Elephant poachers nabbed

2005-09-06 14:03

Nairobi - Rangers from Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) have arrested three suspects and seized 22 elephant tusks they were trying to sell in the southeastern part of the country, KWS said on Tuesday.

KWS spokesperson Gichuki Kabukuru said undercover rangers arrested the men in the town of Garsen, about 390km southeast of the capital Nairobi, last Thursday after posing as prospective buyers.

"We had a tip off from our intelligence network that some men were looking for buyers so we mobilised our teams who went and posed as buyers. Fortunately the men fell for our trick," he said.

"After the transaction that involved the 22 tusks, we arrested three men but two of them managed to escape. We also recovered the tusks," he added.

KWS officials said investigations were underway to find the origin of the tusks, but said it appeared they could have come from poaching.

Wildlife trophies illegal

Kabukuru explained that the three men would be charged in court this week with possession of illegal trophies.

Kenya's elephant population has jumped by about 10% in the past three years to reach 30 000 largely due to a strict clampdown on poaching in the East African nation, according to KWS.

Officials have attributed the rise in elephant population to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), a 1989 treaty that regulates the wildlife trade, which has cooled the appetite for wildlife trophies, notably from elephants.

In October last year, Kenya mounted an unsuccessful bid to impose a 20-year moratorium on commercial ivory trade at a meeting in Bangkok of Cites parties.

At the time, Kenya argued that the failure of the ban would encourage poaching in Africa, further endangering between 400 000 and 660 000 elephants.

Instead of a moratorium, several southern Africa countries - Botswana, Namibia and South Africa - got the go-ahead to begin commercial trade in elephant leather goods.

An international trade ban was agreed in 1989 after a massive illegal industry in ivory saw elephant populations plunge in the 1970s and 1980s.

- AFP