Fight against ivory trafficking intensifies

Ivory trafficker in police dragnet

A man was arrested in Yaounde on 7 November  2016 for illegal possession of over 15 ivory pieces including carved statuettes during an operation that was carried out by wildlife officials from the Centre Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife working in collaboration with elements of the 10th Police District. The man who sells carved ivory objects among other carved objects was arrested as he attempted to sell the ivory in a popular neighbourhood in Yaounde.

                Eyewitness accounts say he has been regularly selling ivory objects and this was bad fortune for him as this time around he fell into the hands of wildlife officials.

                The same accounts hold that the man is regularly supplied ivory objects by sculptors who buy raw ivory and carve them into objects. He attempted to resist arrest when wildlife officials and policemen swooped in on him and found plastic bags containing ivory objects.

                This was the third arrest involving carved ivory within one week. A couple of days earlier a trafficker was arrested in Melong in the Littoral Region with several pieces of carved ivory.

                Barely days earlier another trafficker was arrested in Dschang in the West Region and was found in illegal possession of several carved ivory objects. He owned a shop and investigations show this was the base from where he had been operating his illegal business for a long time now.

                These arrests fall within the framework of government’s wildlife law enforcement initiative that was started in 2003 with the prime objective being to track, arrest and prosecute all those breaking the 1994 wildlife law. According to the law, anyone found in possession of a protected wildlife species is considered to have killed or captured the animal and is liable to a prison term of up to 10 years.

                The aim of this law is to protect species that are seriously in danger of extinction following unsustained poaching and selling of their parts. The successful implementation of the law is assisted by an international wildlife law enforcement NGO. It is within this framework that government has successfully carried out hundred of arrest of wildlife law offenders among them several ivory traffickers.

                The rising price of ivory in the international market is stimulating the poaching of Africa’s elephants to satisfy demand in these markets. A recently published report says an elephant is killed every 15 minutes and in recent years around 30 000 elephants are killed each year for their ivory. This situation is rapidly deteriorating with the increase in ivory trafficking.

                Governments are tackling the problem through several measures. The Cameroon government burnt over 3 tons of ivory in April this year as an attempt to sending a strong message that protecting the elephants of the country is a top priority and that they are not carving in to traffickers.