Kenya seizes two tonnes of elephant ivory: officials

Yahoo News 23 Aug 10;

NAIROBI (AFP) – Kenyan authorities have seized two tonnes of raw elephant ivory and five rhino horns bound for Malaysia at the country's main airport, wildlife officials said Monday.

Officials said the ivory, from an estimated 150 elephants, had likely been collected over a period of two decades and represented "the largest elephant ivory recovery in Kenya in the recent past".

"We suspect these were collected over 20 years; some are pretty old, others are recent, as recent as six months," Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) director Julius Kipng'etich told journalists Monday, surrounded by the seized tusks displayed in Nairobi National Park.

Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the seizure, KWS said.

The ivory, concealed among avocado and packed into 12 wooden crates, was detected by sniffer dogs at Nairobi's international airport.

"It may have been collected from animals that died naturally. Some (tusks) were hacked. Some were just pulled," Kipng'etich said.

"In recent times, cases of illegal trafficking of wildlife products through Kenya's ports to the middle and far east has been a matter of concern," the KWS statement said, noting that wildlife contraband has been intercepted this year in Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

In November last year KWS officials displayed half a tonne of recently seized tusks.

Kenya currently has an elephant population of some 35,000.

Kenya seizes tonnes of illegal elephant tusks
* 317 elephant tusks, five rhino horns seized
* Poaching incidents more than double last year
* Wildlife service fears trafficking is on the increase
Reuters 23 Aug 10;

NAIROBI, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Kenyan authorities have intercepted more than 2 tonnes of elephant tusks and rhino horns disguised as fruit destined for export to Malaysia.

Most of the tusks seemed to have been collected from natural deaths of about 150 elephants and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said it was yet to determine their origin.

"The cargo, which was falsely declared as containing only fresh avocado fruits, was packed in 12 wooden boxes, which raised a red flag due to its mode of package, weight and destination," KWS said in a statement on Monday.

Inside, it found 317 elephant tusks and five rhino horns.

This year alone, authorities have intercepted wildlife contraband in Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong, KWS said.

"In the recent times, cases of illegal trafficking of wildlife products through Kenya's ports to the Middle and Far East destinations has been a matter of concern," KWS said.

KWS said rhino and elephant poaching was on the increase.

Elephant poaching more than doubled to 204 illegal killings in 2009 from 94 in the previous year and 47 in 2007, according to KWS figures. Rhino killings nearly tripled to 13 deaths in 2009 from five in the previous year.

Kenya loses about 200-300 elephants to natural causes annually.

The east African safari destination has been opposed to the lifting of a 9-year ban against ivory sales agreed in 2007 under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species.

Some African countries with growing elephant populations want the trade to resume but Kenya maintains it would threaten its 38,000-strong elephant population.

East Africa is still recovering from extensive poaching in the 1960s and 1970s before the global ban. In 1989, poaching had reduced populations to about 17,000 elephants. (Reporting by Humphrey Malalo, editing by Helen Nyambura)