Zimbabwe Embroiled in Another ‘Illegal’ Sale

Chairman of the  NSPCA Ed Lanca, says “There is no sound basis for the removal of wild-caught baby elephants to facilities that are ill equipped nor prepared to provide adequate long-term care for these animals.”

According to the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix II listing, under which Zimbabwe’s elephants are listed, trade in live elephants is allowed only “to appropriate and acceptable destinations that promote in situ conservation”.

But research by elephant experts confirm that zoos are unable to provide for the physical and emotional welfare of elephants, leading to high mortality rates and ineffectual breeding of captive elephants and thus undermining conservation efforts.

WATCH……how Zimbabwe baby elephants are captured and exported to Europe and Asia, courtesy of The Guardian

“… zoos, as they currently exist, are not suitably equipped to house and care for, and should not be considered appropriate and acceptable destinations for, live, wild-sourced African elephants,” says a CITES report on International Trade in live and wild-caught African elephants by Keith Lindsey of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants and Iris Ho of Humane Society International.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) African Elephant Specialist Group said in 2003: “Believing there to be no direct benefit for in situ conservation of African elephants, the African Elephant Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission does not endorse the removal of African elephants from the wild for any captive use.”

CITES regulations also state that elephant exports must “not be detrimental to the survival of the species” and the animals must be “legally obtained.”

But Zimbabwean NGO, PESLawyers says that the elephant trade permits are illegal, in contravention to national law and CITES regulations since due process and public participation has been ignored.

An interdict to halt the export of the 37 elephants has been launched by the People and Earth Solidarity Law Network (PESLawyers) in Harare.

“CITES regulations are being broken with no regard and no address to the flouting of terms by both Zimbabwe and China. National Laws (of) Zimbabwe’s Wildlife Act are clear and the capture and export of wildlife has to meet a specific criteria, the current crises (of) “snatch and go” (of wild baby elephants) with neither transparency nor accountability is unlawful,” says a letter addressed to the European Parliament from wildlife activist, Sharon Hoole, requesting CITES to investigate unlawful permitting.

Brett Mitchell of the Elephant Reintegration Trust says that without a well-planned and costly reintegration programme “the likelihood of these calves surviving on their own (in the wild) or finding their family groups again is extremely low and they’re unlikely to be accepted into another wild herd.”

At the upcoming CITES 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) this month, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, are proposing that their elephants remain listed as Appendix II ( which allows trade in hunting trophies, animal products, ivory – and live animals),but removing the current restrictions limiting ivory trade.

This means that while elephants in all other African range states remain on Appendix I which does not allow the trade of ivory and live elephants “for primarily commercial purposes”, these countries are requesting unrestricted trade in elephants.

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