In Nigeria, a government team has seized elephant tusks and pangolin scales to check their smuggling. The elephant tusks were found in a road side market in Enugu state, while the scales were found in a fishing boat believed to have been carrying them from the country of Congo. The pangolin scales were smuggled from the Democratic Republic of Congo and were found in the fishing boat.
As you may know, poaching of endangered species is a growing problem in Africa and, in some cases, it involves the illegal smuggling of ivory and pangolin scales. To combat the problem, the Nigeria Wildlife Resources Conservation Agency (NWRCA) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in collaboration with the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) have established a task force to combat poaching activities.
This week Nigeria has seized some very unusual items in the country’s ports. The items are reportedly smuggled from other African countries, and are certainly not ordinary. First, there are the elephant tusks – the tusks of Africa’s largest land mammal are hard to get hold of. They are so rare that they cannot be legally imported into the country. As for the pangolin scales, these are the scales of the pangolin, which are increasingly under threat from poachers across Africa.
Smugglers are after elephant tusks and pangolin scales in Nigeria, where illegal wildlife trade is widespread. These products are in high demand on the worldwide market. These bring in a lot of money, but they’re unlawful. It encourages unscrupulous elements to take advantage of the situation. They resort to poaching, murdering the animals, collecting the body parts, and selling the body parts for a profit. Nigerian police recently confiscated more than 17 tonnes of these components, which were packed into almost 200 sacks.
Elephants are large creatures that are popular with visitors.
They travel from all over the world to experience an elephant safari in Africa. Poachers, on the other hand, murder the animals in order to get their tusks. Their corpses, without the tusks, lay in the wild, presenting a pitiful image that exemplifies human avarice.
According to Sky News, the seizure had place in Lekki. This location is close to Lagos, Nigeria’s major port. It was a collaborative endeavor between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, as well as international organizations. Illegal wildlife trade is something the government wants to put an end to. In December 2016, China banned the ivory trade, thus putting an end to elephant poaching.
The elephant’s survival in Africa is in jeopardy.
Poaching for the illicit ivory trade is a significant danger to the African elephant, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Poachers kill almost 20,000 of them each year for their tusks, putting their existence in jeopardy. There were 12 million of them a century ago, but that number has since dropped to about 400,000. This demonstrates the scope of the issue. The authorities seek to change this.
The pangolin is also mentioned by Sky News. It is on the severely endangered species list.
Elephant tusks are very expensive. It’s the scales of the pangolins. The demand stems from the fact that these substances are used in traditional Chinese medicine. The Comptroller-General of Customs is Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali. He intends to prosecute the poachers. An article in the media in May 2017 said that the African elephant is an endangered species.
Like the pangolin, the elephant is dying slowly.
Elephants and pangolins are two animals whose existence is a source of worldwide concern.
Deforestation, which is caused by humans, is one of them. It occurs when man, in the name of progress, destroys the forest. They intrude on wildlife’s domain, driving them out of their natural environment and causing them to become endangered.
Poachers utilize Nigeria to transport African pangolins to Asia, according to Sky News. This is revealed by law enforcement officers and wildlife specialists. They attribute it to issues such as permeable borders, weak law enforcement, and corruption. It seems that Nigerian criminal networks control the bulk of Africa’s illicit commerce. Poaching and habitat degradation are other concerns to the African elephant, which may lead to extinction.
Poachers in Nigeria are seeking elephant tusks and pangolin scales.
According to VOA, traffickers in Nigeria are making a killing off of pangolin scales and elephant tusks. A herd of elephants was moved from a zoo in the United Kingdom to the wilds of Kenya last month. These items are in high demand in Asian nations, where they are used as jewelry or for traditional medicinal reasons. In Africa, the main transit hubs for wildlife trafficking are Nigeria and Congo. These were formerly in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Nigerian Customs Service’s public relations officer is Joseph Attah. “The demand is not in Nigeria, the source is not in Nigeria, and those engaged, the most of them are not even Nigerians,” he explained during a press conference with reporters. Smugglers utilized Nigeria as a transit route, according to him. The government is collaborating with foreign partners to de-stigmatize its status as a transportation hub.
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Nigerian authorities have confiscated some of the most valuable items under the law, including elephant tusks and pangolins scales. These items are helpful in building up the economy of Nigeria and they are also very important for the development of the country. For example, the scales are used for many different applications in various industries as well as medicine.. Read more about npfl and let us know what you think.
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