Covid threatening a wildlife catastrophe
EVGENY LEBEDEV: WHY WE MUST ACT NOW TO SAVE SPECIES FROM POACHING
WILDLIFE experts have alerted the Evening Standard that a global conservation “crisis” is unfolding as the disruption caused by Covid-19 causes a surge in the poaching of species for the illegal wildlife trade.
India, Nepal and Pakistan and several African countries have all reported a poaching spike. In Botswana, it is warned, as many as 10 per cent of the country’s 500 rhinoceroses may have been wiped out since March.
A number of wildlife protection programmes have been curtailed due to the abrupt halt of tourism revenue as a result of Covid-19, leaving endangered animals more vulnerable to slaughter.
Lockdown restrictions have also limited the ability of conservationists and rangers to monitor many poaching hot spots. Trisha Ghose, project director of not-for-profit The Habitats Trust, warned of a 151 per cent increase in poaching in some parts of India. “Species are being wiped out by organised trade networks,” she said. “New poaching techniques are emerging faster than we can respond to them.”
Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of Conservation Through Public Health, said that great apes in East
Africa were also potentially under threat: “Poaching levels have gone up so much. Normally poachers would not go near the gorillas because they fear getting caught.”
Map Ives, of Rhino Conservation Botswana, said of the post-Covid-19 situation: “It’s a bloody calamity. It’s an absolute crisis.” The revelation of the potential scale of the conservation crisis caused by the pandemic shows the urgency of the Evening Standard and The Independent’s Stop The Illegal
Wildlife Trade campaign. Proprietor Evgeny Lebedev launched the campaign to call for an international effort to clamp down on the illegal trade of wild animals, which remains one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Today it will also start raising funds to pay for vital wildlife-protection projects implemented by the campaign’s partner charity Space for
Giants. This will target the Covid-caused conservation emergency and work to stop the poaching and trafficking.
Covid-19 prevention measures are hampering the collection of data to uncover the scale of the suspected poaching surge, and wildlife rangers are bravely continuing patrols wherever possible despite the challenges posed by anti-pandemic regulations.
But reports of an increase in poaching have occurred worldwide. A study by wildlife trade monitoring organisation Traffic found that poaching in India more than doubled in the first six weeks of lockdown, including the killing of nine leopards. A one-horned rhino was recently shot in Kaziranga National Park in northeastern India. Poaching cases have also jumped sharply in Pakistan and Nepal, where six musk deer were found dead in the Sagarmatha National Park. In Africa, Ethiopia saw a steep rise in elephant poaching, with six killed in a single day in May. Last month, in Niger more than 40 dorcas gazelles died in what locals described as a “massacre”.
Uganda wildlife authority head, Sam Mwandha, said criminals involved in the illegal trade of wildlife were exploiting the Covid-19 situation. Uganda yesterday announced the crisis’s latest wildlife victim, an elephant killed for its ivory by a snare in Murchison Falls National Park.
During March to April this year, 822 snares laid by poachers to trap wildlife were found in Bwindi park, compared with just 21 in the same period last year.
“Funds are needed to address poaching, encroachment and illegal wildlife trade,” Mr Mwandha said.
Dr Max Graham, founder and CEO of Space for Giants, said: “The international community must work together to eradicate the factors that allow the illegal trade of wildlife to perpetuate and help protect the world’s wildlife. Otherwise, we are just at the beginning of an ecological emergency.”
THE Evening Standard’s campaign Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade is fighting to stop the tragic loss of some of the world’s endangered animals. It is raising attention to what’s going on and helping to fund a fightback.
As we report today, the last few months have made that task even more urgent. Poaching in parts of Africa has soared as gangs exploit the coronavirus crisis. It is thought that 10 per cent of Botswana’s rhinos have been killed, leaving the species even closer to extinction. In Ethiopia, elephant poaching is rising. In Niger, 40 very rare dorcas gazelles are thought to have been killed in a month. Rates of illegal killing have risen in India and
Pakistan too.
On top of all this, the organisations and reserves which work so hard for conservation are in crisis themselves. They are struggling to raise funds, and a collapse in tourism means that people desperate for income are being tempted to join the illegal trade in wildlife. As poaching soars, they are finding it hard to respond.
It’s a grim picture: but there are always moments of hope. Dedicated people are trying to change the situation for the better. Our campaign is helping. One thing that the pandemic has show us is the need to respect nature. Caring for our most precious wildlife matters more than ever.
One thing that the pandemic has shown us is the need to respect nature