Mwangi Githahu
26 October 2003
Nairobi — 'Deadly' international gangs said to be behind the smuggling of cargo to America and the UK
A Kenya Wildlife Service worker displays some of wire used to make snares in the Nairobi National Park to trap the wild animals: Wildlife are being trapped in a most despicable manner in various game parks and killed for their meat.
Unauthorised trade in game meat is reportedly the second largest illegal business in the world after drug trafficking, and the focus is now turning on Kenya, with the populations of animals having been decimated in West and Central Africa.
Mr Ian Saunders of the African Environmental Film Foundation made this shocking revelations during a talk in Nairobi on the "Bushmeat Crisis" in Kenya. It was hosted by the Kenya Wildlife Coalition (KWC).
A former soldier-turned-conservationist, Mr Saunders wants Kenyans sensitised on the illegal bushmeat business. He showed a video of elephants with amputated legs and trunks caught in snares set by hunters trying to catch smaller game such as gazelle.
Mr Saunders says: "If the warning signs in the other countries are not heeded, I believe Kenya will not only have to contend with an increased threat to its wildlife, but also an increased threat to people's lives.
"When one talks of the illegal bushmeat trade, it is the countries of West and Central Africa that immediately spring to mind. But it is these countries and those further afield that pose an external threat to one of Kenya's greatest natural resources: Wildlife."
According to an Irish non-governmental organisation, the illegal global bushmeat trade is worth more than $5.5 billion a year. The meat is smuggled from Africa to various destinations in Europe and the United States.
Mr Saunders fears that countries such as Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d'Ivoire could soon become like Nigeria, where the numbers of game become very low.
"The eyes of the cartels will turn to other countries such as Kenya to supply the massive demand," he warns.
The conservationist says bushmeat is probably already being exported from Kenya. For evidence, he points at the refrigerated containers that leave Kenya daily for Europe, carrying flowers, fruits and vegetables. According to a recent report by Mr Clive Lawrence, Heathrow Airport's meat transport director, only three per cent of vegetable imports to the United Kingdom are checked by Customs due to lack of adequate manpower.
Says Mr Saunders: "It's a route which is maybe being exploited by criminals or one that will be if the international demand exceeds supply in other parts of Africa."
According to Mr Saunders, gangs or cartels operate from Nigeria and Ghana. In 2001, West Africans Mobolaji Osakuade and Rose Kinnane were jailed in the UK for smuggling and illegally selling endangered species and bushmeat in London's Dalston Market.
An undercover operation exposed the two after they attempted to sell to covert reporters a Tantalus monkey for £350. Osakuade had even boasted that he could offer a male lion for sale at £5,000. "I can get anybody anything they want provided they pay for it," he said.
Their market is thought to be primarily African expatriates in the UK.
Says Saunders: "Probably the most macabre was the boast by one of the traders that he could get a chimpanzee's hand or even a human head, and this to a jury at Southwark Crown Court, South-East London, England."
British detectives believe that gangs from West Africa involved in the smuggling of bushmeat also traffic in children and adults for ritual killings in Europe. British police uncovered more than 2 tonnes of bushmeat, including crocodile heads.
Mr Saunders adds: "After a raid in Liverpool, England, on a gang trafficking in illegal bushmeat, police officers uncovered more than £1 million worth of cocaine. The people behind the illicit trade are "dangerous international criminals making huge amounts of money out of wildlife and the misery of others".
The KWC is made up of several NGOs. They include the African Environmental Film Foundation, the Born Free Foundation, the East African Wildlife Society, Youth for Conservation, Friends of Conservation, Pan African Conservation Network and the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust.
Other key speakers at the forum at the Amref Training Centre were Ms Winnie Kiiru, of the Born Free Foundation, and Mr Steve Itela from Youth for Conservation.
But just what exactly is bushmeat? According to a recent rapid survey (as opposed to a full scientific study) carried out by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), bushmeat is the term used to refer to meat from both the small and large wildlife species. These include rodents, birds, duikers, bush pigs, impala, gazelles, elephant and buffalo.
According to the IFAW survey, over time, the hunting of these wildlife species for commercial and domestic purposes has been on the rise. The survey concludes that this fact, coupled with deforestation and interference with nature, pose a grave danger to wildlife.
The IFAW survey was meant to establish the extent of bushmeat consumption in Kenya. Like the IFAW, other conservationists believe that one of the main causes of declining animal populations in much of Africa is this illicit trade.
Some participants argued that unless benefits to landholders were increased, and proceeds from wildlife used in community development, the animals would continue to be seen as a freely exploitable and uncared-for resource that benefits only those who get to it first.
Historically, in the East African region, bushmeat has been seen purely as a subsistence activity undertaken by traditional hunter/gatherer societies. The increasing human population, acute poverty and widespread unemployment, however, have led to a greater reliance on natural resources.
Bushmeat is in demand because it is generally cheaper than domestic meat. In various surveys, it was found that affordability was the main reason why rural households cited bushmeat as the most important meat protein source. The larger species are generally preferred due to the bigger quantities of meat per carcass.
Also, respondents in many areas surveyed showed a preference for their taste. With declining wildlife numbers, hunter's catch per effort has reduced in most survey areas. Profit motives and the increased value of bushmeat have led hunters to continue supply although the hunting effort required is now far greater.
To improve catch per effort, more sophisticated and unsustainable hunting methods are used such as wire snaring, night torch hunting, and the use of semi-automatic weapons.
According to a report by an NGO, Traffic, the year-round demand for bushmeat has resulted in the gradual erosion of traditional hunting seasons. Increased numbers of hunters and traders that rely on bushmeat revenues have led them to hunt and trade for longer periods of the year.
The Youth For Conservation group, working in tandem with the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust did some amazing research on snares and other hunting techniques. Speaking at the KWC gathering, the youths' programme officer Steve Itela defined hunting as "any act immediately directed at the killing, wounding, injuring or capture of any animal, and the taking or wilful molestation of any nest or eggs".
He explained: "Wire snaring is the traditional method of hunting, whereby nooses are set on game trails often leading to water. Snares are made of metal wires, wires stolen from electric fences, telephone lines, old tyres, thick winch cables, electric cables, nylon line, or vegetable fibres. They account for the destruction of anything moving in the bush from birds to elephants."
Before the meeting, the participants had been shown a collection of snares and traps and other devices used in the illegal killing of animals for bush meat at the entrance to the hall.
There was also an exhibition of photographs, showing the true horror of the inhumane way in which the animals were trapped and killed for their meat.
Mr Itela told the gathering that these devices of death are largely non-selective, explaining that a wire snare set for a small antelope could also cause the slow and agonising death of an elephant as the noose tightens and cuts deeper and deeper into a limb or the trunk.
Says he: "Whereas this traditional form of hunting used to be for the subsistence of impoverished families, today it has become commercialised with bushmeat being sold regionally and also internationally. Youth for Conservation and David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust de-snaring teams have removed 34,852 snares since 1999.
"According to a survey by Traffic, all hunters using snares reported a catch per effort of 1.539 kg per hour of effort, while hunter using traditional traps reported a catch effort of 0.723 kg per hour of effort. Hunters using night torching (use of powerful lights to blind animals combined with ringing a bell) reported 1.198 kg hour of hunting effort."
The type of snare set identifies the type of animal targeted. The hunters target giraffes by setting snares high up in trees to snag an animal around the neck. Setting thick steel cables snares laid on their trails catches rhinos and elephants. As the animal struggles to free itself, the snare tightens, holding it tightly to the tree.
The tighter the noose becomes the more the animal is strangled. In some instances a stricken animal could pull a tree down and on top of itself. In others, it could be held until it dies of suffocation, thirst or starvation or is killed by hunters who may turn up whilst it is still live. Youth for Conservation has documented seven elephants in the Maasai Mara with chopped trunks.
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