Three weeks ago, as I was taking the picture of this beautiful Lioness, Charlotte sent me the photo next to it from her ongoing investigation that ended with a crackdown af few days ago. Extinction of these amazing creatures is very real to us. From Charlotte Houpline: Crackdown on skin trafficking, 5 arrested, remains of 12 lions, 2,600 animals parts. The SALF team in collaboration with the Senegalese Ministry of Environment and its CITES office and the special DIC police force carried a crackdown sting operation arresting 5 traffickers with a track-load of about 2,600 skins and animal parts, highlighting the illegal trade in lions with remains of 12 lions seized. SALF, the EAGLE project of WARA in Senegal is starting to step-up arrest operations in the country. The focus of the crackdown has been a large scale international trafficking supply center in Dakar, illegally importing skins from Niger, Mali, Congo, Kenya and other African countries and exporting to Lebanon and Europe, as well as supplying local sellers. SALF undercover investigation identified some of the key players in this specialized trade, indicating a surprising amount of contraband trafficked internationally regularly. An EAGLE network exchange brought Aime, head of legal department of LAGA to assist SALF as the 8 countries in our network intensify collaboration. The total of seized skins and wildlife parts, that we had to load on a track, is about 2,600! It includes anything from hyena skins to leopard skin, from python skins to bats’ heads – an impressive collection representing a major massacre of wildlife in the region. But most shocking was the lion canine teeth and skins testifying of at least 12 killed lions. In fact our undercover investigations point on many more lion skins on its way to the trafficking center. I hope that this operation can highlight the plight of the lions, and the illegal trade that is a driver to their extinction, though so far underestimated. Lions are close to extinction in West Africa with research estimating last survivors number stands on 250. Population of the African Lion shrank to a mere 4% of its population in the 1940s. the rate of decline in lion numbers is accelerating. Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Congo are the latest African countries added to long list that have lost all their lions, and Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda predict local extinctions in the next ten years. Besides the illegal trade, trophy hunting is a highly significant and immediately preventable source of additive mortality. The CITES Trade Database lists a total of 6,652 lion trophies exported 2000-2009. We intend to use forensic science to determine the origin of the killed lions and help map the transnational organized illegal lion trade. As I stood in front of a trafficker caught with skins of 3 lion heads I could hardly hold my anger and remain professional. My passion for hunting wildlife traffickers comes from my love to lions, so this operation is very emotional and meaningful to me, and ill continue to fight to get these traffickers to prison where they belong.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:58:48 +0000
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