing, but it launched a landmark Bill last month to phase out the trade by 2021. Critics say the city's authorities are lagging behind mainland China, where officials have pledged to completely ban ivory trading by the end of this year.

The global trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to around 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

There are now believed to be some 415,000 left, with 30,000 illegally killed each year.

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Hong Kong seizes $9m worth of ivory in Malaysia shipment

Hong Kong customs officials said Thursday they have seized more than $9 million worth of ivory this week in the city’s biggest haul in 30 years.

Customs officers discovered 15,900 pounds of elephant tusks on Tuesday in a shipment that orginated in Malaysia that had been labeled as frozen fish, the Customs and Excise Department announced

Customs officers displayed samples of the tusks piled on the floor at their offices close to some of Hong Kong’s giant container ports.

The department said three people at a trading company in Hong Kong have been arrested in connection with the shipment.

Hong Kong, which is a major transshipment hub for illicit wildlife products, is preparing to ban local ivory sales by 2021.

But under Hong Kong’s customs regulations, anyone found importing or exporting endangered species without a license or trying to smuggle such items into or out of the territory faces possible fines and imprisonment.

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Hong Kong launches ivory ban bill

HONG KONG: Hong Kong launched a landmark bill to ban its ivory trade Wednesday, describing it as an effort to “eradicate” the illegal poaching of elephants.

The southern Chinese city is a major hub for ivory sales and announced last year that it would ban the import and export of the goods, but later clarified it would only completely abolish the trade by 2021.
Critics say authorities are dragging their feet and lagging behind China, where officials in December pledged to halt the enterprise by the end of 2017.

A new amendment to the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants ordinance was presented to lawmakers Wednesday, designed to toughen regulations and “phase out the local ivory trade,” but said it would be a five-year process.

Environment minister Wong Kam-sing said the city must respond to the demands of the international community as he formally introduced the bill at the legislative council Wednesday.
The trade would “fully come to a close” by 2021, he added.

A frontline park ranger from the Democratic Republic of Congo last week delivered emotional testimony to legislators, describing the violent nature of the trade.

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China denies involvement in ivory smuggling from Uganda

China on Thursday rejected allegations that two of its diplomats smuggled ivory from Uganda.

“The Chinese embassy officials are suspected of helping move ivory from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan, using Uganda as a transit point,” Ali Munira, a spokeswoman for Uganda’s top anti-corruption body, told AFP this week.

Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni directed the two diplomats to be probed into the alleged wildlife interference.

China has denied such allegations terming them totally unfounded but at the same time vowed to punish them if found guilty.

“We have rigorous regulations and laws on governmental officials, embassy members, and visiting groups to forbid them from buying or engaging in [smuggling] activities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

“We have rigorous regulations and laws on governmental officials, embassy members, and visiting groups to forbid them from buying or engaging in (smuggling) activities,” she added.

Poaching is a major factor contributing to the rapid decline in the numbers of African elephants, with about 20,000 slaughtered every year, according to the WildAid’s wildlife organization.

It says about 415,000 African elephants remain today, compared with the 3 to 5 million in the early 20th century. The animal is officially listed as a vulnerable species.

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Ivory Prices Drop in Asia Following China's Ban

A new, as yet unpublished research by the Wildlife Justice Commission shows that the price of raw ivory in Asia has fallen dramatically since the Chinese government announced plans to ban its domestic legal ivory trade.

However, poaching has not dropped yet, according to the Guardian, which has seen the research.

Undercover investigators from the Wildlife Justice Commission have been visiting traders in Hanoi over the last three years. In 2015, they were being offered raw ivory for an average of $1,322 per kg in 2015, but by October 2016 that price had dropped to $750/kg, and by February this year prices were as much as 50% lower overall, at $660/kg.

Of all the ivory industries across Asia, it is Vietnam that has increased its production of illegal ivory items the fastest in the last decade, according to the non-profit Save the Elephants.

Vietnam now has one of the largest illegal ivory markets in the world, with the majority of tusks being brought in from Africa. Although historically ivory carving is not considered a prestigious art form in Vietnam, as it is in China, the number of carvers has increased greatly.

Demand for the carved pieces comes mostly from mainland China. Until recently, the chances of being arrested at the border was slim due to inefficient law enforcement.

However, the prices for raw ivory are now declining as the Chinese market slows; this is partly due to China’s economic slowdown and also due to the announcement that the country will close down its domestic ivory trade.

China’s ivory factories were officially shut down by 31 March 2017 and all the retail outlets will be closed by the end of the year.

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