22 April 2002
The recent upsurge in wildlife killings should be stopped or it will wipe out some species, a conservation group said yesterday.
Campaigns for lifting of the ban on ivory trade should be ignored, added the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFFAW).
The group's regional director, Mr Michael Wamithi, said animals like elephants might soon become extinct if poaching continued.
Mr Wamithi said Africa's elephant population of 50,000 was threatened with depletion.
The director was speaking during the annual general meeting of the Aberdare Conservation Action Group (AGAG) in Nyeri on Saturday.
The IFFAW and the Kenya Wildlife Service have recently argued that poachers were out to stockpile ivory in anticipation of the lifting of the ivory trade ban in this year's meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to be held in Chile in November.
This is one of the reasons that the KWS is giving to explain the rise in elephant killings in the country.
Recently, 15 elephants were shot dead in the Samburu Game Reserve by gangs the KWS said were poachers. Earlier, 10 others had been slaughtered in the Tsavo National Park.
Analysts ask why the killings should happen in Kenya, reputed for its superior system of monitoring National Parks compared to other African countries.
The director said even animals like chimpanzees and gorillas, known as the Great Apes, were not being spared by poachers.
"There are unchecked killings of these animals whose meat is a delicacy," Mr Wamithi said.
The meat of the apes, he said is popular in countries like Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Malawi, Uganda.
Ivory trade was banned in 1989 though countries like Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe were allowed.
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