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| enjoying a bender on Marula fruit, credit R. Couper |
It will take a lot of money to protect dwindling wildlife populations from extinction because it is Mammon that is decimating their numbers. A prominent wildlife conservation group, the African Wildlife Foundation has pledged $25 million to combat illegal wildlife trade across the continent in the next four years. Turning the tide against the illegal trade in animal parts is at a critical juncture as underdeveloped African nations attempt to modernize their economies to support burgeoning human populations. The aide provided by the Foundation will help. Some populations of endangered and threatened species are beginning to stabilize according to Kaddu Sebunya, president of the organization attending a wildlife conference in London last week. He also emphasized the need for African solutions to the loss of habitat an illegal poaching problems.
Current protection projects include training sniffer dogs to detect illegal shipments. Training more rangers to patrol and protect is also on the agenda Perhaps more importantly, AWF is funneling some of the money to judges and prosecutors to give them the capacity to arrest, convict and incarcerate sometimes politically connected and influential poachers and traders.
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| the boys tie one on, credit R. Couper |
A positive development in the war on wildlife trade is that China's ban on ivory trading, in effect for nine months, seems to be having an effect. The demand for ivory in the biggest market country is dropping according to a survey funded by the World Wildlife Fund. According to that survey 72 percent of respondents said they would not purchase ivory compared to 80 percent last year before the ban went into effect. Every year 30,000 African elephants were slaughtered to supply the Chinese demand for ivory. The clamour grew worldwide for something to be done to prevent the elephants' extinction. In 2015 the leaders of China and the US signed an agreement to end the illegal sale of ivory in their countries. It is not clear from the survey what impact the ban is actually having on Chinese attitudes toward purchasing ivory. Only about 8% of the Chinese know about the ban.
