Elephants and Ivories

Today, Robin des Bois, the Paris based NGO, released the 1st edition of “On the Trail”, a quarterly information and analysis bulletin on poaching and smuggling of endangered animals.

206 events of poaching, seizures, arrests and convictions which occurred in Africa, Australia, America, Europe and Asia are listed. This panoramic vision of cruelty and criminal acts on wildlife, between April 1 and June 30, 2013 makes one shiver and deliberate.

In three months the equivalent of 707 elephants, in tusks, were seized. Poaching of Mali elephants is increasing. Robin des Bois recently wrote to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, requesting that UN peacekeeping troops be given strict instructions to protect the subsisting elephant population.

Whatever the motivations of the ivory thief at the Museum of Natural History in Paris are, this heist is to be taken seriously. Is it a personal initiative, an order, or the emergence of a new underground ivory trafficking network in France and Europe?

Since 2011, 82 rhinoceros horns were stolen in Europe, including 7 in France. These thefts are attributed to organized criminal networks. They target museums, antique dealers, auction rooms, taxidermists, and private collectors. These thefts are sometimes accompanied by violence. In zoos, rhinos are under increased protection. The development of thefts is parallel to the increase of poaching in Africa and Asia and the increased price per kilo of the rhinoceros horn on the legal and black markets. Some experts suggest the price goes up to 65,000 euros per kilo.

Compromise and Rhetoric is killing world’s elephants

Despite the praise for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora on its 40th anniversary, CITES has failed to protect the elephant. African elephant populations are under siege and in decline primarily to satiate the demand for ivory in Asia. In 2011 alone, around 25,000 elephants or more were slaughtered for their ivory and the killing was even worse in 2012.

Enough is enough. Several conservation and animal welfare organizations, including the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF-United Kingdom), Elephant Advocacy League (United States), Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA-United Kingdom), Fondation Franz Weber (FFW-Switzerland), International Ranger Federation (Australia), Last Great Ape Organization (LAGA-Cameroon), Pro Wildlife (Germany), Robin des Bois (France), Youth for Conservation (Kenya) attending the 16th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties are outraged by the failure of CITES to stop the poaching of African elephants, particularly African elephants. Instead of demanding an end to the markets driving the slaughter, CITES Parties are coming up with weak compromises in a feeble attempt to stop the poaching. But China, the single country most responsible for the crisis due to its burgeoning ivory market, won’t even concede its responsibility as the main problem. Nor will CITES admit that previous decisions allowing “legal” sale of ivory to China and Japan have stimulated, not reduced, demand and directly contributed to the poaching.

Only in French.

Only in French.

The decision to put to death two Asian elephants from the Golden Head Zoo (zoo de la Tête d’Or) in Lyon, France, would be tainted with illegality and cruelty.

Cruelty
Each year, thousands of elephants are put to death in Africa and Asia as a result of illegal ivory trade and the regression of their natural habitats. The execution of these two elephants, aged 42 and 43, can be added to that number. These elephants have reached a very respectable age for the elephantine species; only a small number of specimens in the wild have in this period the chance to grow as old.

Only in French.

The 15th conference of the parties of CITES has just ended in Doha. The porbeagle shark was put back on the table following the intervention of Singapore, which believed that there had been technical problems with the first vote. The debates were evaded by a procedural trick and the proposal passed directly to vote. The proposal was rejected by three votes. Iceland, candidate to join the European Union, and Japan, which will host the Conference for Biodiversity next October, in showing the best intentions in the world, warmly hugged each other in the middle of the conference room to congratulate themselves on this failure of Europe and the protectors of sharks. Associations such as the Japan Fisheries Association quickly left to celebrate the result of intense lobbying. Installed to protect endangered species of wild fauna and flora from the excesses of international trade, CITES has progressively become a convention of the protection of trade. The delegate from Guinea summarized yesterday in plenary an analysis of a lot of the participants: “My comment is very bitter; I notice after having carefully listened to the debates that economic considerations dominate the environmental vision.” Decisions on marine species confirmed that the sea is considered by the international community as a reservoir for food, healing and decoration, but when it is time to protect it, it’s almost deserted, just like around Doha.

The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will take place in Doha, Qatar, from the 13th to 25th of March 2010. As with every precedent session since 1989, Robin des Bois will attend.

Currently at CITES there are 175 Parties. Decisions are based on a majority vote of 2/3. Appendix I bans international trade, Appendix II regulates trade and Appendix III is linked to an individual Party decision who asks other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. Robin des Bois’s summary of the previous CITES session is available on line at the following link (pdf in French).

Only in French.