Chinese Ivory Smuggler Arrested, Poachers killed in Mwingi

A Chinese ivory smuggler arrested by Kenya Wildlife Services has been arraigned at Makadara Law Courst in Nairobi after being arrest at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

Feng Jinzhang, 50 was arrested as he tried to smuggle ivory while on transit aboard a flight KQ 542 from Contonou, Benin to Guangzhou, China, late Sunday night.

Jinzhang was arrested by a joint security team comprising of the Kenya Airports Police Unit, Customs officials, Kenya Airways officials and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials.

The suspect was booked at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport police station awaiting arraignment in court to answer to charges of smuggling, through Kenyan territory, four pieces of ivory bangles.

His arrest comes with at the backdrop of the ongoing 16th Conference of the Parties (CoP) by Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting at Bangkok, Thailand.

The meeting posthumously honoured 13 KWS rangers who died in the line of duty, and nine other recipients from around the world, with a Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award.

A Kenyan delegation, headed by Mr. Stephen Manegene from Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, is lobbying state parties to, among others, to ensure no proposals to trade in elephant ivory can be submitted before expiry of a nine years moratorium agreed at CoP14 in The Hague in 2007.

Over the weekend KWS rangers and the Kenya Police arrested a poachin gang after a fierce gub fight at Bisan Hargeisa, near Mwingi town, Kitui County.

They managed to impound 21 pieces of raw ivory weighing 91kg, and a motorbike. A further search in the surrounding areas by a reinforcement team from Kora National Park and the police recovered seven more pieces of ivory weighing 30.6kg.

The team acted on a tip off from members of the public and the suspects who resisted being search which led to the gun fight.

No ranger was hurt during the incident.

Manuel Odeny, ©2013

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) condemns recent elephant killing

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has condemned the recent slaughter of 11 jumbos for their ivory at Tsavo National Park.

WWF has termed the attack as the worst to have ever been recorded in the country and called on Kenya wildlife Service and international community ton step up and save elephants threatened by poaching.

“This horrific crime demonstrates the lengths that poachers will go to get ivory – even killing a two-month old calf.  It highlights the need for the international community to work together to address the global increase in poaching and wildlife crime,” Drew McVey, WWF African elephant and rhino specialist said.

Drew said that to help curtail the poaching menace African states as source of elephant populations should work closely with destination countries in Asia where consumers drive demand for ivory as well as transit territories through which illegal ivory and other animal parts are being smuggled.

The fund said that with the increase of wealthy consumers in Asia countries like China and Thailand for ivory jewellery and ornaments elephants poaching and ivory smuggling has increased across Africa and is set to undermine Kenya’s 1989 ban of ivory trade which was in line with the international CITES control.

“The epidemic of elephant killings that has ravaged populations in Central Africa is now spreading to Kenya – and that’s troubling because Kenya in recent years has largely had a solid track record of elephant management and protection,” Matthew Lewis, WWF’s African species expert said.

Lewis said in an online statement that to ensure that the trend doesn’t continue and poachers are brought to justice the county’s weak and antiquated wildlife laws are modernized as swiftly as possible to ensure that poachers receive appropriately stiff penalties for their heinous crimes.

“WWF is committed to helping the Kenya Wildlife Service adopt the latest systems of law enforcement monitoring, and also helping Kenya work more closely with its neighbors to counter regional poaching syndicates,” Lewis said.

In a statement to KWS Prime Minister Raila Odinga said that last year the country lost the highest recorded number of elephants in the recent years at least 360 jumbos which was 71 m0re than 2011.

“Our wildlife is a major source of income as a nation  and almost the sole source of our earnings from Tourism which has come under serious assault from poachers in recent days,” Odinga said.

The PM called on a quick response from security agencies and treasury to kelp KWS to address the menace by aiding in equipment, personnel and logistical needed to ensure secure parks and protect our wildlife.

“We need a well coordinated, well-financed and properly designed crackdown on poachers. This must involve the police, the relevant ministries and Interpol,” he said.

He also called on the international community to help strengthen the national and international policing to deal with wildlife trafficking as a serious threat to conservation, rule of law, governance and economic development.

© Manuel Odeny, 2013

Africa: New DNA forensic tools to nab elephant poachers

Seized tusks by Kenya Wildlife Services, KWS.

A group of US scientists have developed a forensic tool that can help to catch elephant poachers by mapping out the animals’ mitochondria DNA.

The researchers collected mtDNA samples from 653 African elephants from 22 locations in 13 African countries including Kenya where elephant poaching is rampant to help determine where poached ivory comes from.

“The method developed in this research will be used by conservationists to determine the provenance of confiscated ivory since it is often hard to trace ivory back to where it came from,” lead researcher Alfred Roca, from University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences said.

“A ship may have left from a certain port in Africa, but that’s not necessarily the country where the elephants were poached,” he said adding that Sequencing the mtDNA can give a good indication of where the ivory is being poached, “then steps can be taken by that particular country to prevent the poaching from taking place.”

The research "Triangulating the provenance of African elephants using mitochondrial DNA" is published by Evolutionary Applications last week.

Following the research the Kenya Wildlife Services can use the finding to safeguard the country’s 37,000 jumbos which has been growing at 4% annually from 16,000 in 1989 when poaching for ivory was banned internationally.

Before being banned population of the jumbos in the country stood at 167,000 before poaching and reduced range are at current 107,113 Sq km, 33% of which is protected affected their growth.

“Our records indicate that Kenya lost 278 elephants to illegal killings last year. KWS will continue offering accurate and timely information on wildlife population dynamics to the public,” KWS states on its website.

It adds that the frequent seizures of ivory on transit at Kenya’s main airports “does not necessarily originate from local illegal killing of elephants” which the research is set to unravel.

From the research mitochondria DNA which is only transmitted by female jumbo who don’t migrate between herds and can be traced in seized ivory which when mapped from stored data can locate their origin.

“108 unique mtDNA sequences were identified which provided fine-scale information about the origin of the ivory. Among the sequences, 72 percent were found in only one locality and 84 percent of them were country-specific” the research states.

By combining the results with five earlier trans-national surveys it has helped to spot “81 elephant locations in 22 African countries with among the 101 unique short sequences detected, 62 percent were present in only one country,” which will aid in curbing poaching.

Other researchers involved in the work are Yasuko Ishida and Nicholas Georgiadis.

Neglect on Ndere Island National Park bad for the region.

I (carrying a bag) and a friend on our way to Ndere Island National Park.

For a national park that was gazetted 24 years ago the Ndere Island National park in Lake Victoria and only 35.8 Km from Kisumu city the standard of the park is low for Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) slogan of providing world leading parks. Actually, the potential of the park is yet to be fully unlocked for the benefit of the region and government.

Most Kenyans attention to the park was drawn in a visit by Prime Minister Raila Odinga to open the park (I wonder when it was closed!) together with the impala park in Kisumu. Prior to the visit someone from KWS hastily dotted signposts from Kisumu to the park, after the visit it the same old story.

Personally, my attention was drawn to the park on a recreational team building hike as a member of Maseno University Red Cross chapter in last semester. Sadly, since 1986 the campsite is till under construction without even a reception desk. Visitors will be content to carry their own packed food and beverages. What is seen on Asat beach before a 2Km boat ride to the island is a mere fence and white washed stones with tickets being sold on a bench!

The KWS officer in charge pointed out the Lorries we found carrying hay from the park to Nakuru and other parks for drought stricken animals shows the potential of Ndere.

Standing picturesque and majestic among other four islands; Ochola, Rambugu, Imra and Gera, the 4.2Km2/Sq park teams with baboons, impalas, statunga, hippos, crocodiles in addition to several bird species for an ornithologist haven. If marketed appropriately the feature of an island park nestled in the sparkling waters of the second largest lake in the world will attract not only foreign but local tourists like students from learning institution in the region and other Kenyans.

A fisherman, David Migot-Nyaluo who ferried us to the island says he only manages a trip a day. This is the same plight of the matatu drivers and conductor who we had hired, telling us they hardly make a trip a day. Like varsity students with blank stares on the park, the drivers and conductors playing the Kisian-Bondo route couldn’t pinpoint the way to the park; this clearly shows the level of neglect.

I know the recent opening by the PM is not sufficient enough and the KWS plan to relocate buffaloes, giraffes and maybe elephants to the park should be sped up. With proper marketing and resources the park can benefit the government and locals like Mr Migot-Nyaluo.

Opinion published on The Star issue of 7/9/2010 and Daily Nation issue on 8/9/2010 and DN online