Kenyan police seize 1 ton of ivory at airport, again

(AP) – May 6, 2011

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Authorities have seized the tusks of 58 elephants — totaling one ton of ivory — after sniffer dogs led investigators to containers at the country's main airport that were bound for Nigeria, officials said Friday.

Joseph Ngisa, the officer in charge of criminal investigation in the country's airports, said no arrests had been made. It was not immediately clear why the ivory was being transported to the West African nation; the most common destination for smuggled ivory is Asia.

"We are suspecting they could be from here or neighboring countries and we are on their toes. We must get them. They have killed many, many elephants and we cannot allow this," said Eunice Kiheko, the deputy police chief in charge of all airports.

Patrick Omondi, an expert on elephants at the Kenya Wildlife Service, says illegal ivory smuggling in Africa increased after the 2007 temporary lifting of a ban by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. It allowed a one-off sale by countries that had stockpiles of ivory from elephants that had died naturally or problem elephants killed by wildlife officials.

In 2007, Kenya lost only 47 elephants to poaching, Omondi said. In 2008 — the year the sale took place— Kenya lost 145 elephants. In 2009, 271 elephants were killed and 187 were killed in 2010. Omondi said Kenya has already lost 87 elephants this year.

In a separate incident on Friday, a Vietnamese customs official said 661 pounds (300 kilograms) of smuggled African elephant tusks had been intercepted at a northern port city.

Vu Hoang Duong, head of the customs division at Hai Phong's port, said the tusks from Tanzania were discovered in a container that had been declared as a rubber shipment. The tusks were sealed in iron boxes and hidden beneath scrap metal.

The shipment arrived in April, but Duong said officials discovered the tusks on Thursday. It was addressed to a company in northern Quang Ninh province. The company denied knowing the tusks were included in the shipment.

Vietnam is a common destination for illegal animal products, including African elephant tusks and rhino horns, which fetch large amounts for their perceived medicinal benefits. Last month, Thailand confiscated two tons of ivory valued at $3.3 million that had been shipped from Kenya.

"I am not trying to tell another country what to do, but just offering this idea. Instead of piling the ivory up and burning it, or storing it for 'eternity' they might want to consider this option:"

HIDE FANCIERS ENJOY ALASKA'S BEAR MARKET

LA TIMES 2003

Bill Slavin wanted something out of the ordinary to hang inside his new cabin in Alabama. An Alaska grizzly bear would be ideal, he decided; it would exude the mystique of the wild far north.

Grizzly hides are virtually impossible to buy in the Lower 48, where threatened species are aggressively protected. They're generally not for sale in Alaska either, Slavin was disappointed to learn during a business trip to Anchorage last year.

Then he heard about Alaska's annual hide, horn and antler auction--one of only two exceptions to a state law that prohibits the sale of bear hides. The Anchorage event was held outdoors last month under a steady snowfall. The auction is a highlight of the city's yearly Fur Rendezvous, a 10-day winter celebration.

Slavin successfully bid $775 for a six-foot grizzly with the head and paws attached, and $250 for a black bear hide. For another $1,500, a taxidermist will tan the skins, stuff the heads and turn the hides into bear rugs for Slavin's walls.

"I'm kicking myself for not buying another grizzly," he said. "It's a real Alaska bear, and that's a major attraction. We sure don't see anything like this in Alabama."

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game sponsors the sale, as well as a smaller auction in Fairbanks in March, under a law that allows the state to sell skins and trophies as surplus goods. The bears were killed in self-defense, by natural causes, by poachers, by vehicles and by wildlife officials responding to nuisance-bear calls.

"These animals died needlessly in some cases," said Michael McDonald, Fish and Game's assistant wildlife-management coordinator. "The biggest good that comes out of this is that the hides can be used. They don't have to be destroyed."

Alaska law allows the killing of brown bears--as grizzlies are known in parts of Alaska--and black bears by people who are properly licensed to hunt during specific seasons. In Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, hunting of grizzlies is prohibited because those populations are designated as threatened. Wyoming and Idaho allow hunters to sell hides of the more plentiful black bears, if they are legally taken.

British Columbia allows hunters to sell hides of grizzlies lawfully killed, according to Alex Dabrowski, spokesman for the provincial Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. The agency also sells surplus grizzly and other wildlife hides at public auctions.