Gabon
seizes 200kg of poached ivory in what could be biggest haul ever
Two
men – including one who works for the Gabon’s forest department –
arrested after huge haul of ivory seized by authorities fighting
poaching
Reuters
Wednesday 9 December
2015 01.52 GMT
The central African
state of Gabon, home to half of Africa’s endangered forest
elephants, has impounded more than 200kg (440lb) of ivory in what may
be its largest seizure ever.
Gabon is seeking to
promote ecotourism and has poured money into protecting its 50,000
forest elephants, prized by ivory poachers for their particularly
hard, straight tusks.
Elephant numbers
have been falling dramatically in nearby Democratic Republic of Congo
and Central African Republic.
“We can confirm
the seizure of around 200kg of ivory, which represents about 20
elephants,” said government spokesman Alain Claude Bilie By Nzé.
The conservation
group Eagle said two Gabonese men originally from Nigeria and
Cameroon had been arrested on Monday.
Professor Lee White
from Gabon’s National Agency for National Parks said one of the
suspects worked for Gabon’s water and forest department.
Bilie By Nzé said
the seizure did not necessarily show that poaching was getting worse
in Gabon, since the elephants might have been killed a long time ago.
Elephants in the
northern Minkebe national park have been particularly vulnerable in
recent years because it adjoins Cameroon, where anti-poaching
measures are more lax.
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