“On the Trail” n°33, [1]
the defaunation bulletin
(pdf, 287 pages – 10.6 Mo)
[2]Photo Virunga National Park.
https://virunga.org/fr/support-us/donate/ [3]
As a mountain gorilla and acting vice-president of the cruelty and smuggling section of the Court of Auditors and Regulations, I am responsible for presenting the 33rd issue of “On the Trail”, 287 pages, 1,759 events between May 1 and August 31, 2021 with developments at the end of the year and in 2022, 590 photos and maps.
Once again, I note the inequity. One of my lion brothers eats 7 kg of meat a day in Bangkok and another is starving in Sanaa, Yemen. Our lions are in a very bad way; 3 tonnes of bones i.e. 345 skeletons were seized in Viet Nam in a sea container.
Our fish sisters are not better off, especially the sturgeons. The tiny eggs they carry to reproduce and populate the rivers are processed into a salty delicacy that our persecutors call khaviar. This is one area where Russian and Ukrainian men continue to devote themselves to in common.
Our sharks of all species and in all parts of the sea are taken out of the waters and their fins amputated (over 8,280 kg seized in this issue). Quite a few of the 8 billion humans say that eating them is good for reproduction.
Our bright macaws are in trouble in Brazil because a French grocer named Auchan has started selling wind under the name Voltalia.
Our crocodiles have also paid a heavy price for human boldness and several of them, totally unrecognizable, have been converted into seats for a Rolls-Royce Phantom.
[4]Rolls-Royce Phantom seized in Italy (p.210) © ADM
I deplore on behalf of all my colleagues that all over the world, men and women are killing us with carbofuran and other toxins. There are 31 poisonings in the n°33 issue and the highest concentration of carbofuran in bait is 6 grams/kg! This is in Hungary.
The traffickers seem to have found a new Eldorado with the ambergris of our dear sperm whales, unless it is fake. 256.5 kg in this issue at an average price of 127,500 €/kg.
Along with poisoning, a new scourge is gaining strength. Electric fences are killing our felines deliberately and our elephants. There are at least 26 instances in the issue.
[5]An elephant poisoned in Malaysia (p. 46)
© The Star
[6]A tigress electrocuted in India (p. 79)
© Asian News International
The post-Covid destocking of pangolin scales and frozen pangolins is reaching new heights in quantity and price. A scale retails for 1 US$ in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and over 40 US$ in China, and sells for over 9,000 US$/kg at wholesale. On the Hong Kong wildlife exchange, all the traffickers are betting on the scale, while the price of horn is stabilizing at around 40,000 US$/kg. I note on page 70 that a substandard ship made the trip from Wenzhou (Zhejiang province, China) to Mozambique and back to Xiamen (Fujian province) for the sole purpose of bringing back 145 horns (250 kg) from our rhino brothers.
It is also painful for me to note that since January 2020, thousands and thousands of gazelles, adult and young giraffes, adult and young zebras and other unknown soldiers of the savannahs, forests and swamps have fallen into the ambushes of traps to be eaten by humans. For various reasons that deserve analysis, the Covid scare has boosted bushmeat.
[7]A zebra wounded by a snare in Zimbabwe (p.122)
© Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust
Finally, given my condition and position, I was especially moved by the fate inflicted on “Tarzan”, a chimpanzee brother who has lived all his years in a garage and has been shamefully exploited. It is a personal satisfaction to know that he has now been transferred to the light of day in a sanctuary where he eats fruit and spends time with fellow chimpanzees and supportive humans, a satisfaction which, along with a few others, does not mask the concerns and indignation arising from this report n°33.
[8]“Tarzan” (p.132)
© Conserv Congo