CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION AGAINST POACHING

The WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) has called for urgent international action in the wake of new statistics on elephant poaching in Mozambique.According to an aerial survey commissioned by WWF-Mozambique, up to 900 elephants died in the north of the county over a three year period. The survey of the Quirimbas National Park found that between 480 and 900 elephants died in the area between 2011 and 2013. From the air the researchers saw that almost half the elephants sighted were carcasses. According to Anabela Rodriguez, Country Director of WWF-Mozambique, “the elephant deaths are probably due to illegal hunting and the losses are likely to be devastating to the population”.WWF International’s Policy Expert on Wildlife Trade, Colman O’Criodain lamented, “Mozambique has emerged as one of the main places of the slaughter of elephants and ivory transit in Africa and as a profitable warehouse for transit and export of rhino horn for the Asian markets”. He added, “we need to see urgent action and ongoing commitment to combat these illegal activities”.In April the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, passed a bill dramatically increasing the penalties for poaching, particularly of endangered species, such as rhinoceros or elephants.The law proposes prison sentences of between eight and 12 years for people who kill, without a licence, any protected species, or who use banned fishing gear, such as explosives or toxic substances. The same penalty will apply to people who set forests or woodlands on fire (poachers often use fire to drive animals into the open).Anybody using illegal firearms or snares, even if they do not catch protected species, can be sentenced to two years imprisonment.In addition, those found guilty of the illegal exploitation, storage, transport or sale of protected species will be fined between 50 and 1,000 times the minimum monthly national wage in force in the public administration (at current exchange rates, that would be a fine of between 4,425 and 88,500 US dollars).