Abolition of legal and illegal hunting of elephants, jail and fines millions to hunters

Poaching reduces the elephant population in Mozambique's reserve by half, and between 2010 and 2017, 29 tons of ivory have been seized from this African country. Attracted by the commercial value of ivory, poachers are decimating the elephant population in Mozambique. So far this year, 110 of these animals were killed in the reserve of Niassa, the largest conservation area in the country, located in the northern provinces of Cabo Delgado and Niassa. The number of specimens has gone from 3,675 in 2016 to between 1,200 and 1,600 today in this area, according to a government aerial census and a calculation of this reserve, a place of conservation where these placental mammals are found. This African state is one of the most affected by the activity of poachers and the illegal trafficking of ivory.

The African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) is considered an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, between January 2010 and September 2017, 29 tons of ivory from Mozambique have been seized, according to recent data from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). CITIES announced last Friday the closure of the national ivory market in China, which will take place at the end of 2017. Last year, 183 countries of the convention requested the closure of those ivory markets in those places that contributed to poaching and to the illegal trade of this material.

So far this year there have been 271 elephants killed in all conservation areas of Mozambique by hunters, although the actual figure may be higher, as reported by the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC). Last week, 14 specimens were killed and their horns uprooted, warned the Alliance for the Conservation of Niassa, a non-governmental organization that oversees a third of the reserve.

"We are pleased to see how many countries have listened to the petition. There is still reason to hope, "said the Secretary General of CITES, John E. Scanlon. Scanlon has detailed that poaching in East Africa has reached figures prior to 2008 and in Central and West Africa "the levels remain too high." However, the secretary general has stated that the price of ivory in the illegal market has fallen significantly and elephant poaching in Africa has declined for the fifth consecutive year.

The reserve has denounced that the traffickers are equipped with machine guns and high precision weapons and that the few guards of the reserve, which have shotguns, can not protect the 42,000 square kilometers of the area. This year, only one hunter has been detained in Niassa, which borders Tanzania for 300 kilometers.

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