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Africa : Tanzania: Police verify reports of animals being massacred in the Selous
on 2009/11/24 2:11:50

AN airborne operation mounted by police and wildlife authorities has uncovered the massive slaughter of animals in the Selous Game Reserve stretching to the south of the country.

'Operation Butterfly', led by the commander of special police operations, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Venance Tossi, is aimed at cracking down on poaching gangs in the world-famous wildlife sanctuary.

DCP Tossi and his team have been in the Selous for the past month to hunt poachers following the publication of an investigative article by THISDAY on how the vast game reserve has been turned into a veritable killing field. THISDAY has learnt that the operation is being carried out using a police helicopter and small planes provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Police have since confirmed that dozens of animal carcases, including elephants, giraffes, and hippopotamus, are scattered all over the reserve as a result of the widespread poaching activities. It is understood that the elephants in particular are being slaughtered purely for their ivory.

The director of the wildlife division in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Erasimus Tarimo, told THISDAY in a telephone interview yesterday that more details on the operation will be released today.
The special police operation has so far led to the arrest of at least three suspects, on allegations of illegal possession of 28 elephant tusks weighing more than 61.5 kilos in Liwale, Lindi Region. They have been identified as Festo Joseph Sakawa (25), Michael Mathia Chilagane (32), and Salum Omari Manitu (42) – all described as businessmen based in Dar es Salaam.

They were arrested while trying to transport the jumbo tusks from Lindi to Dar es Salaam, according to police reports.
Police have also confiscated another 20 tusks weighing 39 kilos, found at a guest house in Lindi.

Reports abound of a fresh spike in elephant poaching in recent years, with some disgruntled game wardens in the Selous said to be turning a blind eye to illegal hunting activities.

It is believed that an average of 50 elephants are being killed in the Selous each month. Police said they were unable to confirm this figure, but maintained that the special operation against poaching gangs has already managed to curb the killings to a significant extent..
Against this backdrop of official anti-poaching activity, there are new reports that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism now wants the international ban on ivory trade lifted.

Tanzania and Zambia have jointly petitioned the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to further open up the trade by allowing them to sell off their ivory stocks.

The CITES ban on ivory trade was imposed some 20 years ago. Animal rights campaigners say the ban has been instrumental in allowing the elephant population in Tanzania to recover from massive poaching way back in the 1980s.

In March this year, authorities in Vietnam seized 6.3 tonnes of ivory originating from Tanzania, followed by another 2 tonnes, also coming from Tanzania, seized in August.

Authorities in the Philippines announced last week that they plan to file criminal charges against two suspects over the alleged smuggling of elephant tusks worth a staggering $5.12m (approx. 6.8bn/-) from Tanzania to the southeast Asian country.

Customs police on Thursday lodged a complaint against the two Filipino suspects over the alleged illegal importation of about 3.5 tonnes of elephant tusks from Tanzania.

Two shipments of ivory that were fraudulently declared as plastics products, arrived at the port of Manila from Dar es Salaam in March this year, and were seized after a customs inspection, the Philippines justice department said in a statement.

Customs police estimated the shipment was worth at least $5.12m. They want the alleged importer, Antonio Vinavillas, and the alleged customs broker for the tusks, Marilyn Pacheco, indicted for smuggling

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