{"id":1179,"date":"2019-08-03T01:55:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-03T01:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/?p=1179"},"modified":"2019-08-03T01:55:17","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T01:55:17","slug":"zimbabwe-embroiled-in-another-illegal-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/2019\/08\/03\/zimbabwe-embroiled-in-another-illegal-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe Embroiled in Another &#8216;Illegal&#8217; Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>THIRTY SEVEN<\/strong> wild-caught juvenile elephants are currently incarcerated near Hwange National Park pending a stalled export to zoos in China and Pakistan, according to Melissa Reitz of the South African-based Conservation Action Trust.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is in addition to the approximately 125 baby elephants Zimbabwe has sold to Asia since 2012, despite ongoing international resistance and objections by animal welfare organisations worldwide, including the Zimbabwean National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), who state that the cruel exports have no conservation value to Zimbabwe&#8217;s elephant populations.<\/p>\n<p>Over US$ 2.5 million has been made from elephant sales so far. It is unclear whether this money has benefitted wildlife conservation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/travelstart.pxf.io\/c\/1428617\/436316\/5446\"&gt;&lt;img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"\/\/a.impactradius-go.com\/display-ad\/5446-436316\" alt=\"Travelstart Domestic\" width=\"688\" height=\"64\" border=\"0\" \/&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;img style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" src=\"\/\/travelstart.pxf.io\/i\/1428617\/436316\/5446\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Chairman of the&nbsp; NSPCA Ed Lanca, says &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>According to the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix II listing, under which Zimbabwe&#8217;s elephants are listed, trade in live elephants is allowed only <em><strong>&#8220;to appropriate and acceptable destinations that promote in situ conservation&#8221;.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe class='youtube-player' width='910' height='512' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DdhrAozBA2o?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent' allowfullscreen='true' style='border:0;' sandbox='allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>WATCH&#8230;&#8230;how Zimbabwe baby elephants are captured and exported to Europe and Asia,<em> courtesy of The Guardian<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;\u2026 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,&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<p>The International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) African Elephant Specialist Group said in 2003: &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>CITES regulations also state that elephant exports must &#8220;not be detrimental to the survival of the species&#8221; and the animals must be &#8220;legally obtained.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>An interdict to halt the export of the 37 elephants has been launched by the People and Earth Solidarity Law Network (PESLawyers) in Harare.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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&#8217;s Wildlife Act are clear and the capture and export of wildlife has to meet a specific criteria, the current crises (of) &#8220;snatch and go&#8221; (of wild baby elephants) with neither transparency nor accountability is unlawful,&#8221; says a letter addressed to the European Parliament from wildlife activist, Sharon Hoole, requesting CITES to investigate unlawful permitting.<\/p>\n<p>Brett Mitchell of the Elephant Reintegration Trust says that without a well-planned and costly reintegration programme &#8220;the likelihood of these calves surviving on their own (in the wild) or finding their family groups again is extremely low and they&#8217;re unlikely to be accepted into another wild herd.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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 &#8211; and live animals),but removing the current restrictions limiting ivory trade.<\/p>\n<p>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 &#8220;for primarily commercial purposes&#8221;, these countries are requesting unrestricted trade in elephants.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<div id=\"emojics-root\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THIRTY SEVEN wild-caught juvenile elephants are currently incarcerated near Hwange National Park pending a stalled export to zoos in China and Pakistan, according to Melissa Reitz of the South African-based Conservation Action Trust.&nbsp; This is in addition to the approximately 125 baby elephants Zimbabwe has &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[81,16],"tags":[157,133,158],"class_list":["post-1179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservation","category-international","tag-asia","tag-elephant","tag-ivory"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zimwonders.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/baby-elephants-1.jpg?fit=632%2C408&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVs5M-j1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":739,"url":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/2019\/05\/01\/zimbabwe-to-attend-elephant-summit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":0},"title":"Zimbabwe to Attend Elephant Summit","date":"May 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Zimbabwe will attend an Elephant Summit, courtesy of the Botswana Government,\u00a0 to discuss the adoption of a common position in the Southern African region, with to Botswana's proposition to lift the ban on elephant hunting ahead of the CITES meting later this monththe The conference will run from 3 -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CONSERVATION&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/zimwonders.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/trophy-hunting.jpg?fit=1190%2C847&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1230,"url":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/2019\/08\/21\/to-trade-or-not-to-trade-wither-cop18\/","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":1},"title":"To Trade or Not To Trade - Wither CoP18","date":"August 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"CONTRARY to what the governments of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have suggested ahead of the 18th\u00a0Conference of the Parties to Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and Flora\u00a0(CITES), poaching and ivory trafficking continue to pose a very real threat to elephant populations in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;FEATURES&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/zimwonders.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/elef.jpg?fit=1200%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1210,"url":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/2019\/08\/12\/spare-a-thought-for-the-elephant-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":2},"title":"Spare a Thought for the Elephant Today","date":"August 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"ON AUGUST 12, 2012, the inaugural World Elephant Day was launched to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants. The elephant is loved, revered and respected by people and cultures around the world, yet we balance on the brink of seeing the last of this magnificent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CONSERVATION&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zimwonders.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/baby-elephants.jpg?fit=634%2C421&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1035,"url":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/2019\/07\/08\/seven-elephants-found-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":3},"title":"Seven Elephants Found Dead","date":"July 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"IN a sad development, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) is investigating a suspected case of cyanide poisoning after seven elephant carcasses were reportedly found in an advanced state of decomposition in the Hwange National Park on Saturday. Rangers on patrol near the border with Botswana in an area\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CONSERVATION&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/zimwonders.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/poisoined-elephant.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1801,"url":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/2021\/08\/12\/world-elephant-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":4},"title":"World Elephant Day","date":"August 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 On August 12 World Elephant Day\u00a0asks you to help conserve and protect elephants from the numerous threats they face. On August 12, 2012, the inaugural\u00a0World Elephant Day\u00a0was launched to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.\u00a0The elephant is loved, revered and respected by people and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CONSERVATION&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Elephant","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zimwonders.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/unnamed-1-3.jpg?fit=600%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1214,"url":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/2019\/08\/12\/watch-and-share-on-this-world-elephant-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":1179,"position":5},"title":"Watch and Share on this World Elephant Day","date":"August 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wAgQYk__gIg","rel":"","context":"In &quot;CONSERVATION&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/wAgQYk__gIg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1181,"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions\/1181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimwonders.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}