No 267 Wildlife Trade News 16th November 2014

Your daily dose of bad news about poaching,
wildlife and environmental crimes from around the world.

under the spotlight today ……………………

UN wildlife fight: 120 countries back Sunday Mirror campaign to crackdown on cruel ivory poachers (NA comment: Commendable though this is, keep in mind this support was given at (yet another) conference, therefore, if the past is anything to go by, barely any of these countries will walk their talk.)

No 267 Wildlife Trade News 16th November 2014

US helps African country’s fight against wildlife trafficking extract: The United States on Friday committed 600 million rand (about $54 million) to the fight against wildlife trafficking in Africa.

Kudat mini zoo shut down and animals confiscated SABAH/MALAYSIA . (NA COMMENT. What a fiasco. First the Sabah Wildlife Department have to be named and shamed by NGOs into doing work they are paid to do; then we see elsewhere animals are being stolen from an admittedly very shoddy zoo, which, every day breaks the law under the noses of dozy Perhilitan. And this is just the tip of the iceberg in Malaysia. This country will soon submit a fictitious report to CITES telling the Secretariat and Standing Committee what it wants to hear so they don’t have to sanction Malaysia – something they should have done years ago. http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/11/16/Kudat-mini-zoo-shut-down-and-animals-confiscated/

“Those who have the privilege to know

have the duty to act.”
? Albert Einstein

Embassy role in ivory smuggling branded ‘baseless’ extract: The Chinese Embassy in Burundi has branded a media report claiming it had conducted illegal ivory trade in Africa as "unreal and baseless". The ivory was seized by police at Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the smugglers arrested. (NA comment: Did you expect the Chinese to admit their guilt?! Did the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania get the idea from their friends in Burundi? Did the smugglers get to court and gaol in Malaysia – unlikely?)

Chinese Embassy Officials Accused of Smuggling Tons of Ivory on Xi’s Presidential Plane

(Photo : Reuters) Tanzanian women bid farewell to Chinese President Xi Jinping in front of the presidential plane in 2013. A damning new report accuses members of Xi’s delegation of smuggling thousands of pounds of ivory back into China on that same plane during the goodwill visit.
Read more: http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/21147/20141106/xi-jinping-chinese-officials-accused-of-smuggling-ivory-tanzania-presidential-plane-environmental-investigation-agency.htm#ixzz3IMZ0r6j9

Family offers R1m to catch rhino kingpins http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/family-offers-r1m-to-catch-rhino-kingpins-1.1780877#.VGdwysm6j4c

Poachers gun down adult rhino, take away horn in Assamhttp://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/poachers-gun-down-adult-rhino-take-away-horn-in-assam/

South Africa: No Decision On Trade of Rhino Horn http://allafrica.com/stories/201411150071.html

Export of unprocessed timber and illegal logging must immediately stop: Professor. BULGARIA EXTRACT: In his words, illegal logging and exports are carried out in colossal dimensions in Bulgaria. "Perhaps it is a 5 – to 10 million cubic meters per year. Nobody knows exactly, because everyone lies and hides information,” the Professor added. http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2014/11/15/354428/export-of-unprocessed-timber-and-illegal-logging-must-immediately-stop-professor.html

Tusk Conservation Awards: Protecting the forests of Kenya http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/safariandwildlifeholidays/11231377/Tusk-Conservation-Awards-Protecting-the-forests-of-Kenya.html

(Note: The Secretariat, Standing Committee and UNEP, appear, so far, to have turned both a blind eye and deaf ear to such abuse of the convention and wild animals. Are we witnessing a cover up or a bout of selective amnesia?)

Drop in Kakadu National Park wildlife numbers a significant concern, says International Union for the Conservation of Nature http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-15/kakadu-national-park-wildlife-drop-significant-concern-iucn-says/5893672

The Mythology of Conservation http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/mythology-conservation/

The dedicated bird conservationists in southern Vietnam park http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/24081/the-dedicated-bird-conservationists-in-southern-vietnam-park

65 million tourists visited Africa in 2013 http://www.mareeg.com/65-million-tourists-visited-africa-in-2013/

Another leopard drops dead at SGNP http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-another-leopard-drops-dead-at-sgnp-2035570

How the Kalahari bushmen and other tribespeople are being evicted to make way for ‘wilderness’ ‘Racist’ governments are forcing native people from their land, supposedly to benefit wildlife and environment, according to a report