Citing soaring poaching rates, Kenya wildlife officials square off against proposed ivory sale
TSAVO EAST NATIONAL PARK, Kenya — Tracking the wounded elephant to its death bed was easy for the ranger. Hit by a poison arrow, the huge mammal could only drag its hind leg, creating a wide gash across the bush.
Poachers' footprints were all around the kill, but the hunters did not have time to remove the valuable ivory tusks before Mohamed Kamanya's team of armed rangers arrived. Instead, the emotional task fell to the rangers, who cut off the tusks so they could not be sold.
Beginning this weekend, the international community will debate proposals from Tanzania and Zambia to allow a one-time sale of ivory to clear out stockpiles. Kenyan officials are warning that if sales are approved in neighboring countries, elephant poaching will soar.
"We totally believe that any experiments to allow partial lifting of (the) international ban in ivory trade stimulates elephant poaching and leads to ivory laundering," the Kenyan Wildlife Service's Patrick Omandi said. "Indeed there has been an increase in poaching across the entire continent, with some countries losing their entire population."