Elephant killers get helping hand from weak laws on poaching

By Paul Wafula                 

KENYA: The Tenth Parliament handed poachers an extra lifeline to exploit lenient wildlife crime laws and continue with the illegal trade after it failed to pass a new legislation.

Conservationists have been banking on the passage of the Wildlife Policy and Wildlife Bill 2012 to reduce the rising cases of poaching.

They argue that lenient wildlife crime laws are attracting poachers to traffic animal trophies through Kenya because they know that even if they are arrested, the punishment will not be severe.

The laws are expected to provide a comprehensive institutional framework for managing wildlife, human-wildlife conflict, and compensation and ensure that wildlife is beneficial to those who live with it. The law also proposes severe punishment for poachers and people-led wildlife conservancy efforts.

Under the proposed law, offences relating to sport hunting will attract a fine not less than Sh2 million ($23,500) or imprisonment of not less than seven years while other crimes carry a fine of at least Sh500,000 ($5,800) and imprisonment of not less than two years.

“There has been a gradual escalation in elephant and rhino poaching since 2005 due to market dynamics influenced by escalation in the black market prices driven by demand in the Asian countries,” Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Director William Kiprono said.

Trade routes

Kenya is home to the largest population of rhinos in East and Central Africa, making it a main target for poachers. The country has a total rhino population of about 1,010, with 623 being black and 387 white rhinos.

“Kenya remains an important link on trade routes to international destinations for illicit consignments of wildlife products and particularly ivory. We are concerned with the use of our country’s entry and exit points for trafficking of wildlife products. In ivory trafficking, both Kenyan citizens and foreigners are involved and the destination of the ivory and rhino horns is mainly outside the country,” Mr Kiprono said.

Some of the ivories seized in Kenya in the recent past, according to KWS records, were on transit from Angola, South Sudan, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo, among others. Destinations for the ivory contraband included China, Nigeria, Malaysia and Thailand. 

For example, in June 2012, 345 pieces of elephant ivory weighing 601 kilograms stuffed in six wooden boxes were intercepted at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.  The contraband was being smuggled to Lagos, Nigeria.

In September 2012, a consignment of 62 pieces of raw elephant ivory weighing 255 kilograms was seized at the same Nairobi airport.

But it was last week’s seizure of a 20-feet container with 638 elephant tusks worth more than Sh100 million in Mombasa that brought to the fore the extent of the trade.