Swedish Democratic Treasurer (MP) | Trophy Hunting Threatened Species.
Minister Angelo Vukasovic | Swedish Democratic Party
Two months ago International Animal Rescue Foundation representatives undertook an investigation into the recreational lives of over 100 European Members of Parliament, and parliamentary radical wings. The investigation also focused on individual countries hosting radical party organisations that are in our opinion a threat to the European Union, society and as we believed - our environment and wildlife. The British National Party may want to take note of this; three (BNP) members have been caught red handed hunting wildlife within Africa from 2014-2016, one of the kills relating to a zebra was so barbarically cruel, the professional hunter [PH] had to intervene to put the animal out its misery, yet the BNP are against cruel slaughter?
However the most extreme group (in our opinion) was the Swedish Democratic Party of which some 20.1% of the Swedish public support. Fortunately since we revealed our findings to the press and media in relation to MP Angelo Vukasovic (pictured above) support for the party has declined slightly since going to press on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We wish to thank all the press and media officers that have covered this single story thus far, however be prepared for further revelations, while we take a firm stance against (racism), we also take a bigger stance against cruel canned hunting, that often results in the animals being drugged, left in hideous pain and trauma, before being shot dead and put out of their misery (FOR SPORT)!?
Angelo Vukasovic made no attempt to conceal his past and present horrific hunting practices (which he is now). Furthermore when interviewed by local Swedish press and media, then international press and media, as the story broke, he strangely admitted to ‘canned hunting’. Something many hunters do not admit upfront, simply because they know its cruel, and often results in an aggressive backlash from the community of animal lovers. Vukasovic stated that most of the animals he hunted, including the lions from the Kalahari were fenced in (canned hunts), which we find somewhat suspicious. Did Vukasovic admit to the canned hunting knowing the backlash from the community wouldn’t be as harsh had he admitted to hunting wild male lions, which if proven to be true would see the community of animals lovers gunning for blood. Coincidentally them lion images are the ones that have vanished. All the others remain?
Two of the lions Vukasovic hunted are below. There is no proof that these two lions were hunted within a fenced in zone, no evidence of fences, and as yet no hunting agency coming forward to spill the beans. As explained, and should these two lions turn out to be legally hunted wild lions - then the tables turn because we then have an entire pride affected that may have had cubs, and without the males tending to the prides, the pride and cubs will eventually die thus resulting in further animal deaths. So when we witnessed Vukasovic admitting to the “lesser legal offence” we was was somewhat shocked, yet left suspicious.
Image: Vukasovic two suspected wild lion hunts.
International Animal Rescue Foundation Africa and of course myself the (CEO) were accused of launching a ‘political assault onto the party’. Far from it. Vukasovic is no different from any other hunter, however in Vukasovic’s case he has a reputation to keep up (or tried), of which he is aligned to the Swedish Democratic Party. This is the issue that many (MP’s) seem to forget, regardless of whether they are in the office on duty, or on holiday (not on duty), an (MP) must at all times keep the parties reputation intact and under no circumstances bring the party into disrepute. The same applies more or less to any domestic civil working contract for 90% of companies around the globe in regards to the general public.
Vukasovic Plays Down the Hunt
In good old hunting fashion Vukasovic played down his hunting activities in South Africa and we believe Botswana. The same old lame excuses were; The hunt was legal; Well rehearsed; Hunting only problem animals; Reducing populations of farmed stock to preserve the remainder; Animals were killed quickly; No harm came to any animal; I ate 80% of all animals hunted. Canned hunting has been well documented as a cruel and barbaric sport where animals such as big cats (E.g) are mostly bred as cubs, petted by tourists, then when older are discarded into the hunting farm. From there they are often drugged, static bait traps are set so no fair chase can occur, and the animal[s] are then shot dead. And here’s me thinking that the Swedish Democrats are against cruel animal killing!?
Animals on canned-hunting ranches are often accustomed to humans and may be native to the area, raised elsewhere and brought in, or purchased from individuals who are trafficking in unwanted or surplus animals from zoos and likely even circuses. Canned hunts are becoming big business. Most of these ranches operate on a “no kill, no pay” policy, so it is in owners’ financial interests to ensure that clients get what they came for.
Canned hunting, which is the hunting of captive-bred lions, has become a huge industry in South Africa. Wild hunting controlled only 1.1% of the lion hunting market in 2010, leaving 98.9% of the market controlled by canned hunting. This industry has helped lift Africa’s total trophy hunting revenue to $200 million per year. South Africa, in particular, has become a hub for the industry, with markedly higher success rates of canned hunts. In South Africa alone, American and European tourists kill around 1,000 canned lions every year. Success for the farm owners comes at the ultimate cost for the lions.
Lions used for canned hunting purposes are bred for the sole purpose of eventually being hunted and killed. The slogan, “Bred for the Bullet”, has become popular amongst those against the practice. Lion cubs are often taken away from their mothers just days after birth, affecting the health of the cub due to lack of natural milk and forcing the mother into another oestrus cycle, making her more receptive to mating. In the wild, female lions will keep their cubs with them for almost two years. By separating the offspring from the mother, farm operators can increase the amount of cubs each lioness has per year. The average lioness used for breeding has around 5-6 litters every two years.
After the lions reach an age at which they are big enough to make attractive trophies, they are released in a fenced area of land for a very short period of time. Some lions have less than a week of this so-called ‘freedom’ until they are hunted. Some lions are even drugged so those paying for the hunt have a nearly guaranteed kill, which is part of the reason the reported success rate of canned hunts is 99.2%. For the entirety of the hunt the lions are at a disadvantage, and with no hope of possible survival, the welfare of the lion is completely disregarded.
International Animal Rescue Foundation Africa has contacted Swedish Democratic Leader Jimmie Akesson (MP) within the past two days calling for an immediate inquiry, however as yet there has been no reply. While we know (MP) Vukasovic is a treasurer for the party, and allegedly holds down another job as a hunt store owner, I the (CEO) am just not buying the fact that Vukasovic was able to fork out over 100,000 euros (just for the hunts alone) - on such a small basic income. Hippos and lions alone fetch up to a combined total of 80,000USD. So either Vukasovic is very wealthy, or as I suspect money has been siphoned off from the the public purse.
Meanwhile Jimmie Akesson (MP) stated in the image below that sustainable hunting in Sweden he and the party supports, however they wish to distance themselves from canned hunting. Unfortunately for the (SD’s) that’s come all too late, the damage has been done, questions are being asked, and very little in the way of answers are being given. Please click the link here https://www.facebook.com/jimmieakesson/posts/10154345838246108 to be directed to Jimmie Akesson’s official Facebook page, from which you can read the message and add your own thoughts to his feeble response.
Image: Swedish Democratic Leader Update 21st June 2016.
Closing, the following video I have left for Jimmie and the general public to view. Maybe after viewing the documentary (SD) leader will suspend the treasurer, failing that we’ll continue with naming and shaming further (SD) leaders that have been caught trophy hunting in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.
NEWS AND MEDIA LINKS HERE:
http://aktuelltfokus.se/jimmie-akesson-stalls-mot-vaggen-efter-nojesslakten-av-vilda-lejon-och-giraffer/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3652343/Lion-tastiest-meat-ve-eaten-apart-giraffe-Swedish-politician-sparks-outrage-South-African-hunting-pictures-posted-line.html
http://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/sd-politiker-dodade-lejon-och-at-upp-det/
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article23038044.ab
OPEN LETTER TO THE [SD LEADER]
https://www.facebook.com/notes/international-animal-rescue-foundation-world-action-south-africa/sverigedemokraterna-open-letter/1073125126100724
Stay tuned for more updates; don’t forget if your a member of parliament anywhere in the EU, we’re watching. If you bring the European Union into disrepute we will name and shame you, your details with evidence will be made public, and we will ensure your role as a member of Parliament is dealt a heavy blow. Police or thugs that try to intimidate us, or try and shut us down; please rest assured that numerous people are working on this case, and you’ll never stop us from revealing such data to the public that have a right to know.. ..IARFA does not take kindly to European trophy hunters wreaking havoc in any country, as a European you was not raised in this way, trophy hunting and canned hunting is not part and parcel of European culture. Pick grapes, grow fruit and vegetables, keep the EUROPEAN UNION in tact, and do not bring us into disrepute.
Have a nice day
Dr Jose C. Depre
Chief Executive Officer.
Environmentalism - Chapter 42 - Say no to AG-GAG
Counter surveillance operations are normally something that one can rely on in gauging proof and evidence regarding a crime based on primary intelligence or complaints whether it is on public or private property on engaging in over border reconnaissance missions by drone’s, satellites or armed military personal to governmental intelligence seekers and submariners.
However seeking intelligence doesn’t apply to animals no more within the United States of America from which the government have made it a felony in five states for “anyone” to undertake surveillance operations.
Ag-gag laws regarding on land abuse that has been reported to be violating the laws of the Animal Welfare Act or Food Safety Legislation now make it crime to record and document animal abuse or if there is strong enough suspicion to suggest that a crime has or is taking place to public health being placed at serious risk through the mismanagement and deliberate cruelty of agricultural animals.
Ag-Gag laws are in reality protecting “an individual abuser and/or company” from being documented, recorded, photographed to even eavesdropping or “reporting a violation of food safety” by an investigative officer. Ag-gag laws ARE ANIMAL ABUSE!
We must also clear some issues up here too, Ag-Gag doesn’t just infringe on the whistle blower or investigator it has been enacted to silence those within media and journalism from recording, photographing or documenting, printing data, labour issues, and/ or freedom of speech.
So Ag-gag it’s not “just” aimed at the animal activist or employee that has reported previously many violations to then going public with them it’s aimed at anyone that has within the governments eyes had in theory more than enough time to report to the appropriate agencies animal abuse of food violations. The government of the US has categorically protected the criminal in yet “allows paedophiles to be named and shamed” BUT not animal abusers? Something seriously is wrong here if the government allows the naming and shaming of sex offenders yet not the recording of animal abuse. Could it be to loss of income to affecting the nation’s meat and dairy industry?
However Ag-gag laws in turn make the reporter then “the criminal” as the law state’s more or less that you knew and have had plenty of time to take action against the violation[s] thus in turn makes you the whistle blower “the abuser that could of halted it within the set time of 48 hours”. (That is in our eyes unfair and basically in support of repeat cooperate offenders or high profile individuals that are either corrupt or have friends in high places that will just blatantly turn a blind eye to falsifying documents.
The law has also ripped to shreds the first and second amendments of US state legislature. We are all literally being crushed by the oppressor which we believe is for nothing more than money.
We can name two large corporations within the European Union however we are waiting for the correct time in which that “repeat violation” then harms a human or animal of which as yet it hasn’t. (Please don’t think for one moment that that is unprofessional, as we ourselves have reported two [un-named] corporations persistently to the directors and health and safety executive of which we documented what the “individuals” behaviour was upon “five” separate random inspections.
For legal reasons we are not at liberty or allowed to disclose that information regarding the company names however we will state that the “food supplier” is more than involved. It’s directly involved and the violations are being ignored as the companies are short staffed, are under pressure from head offices, have over spent their budget, and have for the past seven years had nothing but poor unprofessional management to high sickness records and falsified “legal binding documentation”.
On one such inspection our investigator reported the violations before the Health and Safety investigators moved in [in-depth] of which when the buildings were inspected staff were automatically “ordered” by management that knew where the violating materials where located and what to instigate to even [keeping the executives talking whilst the issues where covered up] the investigator was ALSO ordered to hide “materials that was not fit for human consumption or even sale”.
So can you see why Ag-gag laws are in fact damaging the welfare of also the human that could potentially become seriously ill or even die should their immune systems be week, or they are old and frail from super food bugs such as E-coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter Enteritis, Cholera, Ciguatera (Fish Poisoning) to even listeria with up to eight more serious food borne virus that can be contained and halted via professional management.
In 2011, bills to prohibit undercover videos of farms were introduced in several state legislatures including Florida, Iowa, Minnesota and New York. These “Ag-gag” laws, a term coined by Mark Bittman, all prohibited the making of undercover videos, photographs and sound recordings, although they differed in terms of penalties and which other activities were also prohibited. None of the bills passed in 2011, but Iowa’s Ag-gag bill passed in 2012 and other Ag-gag bills have been introduced in other states until recently.
On April 30, 2013, the Animal Legal Defence Fund (ALDF) sent a letter to the Animal Agriculture Alliance (AAA) regarding claims AAA Communications Director Emily Meredith has made when discussing the highly-controversial Ag-gag legislation. Meredith has asserted that some animal advocates manipulate footage of factory farm animal abuse, and on the radio program To the Point, the AAA spokesperson and avid Ag-gag supporter stated that “we [the AAA] have evidence that these videos have been manipulated.” ALDF, the national non-profit also fighting for the rights of Tony the truck stop tiger, is demanding that AAA produce the evidence the industry group claims to have of the manipulated footage. The anti-Ag-gag legal organization has emphasized the severity of these allegations which ultimately defame investigators and misinform the public.
This is what frustrates us to a degree, as investigations are to be kept [non-manipulated] at all times and under no circumstances should the code of private investigative documenting be breached or made to appear that a crime looks far worse than it actually is. No one investigator should ever portray a singular act of abuse to look like multiple acts, and nor should they if they are professional ever allow suffering to go on more than necessary.
It must also be noted that before any investigation is undertaken within the farming, agricultural, animal or food production business that a primary source of surveillance is planted to gather intelligence so that the secondary source can locate “the investigative officer” can then document, then report in time thus minimising abuse “and keeping your head above the law” as well as ensuring that the case is not thrown out of court. Anyone that breaches these acts are then on their own as well as being labelled the abuser “because you allowed the suffering that YOU knew was wrong to continue”.
Investigative manipulating is grossly unprofessional and it should never be portrayed in such a manner hence why the government have brought the Ag-gag law that one step further in more states of America. Such manipulations of evidence via phone tapping, recording, and long unnecessary investigations saw in 2011-2012 and 2013 many tabloids, journalists and media writers actually sentenced to prison to one tabloid banned with all staff that were not even a apart of the corrupt investigation sacked on the spot.
A professional investigator wouldn’t allow a child to be abused for any longer than is necessary so why allow an animal or “even more animals” to be abused, and should the investigator have a personal problem with the organisation/company and or individual then they should by practice and code of conduct be removed from the investigation and another investigator then placed within to document professionally the wrong doings.
Ag-gag bills that criminalize whistleblowing on factory farms are now sweeping the US nation. Five states have already implemented these types of laws with many others considering similar legislation. Undercover investigations on farms and slaughterhouses have played a crucial role in exposing animal abuse in the agricultural industry, yet these same investigations have been criticized for manipulating footage ultimately harming farm owners and workers “which in turn allows the abuse to go on” and the aggressor to walk away scot free laughing.
On Democracy Now!, a daily, independently-syndicated news program which airs across North America, Amy Goodman and Aaron Mate moderated an important debate on Ag-gag laws. Their guests were Will Porter, a freelance reporter and author who is very familiar with the controversial legislation, and Emily Meredith, the Communications Director for Animal Agriculture Alliance. Porter and Meredith addressed many of the pros and cons associated with these new laws during the debate. Several of their arguments are discussed in the points below:
Independent animal abuse investigations have made an enormous impact on today’s factory farming industry. Many companies have been forced to implement more humane practices due to criminal charges brought on by these studies. In addition, the largest meat recall in U.S. history is a direct result of these undercover investigations.
Ag-gag bill supporters are reporting a different side to the story. They are claiming that animal rights activists are not taking the incriminating footage directly to the authorities and are releasing them to media outlets. They argue that this independent research is somewhat disingenuous and not solely about bringing lawbreakers to justice.
This argument ignores the fact that there is very little government regulation when it comes to industrial farming. Animal activists feel the need to expose what is really going on in slaughterhouses, because so many Americans are completely in the dark about this topic. Furthermore, many of these Ag-gag bills cover such a broad scope of investigation that they criminalize certain forms of investigative journalism and documentation.
A key point for Ag-gag bill defenders is the claim that recording on private property is an infringement on the right to privacy and should not be permitted in any way, shape, or form. Yet, if one runs a legitimate business, where is the need for privacy? What needs to be kept in secret and what should the public not be allowed to see?
The Ag-gag bills want to hide what is happening in the animal agriculture industry. Big business and the bottom line have become legitimate reasons to turn a blind eye to animal treatment. For example, recently in North Carolina, a slew of Butterball employees pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges. Shortly after, the North Carolina Legislature introduced an Ag-gag bill that criminalized the same type of investigation used to indict the Butterball employees. This, in turn, led to the ousting of a North Carolina agricultural official for obstruction of justice.
The country is caught in the crossfire of the great Ag-gag bill debate. This type of legislation is on the table in many states and is an issue that is not going away anytime soon.
Kansas was the first state to enact an ag-gag law, in 1990. Montana and North Dakota followed in 1991.
These bills are troubling not only to animal protection activists, but also to those concerned with food safety, labor issues, free speech, and freedom of the press. The bills would apply equally to journalists, activists and employees. By prohibiting any type of undercover recordings, a farm’s own employees would be prohibited from attempting to record food safety violations, labor violations, sexual harrassment incidents or other illegal activity. First Amendment concerns were raised because the MN bill would have prohibited the broadcast of undercover videos, and the FL bill originally prohibited any unauthorized photos or videos of a farm including those shot from a public street.
Undercover photos and videos have been used extensively by the animal protection movement to expose farming cruelty, whether the activity is legal or illegal. These bills are a reaction to the bad publicity that erupts whenever a new undercover video is released.
Proponents of the bills claim that they are necessary to protect agricultural interests, and if animal cruelty or any illegal activity is taking place at a facility, the employees can notify authorities. There are several problems with this argument. Notifying authorities and waiting for authorities to get either a warrant or permission to enter the premises gives the wrongdoers a chance to cover up the problem. Cruel practices that are legal will likely not be reported or exposed. Also, employees won’t report themselves to authorities and might be hesitant to report their co-workers and supervisors.
However, if the farms treated the animals better, they wouldn’t have to worry about undercover videos. Matt Rice of Mercy for Animals points out:
Legislation should focus on strengthening animal cruelty laws, not prosecuting those who blow the whistle on animal abuse . . . If producers truly cared about animal welfare, they would offer incentives to whistle-blowers, install cameras at these facilities to expose and prevent animal abuse, and they would work to strengthen animal abuse laws to prevent animals from needless suffering.
Paul Shapiro, senior director of farm animal protection for The HSUS, states, “These draconian bills to silence whistle-blowers show just how far the animal agribusiness industry is willing to go, and just how much the industry has to hide.”
Undercover videos are important not just for educating the public, but also because they can be used as evidence in animal cruelty cases. According to Katerina Lorenzatos Makris of Examiner.com, “Castro County DA James R. Horton said that without the footage from Mercy for Animals (MFA) ‘we wouldn’t have anything’ in terms of evidence against the suspects in the beating deaths of dairy calves at E6 Cattle Co. in Hart, Texas.” In West Virginia in 2009, three employees at Aviagen Turkeys were charged with felony animal cruelty as a result of an undercover video by PETA.
While some members of the public will demand animal welfare reforms after seeing factory farming videos, animal rights is about whether humans have a right to use non-human animals for our purposes, regardless of how well the animals are treated.
Just though when you though one was safe in Europe “think again” as the Ag-gag laws may be coming to Europe and they mean business which is going to make investigating a crime more difficult, the investigator will be subject themselves to criminal charges “for not reporting the crime in a certain length of time” whilst the corporation gets of scot free just to recommit the same offence.
Large, intensive factory farms have shown significant growth in the US and Europe over the past 20 years. Between 2002 and 2007 the total number of livestock on the biggest of just US farms grew by more than 20%.
But concerns over the conditions in which cattle, pigs and poultry are raised and slaughtered have prompted many animal welfare groups to mount undercover investigations. (Which we wholeheartedly support) 100% so as long as the investigations are;
- Investigated in the correct manner
- There is more than sufficient evidence that can bring the perpetrator to justice within the set time allocated by law
- The investigator does not interfere with the raw evidence that could potentially place the surveillance operation into disrepute and animal’s in danger should edited surveillance be proven that would then allow the criminal to walk free
- Communications from the primary source are kept up to date, the investigator within the thick of the crime immediately and/or a low key undercover operation is conducted such as placing an “individual” within the working business to ascertain all areas of abuse, whom is involved, times and dates, to names, and any other areas of key interest. Then a formal investigation can be implemented that the detective knows from the “reconnaissance mission” where to go to, what to look for, and record within the allocated time thus reporting this. This then 1) allows for a sufficient conviction under the animal welfare act and 2) does not see or allow any furthering of animal abuse. By allowing animal abuse to continue when one has more than enough data then the investigator has overstepped the “line” and is bordering animal abuse charges themselves for allowing it to happen.
- After the investigation has been reported allow the law enforcement team to then take over.
- Never place within the public domain investigative reports that are in the process of court action, are being looked at by law enforcement, or “incite a criminal action” to take place. A good investigator is a private and quiet one that does not give out location, names, or personal details of which these companies fear the most. A good investigator always ensures that they have plan A, B, C, D, and E, to always being two steps ahead of the abuser.
Welfare groups say that the American Legislative Exchange Council is the moving force behind these laws. This group supports conservative causes and promotes legislation to limit the role of government. They have described animal rights campaigners as [terrorists]. They support the laws because they believe investigators are threatening the privacy rights of individuals and businesses.
While the “Ag-gag” laws are primarily designed to have impact within the US, many feel they will also have an impact outside the country.
As factory farming spreads like a plague around the world,” said Matt Rice from Mercy for Animals, “international agribusiness interests will certainly attempt to import America’s Ag-gag laws along with its tainted meat and animal abuse.
The UK and other nations should be on high alert. In the UK, Peta the animal welfare charity said these US laws were “shameful”. Such atrocious public policy sets a dangerous precedent for UK industry, as does the introduction of US-style mega-farms,” said Peta’s Ben Williamson. Legislators should instead be passing laws to require cameras in all abattoirs and factory farms in order to catch animal abusers.
Others are concerned that if these laws are passed, consumers around the world will no longer be able to trust that exports of US agricultural products are produced without cruelty. A significant amount of meat, dairy and eggs produced on US factory farms goes to foreign countries,
Anyone who consumes animal agricultural products imported from the US should be scared. This prevents them from knowing what’s going on - it blocks an entire industry from transparency.
We will update on this law and what impacts it is having on all those that are affected by it, there should be no secrecy with regards to large scale agricultural businesses, everyone should have the right to know how their food has been produced, how the animals are being treated, and if the food chain is being infested with “mafia meat”. Had a tip of not been sent to DEFRA then the UK and EU customer would still be consuming large quantities of horse/donkey meat along with the powerful analgesics that was located within the meat products.
International Animal Rescue Foundation does not under any circumstances support the Ag-gag law nor do we support the slaughtering of animals, so called “humane slaughter”. Should we locate or know of animal abuse we will continue within the nation that the law stands undertake surveillance “within the law” that shall be documented swiftly so as not to allow the suffering of animals to continue for any longer than is necessary and to bring the perpetrators to justice for breaching and/or violating the codes of the Animal Welfare Act and Food Safety Legislation.
We take all abuse seriously and we will act on that abuse whether it is directed at us or within the animal kingdom. No innocent person or animal must be subjected to abuse and all farming communities must if they are to now push this law upon to all states educate their staff, monitor their staff, and discipline them or we and others will come knocking law or no law ABUSE is ABUSE.
Please sign the petitions here;
http://www.ag-gag.org/
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/criminalize-ag-gag-laws/KQWSvsKr
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/939/520/404/stop-ag-gag-laws-across-the-united-states/
http://votersforanimals.org/get-involved/sign-a-petition/petition-to-keep-humane-undercover-investigations-legal-in-minnesota/
Why do we need the Ag-gag laws gone? View the videos please which we warn you are disturbing and graphic.
International Animal Rescue Foundation
Director
For a healthy vegan and vegetarian eating guide please view our page below, brain foods, energy foods, herbs and spices to lots of healthy green and tasty recipes.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vegan-and-Vegetarian-foods-to-promote-healthy-living/193221637452747?fref=ts
Why do we investigate? We investigate for yours and animal’s welfare you’ll understand in the video below.
Please sign the petitions above and allow us and others to continue our work unhindered by international governmental terrorists that wish to protect the abuser and corporate organisations for money, greed, and political control over all of us and species alike. We are not domestic terrorists we are environmentalists, animal lovers, caring, compassionate individuals, those that care those, that have a heart for all.
Road to Nowhere - Syria Conflict Rages
WELCOME TO MY WORLD - I AM BEING FORCED AT THIS AGE TO FIGHT FOR MY FREEDOM, WILL YOU HELP ME BY ASKING YOUR GOVERNMENT TO STEP IN?
AMERICA AND EUROPE HAVE NO INTEREST IN HELPING ME TO FIGHT FOR PEACE
DO YOU THINK THAT THIS IS NORMAL FOR TODAY’S WORLD, FOR A CHILD TO BE FIGHTING WITH A RIFLE? IF SO THEN DON’T BOTHER READING!
WARNING YOU MAY OR WILL FIND SOME IMAGERY AND FILMS EMOTIONALLY DISTURBING
WE HAVE GIVEN YOU PRIOR WARNING BEFORE CONTINUING TO READ, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED - WE ADVISE THAT ONLY THOSE OVER 18+ VIEW AS OF WAR CRIMES AND FOOTAGE
Syria dates back to some 65 BC and being one of centres of Neolithic culture was once a fine and majestic nation drenched in ancient history and being one of many nations that holds such vast religious artefacts dating to the lord Jesus Christ and roman era when Emperor Alexander Severus, who was emperor from 222 to 235 AD ruled that brought many fine riches to the country that can still be located to this day within archaeological explorations and museum’s outside of Syria where safety is a [relative comfort zone] for many thousands of people that have fled the on-going political uprising and coup.
Syria is significant in the history of Christianity Saulus of Tarsus, better known as the Apostle Paul, whom was converted on the road to Damascus and emerged as a significant figure in the Christian Church at Antioch in ancient Syria, from which he left on many of his missionary journeys.
The name Syria is derived from the ancient Greek name for Syrians, Σύριοι, Sýrioi, or Σύροι, Sýroi, which the Greeks applied without distinction to the Assyrians, However, the discovery of the Çineköy inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria.
The area designated by the word has changed over time. Classically, Syria lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the north, stretching inland to include parts of Iraq, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including, from west to east, Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene.
Syria has always been a relatively “peaceful” nation however with strict Arabic laws with which men have to act responsible, and women have to cover and not show their faces similar to the once Taliban ruling in Afghanistan where woman where ordered to wear the Burka or face the fear public flogging or even stoning to death.
I [quote] peaceful as the nation has since late 1883 to present ruling from President Taj al-Din al-Hasani 1885-1943 to President Ahmad al-Khatib 1933-1982 to now President Bashar al-Assad from 1965 to present been forced into a regime of silence.
Should anyone dare speak out against the dictatorship of the present and past presidents which I have only included a handful then the normal punishment for this would be beheading or brutal barbaric torture ordered by the governments special police force better known as the Syrian military intelligence force, although they were moderately tame compared to the “real” emotionless, callous, criminally psychotic barbarians of the Syrian Secret police better known as the SS.
The Secret Police where/still are the most fearsome that compromised some brutal and heartless thugs hell bent on any form of torture they could use on its own people and, those that dared to invade.
When the United Kingdom sent special forces from the Special Armed Forces into Baghdad that subsequently dropped special tactical soldiers within the wrong location of the Syria the Special Police where soon on to the remaining S.A.S soldiers that were subjected to cruel and torturous Mr nice guy and Mr bad guy outright torture of which they had their jaws broken, teeth smashed in, teeth wrenched out, and forced to drink and eat their own faeces to public humiliation.
Since the invasion of neighbouring Iraq Operation Desert Storm from 2nd August 1990 – 28 February 1999 that eventually led to the defeat, capture and death of the dictator President Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikritiand other Arabian nations that being Afghanistan, Libya and uprisings in Egypt the tension has also since spoiled over into Syria that is now more than out of control it’s a killing no go zone which the Media and the Press fail to report on correctly out of sensitively mostly, and fail to show to the world what is really happening with both the United Kingdom, France and American government’s more interested in the Mali and Somaliland conflicts which has again created mass refugee camps, crime poverty and environmental crime and destruction.
The Syrian conflict or uprising as it is more commonly known by the people of Syria that want a more structured leadership, freedom of speech/expression without death armies kicking their doors in and a free and fair democracy began March 15th 2011.
The conflict is now raging out of control which Russia, Belarus, Iran, China and North Korea are funding in one way of the other the corrupt and fascist dictator 48 year old President Bashar al-Assad that has ordered his henchmen to use live rounds, missiles, and heavy air to ground and artillery against innocent members of the public that are fighting for freedom.
The conflict is between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba’ath Party government and those seeking to oust it that has seen many innocent murdered, tortured, and slain in cold blood by government armed military using tanks, jet planes and anything that can tear these freedom fighters apart.
The uprising started in early March 2011 with peaceful marches and protests that were similar to that of the Egyptian and Libyan uprising, however embarrassed and angered that his countrymen and women would dare speak out against him “President Bashar al-Assad regime” he then demanded and ordered the military into the protesters area in the southern city of Daraa, sometimes called the “Cradle of the Revolution
President Bashar al-Assad gave only a minute ultimatum. “Cease your actions now and go back to your homes or face the consequences”. The protestors stood their ground growing larger by the hour and day, aggressive at the lack of response and actions from the President of which he then ordered on March 15th 2011 the most bloodiest and brutal bloodbath that makes the Libyan conflict look relatively peaceful. The people in Daraa came under intense shell and mortar rounds attack killing hundreds.
President Bashar al-Assad ordered immediately armed troops and tanks into the city where protestors where coordinating “very peaceful unarmed” demonstrations. The brutal and psychotically deranged mentalist then ordered his own people that being the troops from the Syrian Military to open fire on thousands off [unarmed and peaceful] protestors slaughtering unarmed innocent mothers, children and fathers in cold blood.
The protests then marked the real uprising in April 2011 which soon after turned into a more personal issue and brigades where set up to take on the Syrian army that have since, the blood bath of March 2011 pummelled most off the nation in the following cities killing thousands and reducing homes, businesses, schools and hospitals in Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Tartous, Homs, Damascus, Daraa, Deir Ezzor, and Hama to complete rubble whilst Britain is more concerned about a horse meat scandal that they should have been monitoring more closely and America more concerned about the “fiscal cliff deal” than really the innocent being slaughtered and tortured by the al-Assad regime in Syria.
Estimates of deaths in the Syrian civil war, per opposition activist groups, vary between 50,130 and 66,955, the latter figure combining several sources. On 13 February 2013, the United Nations put out an estimate of 70,000 that had been brutally murdered in the war mostly all by Syrian Army and the Syrian Secret police.
UNICEF reported that over 500 children have been killed by early February 2012. Another 400 children have been reportedly [arrested and tortured] in Syrian prisons. Both claims have been contested by the Syrian government. Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners have died under torture. By the beginning of February 2013, the opposition activist group SOHR reported the number of [children killed in the conflict had risen to 3,717], while at the same time 2,144 women were also killed.
The overall deaths include the following that some may find emotionally upsetting to read;
The number of fatalities in the conflict, according to the Syrian opposition website Syrian Martyrs, is 54,601, updated to 18 February 2013. The number includes 6,923 rebels, including 35 foreign fighters, but does not include members of the government security forces or pro-government foreign combatants who have died. 472 foreign civilians who have died in the conflict are also included in the toll, most of them, 401, being Palestinians. The Syrian Martyrs number is significantly higher than the ones presented by other organisations, including the UN, one reason being they record deaths even when no name is given for the reportedly killed individual.
Al Jazeera journalist Nir Rosen reported that many of the deaths reported daily by activists are in fact armed insurgents falsely presented as civilian deaths, but confirmed that real civilian deaths do occur on a regular basis. A number of Middle East political analysts, including those from the Lebanese Al Akhbar newspaper, have also urged caution.
This was later confirmed when in late May 2012, Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is one of the opposition-affiliated groups counting the number of those killed in the uprising, stated that civilians who had taken up arms during the conflict were being counted under the category of “civilians”.
Most of the deaths were recorded by the United Nations between the 11th March 2011 and the 12th February 2013 that numbered a staggering 70,000 slaughtered Syrian people. April 2011 though was what many reporters and war correspondents called the “bloodiest day of peaceful protests in the world”.
April 2011 the start of mass murder the tanks rolled in and opened fire;
Dozens of people were reportedly killed after troops and armour flooded into the southern city of Dera’a and opened fire on residential areas, at random without [warning] killing innocent mothers and children.
Amid growing international condemnation at the mounting death toll in Syria, where more than 100 protesters were killed on Good Friday alone, members of the UN Security Council were considering a statement being circulated by a British-led group of European countries, which condemned the killing of hundreds of Syrian protesters, however the statement didn’t stop the fighting and was seen as a “verbal ticking off” in our eyes a slap in the face to the people of Syria crying out for help daily.
The statement, which was proposed with France, Germany and Portugal, called for an immediate restraint, an end to the state of emergency, and an independent investigation into the civilian deaths. It was released on Tuesday and approved by China and Russia, a western diplomat at the UN said.
The diplomat said the measure was aimed at “putting Syria on notice” that the Security Council was closely monitoring developments. “There may be talk of sanctions,” the diplomat said. “At present the focus is on releasing as strong a statement as is possible and securing the reforms that Syria has promised”.
The diplomat’s comments came as the United States threatened to impose sanctions on Mr Assad and his henchmen in a significant policy shift. Placing sanctions though against a nation would only be affecting the people that need food, water, fuel and most of all help.
It was quoted;
“The brutal violence used by the government of Syria against its own people is completely deplorable,” said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council quoted.
The Obama administration has been criticised for its perceived reluctance to criticise Mr Assad, a US foe who is nonetheless seen as a bulwark against instability on the Syria-Israeli border, even as Nato has bombed Libya.
But US sanctions alone are unlikely to have much impact on Mr Assad, who has abandoned all pretence of restraint in recent days. When the tanks rolled into Dera’a, where the uprising against the government first began, there were no protesters on its streets. It was 4.30am and most people were still asleep, though some were walking towards mosques for dawn prayers.
From loudspeakers in places of worship across the city, imams broadcast frantic messages warning people to take cover – but it was too late. Without warning, the firing began. They entered the city from each of its four corners and just started shooting,” a resident of Dera’a said. “They are breaking into people’s homes and opening fire into their houses.”
Witnesses estimated that up to 5,000 troops, supported by armoured personnel carriers and at least seven tanks, advanced on the city. Amateur video footage smuggled out of Dera’a showed soldiers erecting mounted machine guns before opening fire. The nearby border with Jordan, from where the explosion of artillery shells was clearly audible, was sealed off to prevent escape.
The wounded were dragged into nearby houses, which were turned into makeshift hospitals, blood dripping onto living room floors. Some activists said that 25 people had been killed, but others said there was no way of verifying the death toll. There is no way of knowing how many casualties there are because they are still lying out on the streets and you can’t use ambulances because the security forces are hiding inside them,” said Ausama Monajed, a Syrian political activist in touch with people in Dera’a.
“The bodies of two Syrian children, killed by Syrian Army shelling, lie on the street near Dar al-Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Oct. 11, 2012.”
Security forces also staged similar raids in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, while at least 13 civilians were said to have been killed since a military operation began in the coastal town of Jabla.
WARNING SOME IMAGERY YOU WILL FIND DISTURBING - 22+ AGE IS RECOMMENDED BEFORE VIEWING - SOME OR ALL IMAGERY YOU WILL FIND UPSETTING
WHAT THE PRESS DON’T SHOW YOU
Video footage from Jabla showed gunfire being directed at unarmed protesters marching down a street. As the shots rang out, the demonstrators sat down on the road, only to come under fire again. One man, shot in the back of the head, was seen being carried back by fellow protesters as the gunfire continued. A second clip showed another man dying from a gunshot wound in his neck.
The change in tactics appeared designed to keep protesters from gathering on the streets, a strategy that smacked of desperation, Mr Monajed said. “They have made up their mind, they are going to use the army now because they know the end is close,” he said. “The more emphasis we put on non-violence and the more brutal they become, the shorter this will be because there will be more defections from around the regime.”
There were unverified reports that some soldiers and junior officers involved in the operations in Dera’a had joined the protesters. But observers said the large-scale military defections seen in Libya and Egypt were unlikely to be repeated in Syria, where the vast majority of senior officers come from Mr Assad’s Allawite Shia sect, a minority that stands to lose its privileges if the Sunni majority comes to power as a result of the uprising.
December 24th 2012 Warplanes used - a brutal and outright bloody attack on innocent civilians;
Scores of people who had been [without bread for days] were killed when Syrian (warplanes) bombed a bakery in the western village of Halfaya, opposition activists quoted that Sunday.
More than [100 people were killed], the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. The death toll could rise, the activist group said. An activist who oversaw the burial of [many bodies] said at least 109 people died.
Hassan Al-Rajb told reporters that 69 people were identified and buried, while 15 others were laid to rest without being identified. At least 25 more bodies were still at the site, but hospital workers said the roads were cut off and they were unable to reach the bakery, he said. The hospitals cannot handle all the wounded, he said.
There were dozens of dead thrown in the street. The residents were shocked and in a [state of fear]. It was chaotic,” Mahmoud Alawy said.
Videos posted on social media that day purported to show the aftermath of the attack. Many bodies had limbs apparently blown off, and others lay bloody in the streets and in rubble strewn over a sidewalk. Uniformed Free Syrian Army soldiers and civilians scramble to pull survivors out of the carnage. The Syrain Intelligence Forces then restricted access to the site and censored many photography and videos to even lying that it was an American attack two years ago in Kuwait.
The town has lacked the ingredients for bread for about a week until an aid group delivered provisions that Saturday, Alawy said. Hundreds of people lined up at the bakery on Sunday.
Al-Rajb said the town has three bakeries, and one opened at 1 p.m. Workers began to distribute the bread two hours later. He was on his roof about 200 meters (about 219 yards) from the bakery about 4 p.m. and saw a plane overhead. He scrambled toward the scene when he heard cries of “Emergency! Emergency!” he said.
“The first floor collapsed on the second floor, and four rockets were fired into it,” he said of the attack. Alawy claimed the government has been targeting large gatherings of people with artillery shells in the recent days since the Free Syrian Army liberated the town from Syrian forces.
About an hour after the bakery attack, 15 shells were fired into Halfaya from a nearby town, Al-Rajb said.
The Hama Revolution Command Council, a network of activists affiliated with the FSA in Hama province, said a MiG warplane bombed the bakery. Many Syrians face food shortages and other needs as winter weather sets in. The United Nations estimates that more than 2.5 million need humanitarian assistance urgently and immediately.
Earlier in the week, opposition groups also said rebels and regime forces battled near a hospital in Halfaya. Twenty-five people died there, the LCC said.
Hospitals attacked;
At least 40 people were killed in an airstrike on a key hospital in the besieged city of Aleppo, a rebel the attack targeted the Dar al-Shifa Hospital and that the dead included two nurses.
The hospital is one of the main sources of medical help for people in Syria’s commercial hub. Video posted by activists showed a collapsed building adjacent to the hospital. The blast appeared to have hit the hospital’s front lobby, which is often crowded with patients, civilians and rebels. The hospital had been attacked earlier this year when an artillery shell hit its [maternity ward].
Schools attacked 5th December 2012 - A sad and emotional day;
Speaking out in the wake of a deadly mortar attack on a school outside Damascus, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today declared that strikes on schools during the Syrian conflict are “unacceptable.”
UNICEF condemned the shelling of a school near Damascus that killed a number of students and a teacher,” said the agency’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director, Maria Calivis, in a statement.
Since the violence in Syria began, schools have been looted, vandalized and burned, Ms. Calivis added. This is unacceptable. Schools are, and must remain, zones of peace.
According to media reports, at least 28 students and a teacher were killed when a mortar hit the Batiha School in al-Wafidin camp, a community 20 kilometres northeast of the capital that is home to about 25,000 people displaced when Israel captured the Golan Heights during the 1967 war.
DEADLY FIGHT BACK – 9 HOURS AGO 21 FEBRUARY 2013;
At least 53 people have been killed in a car bombing near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party in Syria’s capital, state media said. Around 200 others were hurt, it claimed, adding the atrocity was a suicide attack by “terrorists” battling President Bashar al Assad in a two-year uprising.
The attack was “carried out by armed terrorist groups linked to [al Qaeda] that receive financial and logistic help from abroad,” the ministry said in a statement, using government terminology for rebels battling the Syrian regime.
Most of the victims in the Mazraa district of Damascus were reportedly civilians, including children, possibly from a school behind the Baath building, and it was the deadliest attack inside the capital in nine months. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence via a network of sources inside Syria, said at least 42 people were killed.
The organisation reported the device was detonated at a checkpoint close to the Baath party building, about 200 metres from the Russian embassy, and members of the Syrian security forces also died. Syrian television broadcast footage of several bodies along a main street and fire fighters dousing dozens of burning vehicles.
Debris was spread over a wide area and black smoke billowed into the sky. The windows of the Russian embassy were blown out by the blast but none of its staff were hurt, Russian news agencies reported.
One local resident said: “It was huge, everything in the shop turned upside down.” Damascus has so far mostly avoided the large-scale violence that has destroyed other Syrian cities.
But rebels who control districts to the south and east of the capital have been attacking Mr Assad’s power base for nearly a month, and have carried out devastating bombings several times in the last year.
The United Nations has said around 70,000 people have died in the uprising since it began in March 2011. The attack came as the opposition umbrella group, the National Coalition, was meeting in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss proposals to hold conditional talks with Mr Assad’s regime.
TERROR CELLS;
The number of Jihadist groups flooding into Syria two years after the start of the uprising is threatening to eclipse the power of mainstream opposition groups as well as the authority of the Free Syrian Army.
One of the increasingly influential groups, Jabah al Haq (The Front for Justice), quoted that Jihad is spreading across North Africa and the Middle East and will not stop at Syria but will include Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and even Israel. The frontline in the Battle for Aleppo is constantly changing. You know when you are there the people disappear. In these parts of the city only fighters are on the streets, in battered buildings and destroyed alleyways.
There is nothing left anymore. It is a frightening kill-zone. The sounds of rockets crunching into buildings, the whistle of high velocity rounds passing a few feet above your head, the scream of men shot by snipers never stops, or if it does, it is not for long. The fighters on the rebel side are made up of a mish-mash of defected soldiers, the Free Syrian Army and a growing number of Jihadists some are from Syria many are from abroad. Jabah al Haq men took to their truck weaving passed blown up cars, and homes passed streets with huge tarpaulin sheets strung across to give protection from government snipers.
Abu Obaeda, a former soldier with a sniper rifle hung over his back, described the front as ‘cold’ with little real fighting. But even as he spoke machine gun fire drowned him out. A man was hit and his comrades were organising a truck to speed him away while attacking the government forces.
The Jihadists wouldn’t say how many men they had but said they were fighting 200 government soldiers supported by as many government militia, the Shabiha.
International Animal Rescue Foundation © are like many people and other non-governmental organisations concerned about the fighting however were also growing increasingly concerned about the zoo’s within Syria too, along with the natural habitat, conservation, and domestic animals such as canines and felines and more.
We are unable to even move into such a highly volatile and dangerous nation with sporadic fire fights and unpredicted shelling in all areas. The war has been raging now for almost two years and without help moving in then we will regrettably lose these vulnerable and endangered species.
Within one zoo that we are growing increasing concerned about are Caracal’s, Arabic horses, Desert Fox, Oryx, Bengal Tiger, Bears and Asian Elephants, Rhinoceros and Hippo plus many more animals that are under extreme threat. For security reasons we are treading carefully and since October 2012 when help was sent we have now since received a reply back 21st February 2013 requesting immediate help of which we are now planning how to solve this very difficult and sensitive problem.
Dr J C Dimetri V.M.D, B.E.S, Ma, PhD , MEnvSc
Director international Animal Rescue Foundation
Speak up for the Voiceless
FUNDING AFRICAN WILDLIFE SURVIVAL
info@international-animalrescue-foundation.org.uk
“PLEASE BEFORE YOU SLEEP - SAY A PREY FOR ME AND NEVER FORGET WHAT WE ARE ALL FIGHTING FOR AND WHY WE ARE FIGHTING”
“WE FIGHT FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY AND I AM BEING FORCED AT THIS AGE TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM - FREEDOM FOR MY CHILDREN”
Unrelated news
News in on 21st February 2013 -
On our last document, part three of the Illegal Animal Parts Trade, our counter intelligence teams passed on all relevant information with regards to the illegal sales and peddling to importation of Rhinoceros horn and Tiger parts.
Operation Trojan Horse our elite anti poaching and animal part trade investigation team secured the arrest with Vietnamese officers and wildlife enforcers three Vietnamese individuals of which they where as of yesterday in custody. They have now been released and are due in court in the next 3 days.
On locating the objects of interest we then gave the site owners the ultimatum that should the illegal animal parts not be removed and full cooperation with us be taken in the 48 hours as requested then we would close the site down and enforce more tougher and harsher actions.
The owner of the site agreed that a violation was present and the offending objects and entire pages where removed within 5 hours of our email and subsequent telecommunications to them. The full document can be read below via Facebook of which their reply into removing the violations was answered in Vietnamese.
Should you become aware of a wildlife crime violation then we ask you to report to our investigation unit with immediate effect, however should we know, locate or view that your violating rules we will not under any circumstances tolerate such illegal activity of which you will only be given one warning to remove [should] we see this on sites. We will bend over backwards too, to ensure that an arrest is made under the breach of CITES laws.
Thank you
Conservation Investigations Crime Unit
CICU
externalaffairs@international-animalrescue-foundation.org.uk
Environmentalism Chapter 23 - Understanding Poaching
To get to grips with the current poaching crisis and to tackle demand then one has to place themselves in the shoes of the poacher, and the marketer, to knowing the facts and current laws as to why demand is driving the illegal animal parts trade intensely on a large international scale.
As quoted by The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in January of this year 2013 trade is vast in size and is not just being driven on the ground, its driven on the internet using simple code words such a “horn” “animal” to “bones” “rugs” and more which is relatively easy to locate.
However it’s frighteningly worrying that the 170+ nations whom agreed to The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora laws are not obeying by these simple rules nor are they policing or “have created” a wildlife policing networking team to international policing monitoring service to arrest illegal traders, distributors and those that wish to violate and flout the rules.
At this current moment there “are few” law enforcement teams that work within many continents that will take action against smugglers plus working with agencies such as INTERPOL that will with the help of other policing agencies clamp down on illegal animal parts peddlers.
All nations that have joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora that signed the treaty must agree to work on clamping down on these traders, yet still we see in Asia and Africa rules violated time again with many vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered to near threated animal parts and tropical pets on the market for fake medicine’s, bush meat/meat or just the tropical pet trade.
As explained in my previous document February 17th 2013 we cannot just lay blame to the poachers and must now open this extremely harmful trade up to the public for them to better understand as well as tackling the illegal wildlife parts trade outside of nations that are being hit hard, for instance South Africa where poaching of all Rhinoceros and Elephant species is colossally out of control.
I briefly explained 17th February 2013 that syndicates are preying on vulnerable individuals in nations that have been hit by drought, famine, climate destruction to civil unrest that has affected many African nations since the early 1980’s.
With the current destructive climate predictions for the next fifty to seventy years quoted to increase than we need to act fast before we view a complete biodiversity nightmare with species from the Rhinoceros, Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah and more pushed to extinction.
Before I explain more in depth of how to understand the poaching trade I would like to recommend these two paper book’s in to you that I myself have read with both printed on recycled paper.
Both books explain in great detail the seriousness with regards to the poaching crisis and how we need everyone on board to help. You can purchase the two paperbacks here which I do believe one can purchase in hard back too. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Ivory-Massacre-African-Elephant/dp/075094157X this is very good read for anyone that doesn’t understand the full extent of the poaching crisis and Killing For Profit I highly recommend to anyone that wishes to learn more about the illegal wildlife trade with regards to the Rhinoceros illegal horn trade http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Profit-Exposing-Illegal-Rhino/dp/1770223347/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361157582&sr=1-1
Preying on the vulnerable;
The United Nations Refugee Agency has identified for 2013 the following refugee camps that host from 500 to 25,000+ refugees in each camp – Please note this is just for Africa; please also note these figures are factual for January start 2012. Current figures for 2013 haven’t yet been released however International Animal Rescue Foundation © has asked for these figures plus other information that we are withholding.
- Refuges from Angola within camps stands at 128,664 with an extra 16,223 traveling in 2012
- Refuges from Botswana within camps stands at 85 with an extra 3,312 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Comoros within camps stands at 422 with an extra 0 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Lesotho within camps stands at 11 with an extra 34 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Madagascar within camps stands at 289 with an extra 9 travelling in 2012
- Refugees from Malawi within camps stands at 222 with an extra 6,308 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Mauritius within camps stands at 42 with an extra 0 travelling in 2012
- Refugees from Mozambique within camps stands at 155 with an extra 4,079 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Namibia within camps stands at 1073 with an extra 6,049 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Seychelles within camps stands at 42 with (no current record for 2012)
- Refugees from South Africa within camps stands at 429 with an extra 57,899 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Swaziland within camps stands at 42 with an extra 759 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Zambia within camps stands at 240 with an extra 45,632 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Zimbabwe within camps stands at 25,048 with an extra 4,561 travelling in 2012
Fourteen states (nations) within and of the coast of Africa have serious refugee problems of which is being made worse by the following;
- War and civil unrest to political coups
- Environmental disasters (flooding, drought, agricultural crop damage from pests and diseases).
- High unemployment and anti-social crime
- Economic collapse
- Terrorism
- Ethnic cleansing
- Political instability (E.g. The 2000 land take over in Zimbabwe)
All 14 nations are of a concern to us with regards to syndicates taking advantage of the vulnerable within these camps however those most concerning as to where these syndicates may be located are listed below.
Please note there is still no factual evidence to prove as yet where these syndicates could be located however with recent and past arrest rates and “what citizens are being arrested” then by analysing this data action can be taken to pinpoint possible problem areas to placing into action, strategic planning on communicating, planning, sourcing, locating and arresting those involved that are sending “paid” vulnerable out of South Africa citizens in to South Africa to take down our fauna and flora being the Rhinoceros and the Elephant.
These problem area[s] needs to be addressed immediately and rapidly however sensitively as to not upset social unrest more by just wading into areas heavy handed that would only push the syndicates and poachers into to other areas of the unknown;
- Refuges from Angola within camps stands at 128,664 with an extra 16,223 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Malawi within camps stands at 222 with an extra 6,308 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Namibia within camps stands at 1073 with an extra 6,049 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Mozambique within camps stands at 155 with an extra 4,079 traveling in 2012
- Refugees from Zimbabwe within camps stands at 25,048 with an extra 4,561 travelling in 2012
South Africa it’s self is still seeing vast asylum seekers moving in, plus fluctuating numbers of refugees moving in to South Africa from bordering nations since January 2011-2012. Viewing these figures and the current poaching arrest rates of non-South African citizens then it is more than evident that we have serious problems with syndicates working “outside of South Africa” but within Africa its’ self which needs addressing immediately or we will just continue to fight a losing battle.
It has been quoted by the United Nations Refugee Agency that;
At the end of 2011, there were some 449,000 people of concern to UNHCR in Southern Africa, including 145,000 refugees, 245,000 asylum-seekers, 55,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 4,000 returnees.
Individuals in mixed-migration movements towards South Africa often use camps in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as temporary stopovers, putting a strain on scarce humanitarian resources and creating tensions locally. This has led many governments in the region to restrict access to the asylum system by requiring travel documents at entry points and applying the “first safe country” principle, whereby entry is refused to asylum-seekers who have travelled through a safe country prior to their arrival.
Some positive steps have also been taken in the management of mixed-migration movements. These include Mozambique’s signing of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. Other countries in the region have pledged to accede to the relevant international and regional instruments and to undertake legal and policy reforms to address the mixed-migration challenge.
With the exception of Angola and South Africa, the countries in the sub-region hosting a significant number of refugees maintain encampment policies that restrict the freedom of movement of refugees and asylum-seekers and hamper their efforts to become self-reliant.
There are many people who may be at risk of becoming stateless in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. At the Intergovernmental event commemorating the Refugee and Statelessness conventions in Geneva in December 2011, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia pledged to accede to one or both of the Statelessness Conventions.
This may all seem confusing to some however as I did explain yesterday the syndicate poaching gangs are intelligent and are only after that one single item and that is animal parts.
They know that by preying on the vulnerable using psychological mind games plus knowing that these individuals know the lie of the land then poaching “by proxy” as we say is considered to them the easy way in obtaining parts then paying the vulnerable a small sum that to them “the refugee” is a year’s wage to support their families.
As I explained yesterday most if not all refugees are living in putrid conditions with little or no food, lack of medical aid, lack of heating in the cold months, lack of electricity, with illness rife. And $1,000 to them sounds a lot better than $1.00 a day of which they are receiving little of.
How do we tackle this area though?
Without going into great detail we do need to start tackling the poaching crisis outside of South Africa too that holds the largest populations of Rhinoceros in the world via focusing our attention on what is “going on around us”. Whilst still battling within “we must use fresher eyes to view” what’s going on around us, if we are aware the poachers are deriving from over the borders then we need to battle them there too of which we are able to track and gain intelligence on syndicate gangs.
We are fully aware that patrolling in other nations is not that easy and cannot just be carried out on one’s say so or without permission however there are many ways and means that we and others work in the European Union and other international nations of which we have managed to build hearts and minds, communications, rapport thus leading to successful operations positive surveillance and high arrests.
The saying goes the (answer is always in front of you) is literally just that, and by analysing “whom is arrested” and what nations these individuals are deriving from to what is on-going within these nations then one can build a much clearer picture up of who to target and where, of which we can tackle demand and hit it on the head hard nailing these kingpins and taking the opportunists out too.
The problems though are not just the vulnerable being preyed upon we are also dealing with the illegal arms trade/civil unrest or war and this is an area that needs outside assistance from governmental forces to building good political relations and rapport in taking these individuals out thus neutralising the problem and the persons.
Civil war and funding of the illegal arms trade;
Since the September 11th terrorist atrocities that shocked the word when America was hit by Al-Qaida security has drastically been stepped up that’s seen many restrictions placed on nations and individuals.
Due to these attacks many illegal terrorism units have then since turned to what can fetch them the most monetary gain to purchase illegal arms to fund their barbaric atrocities instead of the “arms being imported” from countries that they have previously attacked that did support them in the past.
America and Europe have funded many “terrorist nations” with military weapons that then travelled into the hands of terrorists and not as requested to the security forces tackling these crude radical mentalists, and because to these restrictions the animal parts trade has fluctuated that is fuelling organised and serious crimes against humanity to the narcotic trade too.
Illicit trade in wildlife has exploded for 2013 into a $19bn a year criminal enterprise, threatening government stability and national security.
Reports quoted the current effort to stop trafficking in ivory, rhino horn, and other endangered species was pitifully inadequate against the powerful and sophisticated crime syndicates with a global reach.
The report quoted;
“It has been a failure. We are losing these populations in front of our eyes,” “It is being outgunned in terms of technology. It is being outgunned in terms of resources, and it is being outgunned, worst of all, in terms of organisation.”
The report, compiled by the Dalberg consulting firm, was based on interviews with government officials in countries on both sides of the smuggling chain in Africa and Asia.
Conservationists have contacted the United Nations to now spur governments in to taking stronger and direct action into combatting illegal wildlife smuggling that’s fuelling the arms trade and terrorism.
Within the past year alone, organised crime syndicates armed with military-issue machine guns have slaughtered hundreds of elephants at a time in places like Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida national park, the report said.
The wildlife trade appears to fund terrorist cells in unstable African countries – threatening national security – and that the industry often uses the same networks and routes as other illegal trades, such as drug trafficking.
Over the past five years, meanwhile, the numbers of rhinos poached in South Africa has risen exponentially from about 20 a year to an expected 600+ for 2012 end It is shocking to see the numbers grow the way they have.
Elsewhere, powdered rhino horn, a medicine that has now morphed into a status symbol in some parts of south-east Asia, has sold for upwards of $100,000/kg. The average rhino horn was worth $600,000 – a price that gave the traffickers plenty of cash to pay off corrupt government officials.
The explosion of the trade – and the involvement of organised crime and violent rebel groups – this year captured the attention of the Pentagon and the state department. The secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, upgraded trafficking from a conservation issue into a national security threat. Wildlife trafficking now threatens government control and national borders.
Hilary Clinton quoted;
“It is one thing to be worried about the traditional poachers who come in and kill and take a few animals, a few tusks, a few horns, or other animal parts,” Clinton told a meeting at the state department. “It’s something else when you’ve got helicopters, night vision goggles, automatic weapons, which pose a threat to human life as well as wildlife.”
Smuggling of wildlife was now overseen by powerful crime syndicates stretching across international borders. The crime groups use their enormous profits to buy weapons, finance civil wars and buy corrupt government officials – rendering existing laws against trafficking almost useless.
America is the second largest destination for smuggled goods made from endangered wildlife. This is not an issue that can be solved solely by departments of parks or environment or solely by park rangers who are fighting it on the frontline we need the full strength of the government.”
We need to deploy the police and in a number of cases we need to deploy the military to crack down on these terror cells immediately before another mass human fatality “occurs”. Those that are dealing in illegal contraband, smuggling, trafficking down to the poachers, distributors and the opportunists need to be located, prosecuted and the key thrown away.
Some of the more sophisticated resources to catch the traffickers are now forthcoming. Google awarded WWF a $5m grant for aerial drones to track poachers and endangered wildlife, such as rhinos, tigers and elephants. (However why didn’t Google help the smaller units that all work together, this then singles others out and is not fighting the war on poaching and illegal trade on a larger scale to overwhelm these criminals.
But the overwhelming takeaway from the report was the failure of political will in some countries to deal with trafficking and this is where we ourselves International Animal Rescue Foundation © are either viewing nation not willing to become embroiled in counter terrorism due fear of their own inner state problems, an uprising attempt as seen in in some nations 2012-2013, or they simply are corrupt and more involved than we and other conservationists believe. There was evidence of that gap in the report itself.
Dalberg interviewed 15 government officials and seven representatives of international organisations that deal with trafficking, after making dozens of initial contacts. But the firm said some of the key players – such as Vietnam, a large and growing market for illicit trade in rhino horn – refused to take part. Two government officials objected specifically to questions about government corruption. (With the COP march summit only days away with Vietnam being seen as a focus of interest we as an organisation believe they are going to play hard to get).
The only way in which then to deal with nations such as Vietnam is to place imminent and immediate sanctions on them until they take direct action to curb the illegal wildlife trade thus decreasing the illegal arms and narcotic trade and civil unrest in African and Arab nations. Economic sanctions would be the preferred choice of weapon however by dong this (would it see an increase in criminal activity thus placing more animals in danger?).
“However by using past and current events within talks to ministers and the current endemic of wildlife poaching, sanctions” (could be imposed).
Who’s fuelling the trade though?
There are many fractions fighting in Africa however the main parties I have highlighted below that we are 100% certain on are going to place African wildlife in danger more unless immediate sanctions are imposed and tougher action taken further afield.
M23 March 23 Movement;
The March 23 Movement (French: Mouvement du 23-Mars), often abbreviated as M23, is a rebel military group based in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), mainly operating in the province of North Kivu. The group is currently involved in an armed conflict with the DRC government which has led to the displacement of large numbers of people. On 20 November 2012, M23 took control of Goma, a provincial capital with a population of one million people.
The M23 rebels have been responsible for a number of poaching incidents involving Elephants in the region as explained by the author of Killing for profit. They have murdered and mutilated Gorillas to exporting them out of the nation for big money into Nigeria mainly.
Leaders of the M23 movement are, Makenga Sultani, Jean-Marie, Runiga Lugerero
In late 2012 M23 Rebels acquired approximately 20 shipping containers filled with arms and ammunitions of various calibre, as well as 6 artillery pieces (type 26 and BM-type rocket launchers), all of which were abandoned by the FARDC in its retreat from Goma.
The M23 rebel and Congolese war has displaced many people that now reside in another refugee camp situated about 150 km north and 6 hours’ drive from Goma. A small town which population has more than doubled with the arrival of 20,000 displaced people. The camp is located in the Congo named Nyanzale camp.
South African police arrested 19 suspected members of a Congolese rebel group this February 2013, accusing them of plotting to overthrow their nation’s government after it recently came under attack by militants said to be backed by neighbouring Rwanda. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/south-africa-police-arrest-alleged-m23-rebels-18406975
Reports of poaching https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/09/04-0 by the Ugandan army supported by the Americans took down a herd of Elephants o which Ivory was very quickly whisked away in what was described as “a professional military attack” similar to that of a Special Forces raid http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/120904/ivory-ugandan-army-suspected-elephant-slaughter
It has been quoted and is very factual –
Some of Africa’s most notorious armed groups, including the Lord’s Resistance Army, the Shabab and Darfur’s janjaweed, are hunting down elephants and using the tusks to buy weapons and sustain their mayhem. Organized crime syndicates are linking up with them to move the ivory around the world, exploiting turbulent states, porous borders and corrupt officials from sub-Saharan Africa to China, law enforcement officials say.
But it is not just outlaws cashing in. Members of some of the African armies that the American government trains and supports with millions of taxpayer dollars — like the Ugandan military, the Congolese Army and newly independent South Sudan’s military — have been implicated in poaching elephants and dealing in ivory.
Joseph Rao Kony – Joseph Kony (MOST WANTED WAR CRIMINAL) – Lord’s Resistance Army
Joseph Rao Kony born sometime between July and September 1961 is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), guerrilla group in Uganda.
While initially enjoying strong public support, the LRA allegedly turned on its own supporters, supposedly to “purify” the Acholi people and turn Uganda into a theocracy. Kony proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, has nurtured a cult of personality, and claims he is visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom. Ideologically, the group is a syncretic mix of mysticism, Acholi nationalism and Christian fundamentalism, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition.
Kony has been accused by government entities of ordering the abduction of children to become child-sex slaves and child soldiers. An estimated 66,000 children became soldiers and two million people have been internally displaced since 1986. Kony was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2005 but has evaded capture. The LRA operates in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan, his exact geographical location is being hunted down by Special Forces.
Joseph Kony’s destruction against Elephants;
Joseph Kony has commanded his Lord’s Resistance Army soldiers to kill elephants in Central African forests, a new study has revealed. The LRA Crisis Tracker 2012 Annual Security Brief says LRA escapees have reported witnessing rebels shoot elephants and remove their tusks at Kony’s demand. Individuals that have escaped abduction by the LRA also say that unknown persons arriving by helicopter to remote locations have provided rations in exchange for ivory.
The LRA has been responsible for some of the most egregious violations of human rights in Central Africa. Now Kony and his rebels appear to be engaging in elephant poaching and ivory smuggling to sustain their terrorist operations. The security implications of illegal wildlife trade extend far beyond conservation. It is a national security issue and a threat to human life.
Last month the United Nations Security Council requested an investigation into LRA’s sources of funding, including elephant poaching and ivory smuggling. The move came just after a briefing of UN ambassadors highlighting the national security threat posed by wildlife crime.
Poaching of elephants has reached crisis levels in Central Africa, largely due to demand for ivory products in Asian markets such as China and Thailand. Thailand is by far one of the nations in which Joseph Kony is involved within transporting illegally smuggled ivory. Please goggle for the petition and sign asking for Thailand to now cease all ivory sales.
Lastly we see new international battles that are raging in Mali with Somalia being a focal point for EU forces to invade and restore order as of colossal terrorist atrocities, illegal wildlife trade, narcotics, ethnic cleansing and terrorism training camps.
French-led war in Mali has come with a huge cost for the local population whose livelihood has been shattered. Petty crime, anti-social behaviour, high unemployment and now again more refugee camps are breeding to the north of Mali. This is not good news and we know exactly what is going to happen here should the French and British and not sustain this war now.
As explained there are already 14 “recognised” refugee camps in Africa and now we have another in Mali that is growing larger by the day with very little signs of aid relief moving in and order being restored.
The majority of the youth there now find themselves without jobs with many are trying to spend their time by any means possible. As a result, petty crimes such as pick pocketing and theft have become a common occurrence among the refugees in the north of the country.
Some of the youth are reportedly using violence against women refugees who are increasingly becoming vulnerable to attacks in the north. Some of the acts committed against refugees according to locals have gone unreported. Given the already poor security situation within several camps across the country’s north, the refugee population there say what keeps them alive is the hope that they will live to see the next day.
The crime rate in the northern Mali has been on the rise with mostly people in refugee camps bearing the brunt of that due to the high unemployment rate caused by the French-led war in Mali.
Sadly again Elephants are coming under brutal attack;
Events of 2012 have meant that for the first time, three elephants have been poached. Community information networks discovered the identities of the perpetrators but require armed back-up to be able to act on this information, particularly with the influx of a variety of armed groups and the imminent military campaign to retake the north of Mali.
The 550-700 elephants are a notable remnant population and represent 12% of all West African elephants. This sub-desert population largely escaped the intense poaching of the 1980’s that extirpated other Sahelian populations, making them the most northerly African population and a high priority in IUCN’s regional elephant strategy. They survive by making the largest elephant migration in Africa, whose route takes them annually from Mali to Burkina Faso and back. One elephant was measured to have covered 3,435 km in 12 months!
With the vulnerable being preyed on in many African refugee camps, civil unrest which has been on-going since the 1980’s and now the new war over the border of Nigeria where it has been reported more Elephants are being poached than anywhere else in the continent what hope does our wildlife have?.
Although we and other conservationists cannot work to cease “civil wars” we can take action to hunt for the syndicates in bordering nations with South Africa along with working to build a lateral bond up with refugee agencies to help in sourcing, reporting and locating illegal activities in the area.
International Animal Rescue Foundation © works in building community relations too, and by building relations and using intensive strategic surveillance too, and informer networks then we are hopeful in tackling at least this “area” whilst reporting back to other agencies thus sourcing and arresting criminal syndicates that are taking down our Elephants and Rhinoceros.
Taking direct and immediate actions must been seen as a priority and one cannot save these species on a social media page. WE AND YOU have abilities to cease this poaching crisis so let’s start using hearts and minds.
Please stay tuned for part III of five – Understanding poaching and the illegal wildlife trade,
Dr J C Dimetri – Chief Executive Officer / Founder 2010-2011
Environmentalism Chapter 22 - Understating Poaching
The poaching crisis in Africa and Asia is out of control and there seems to be no stopping these brutal and heavily armed sophisticated poachers as yet. Africa is again seeing the brunt of all poaching that includes both the Elephant and the Rhinoceros to Pangolin with Lion bones being used more than ever to produce fake Asian medicine bone wine.
The numbers of the one horned Rhinoceros and Asian Elephant and Pygmy Elephant (rare to poach) are incredibly low too which would indicate why there are such low poaching “incidents” however when a poaching incident occurs it’s now in large numbers taking out large numbers.
Arrests are climbing “to a certain degree” and within January 2013 there were many animal parts seizures internationally both in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore of Rhinoceros horn, Elephant ivory to other animal parts and living specimens too from snakes seized in Thailand of just over two thousand living snakes (February 2013 – Chinese new year) as of course it is the year of the “snake” as advertised all over Asia so in theory the snake will be brutalised to great lengths this year for fake potions, medicines and bush meat to satisfy Asian demand which is incredibly high with no signs of a decrease as yet in some animal parts.
However there has been a decrease in Rhinoceros horn on the market in Vietnam and China which I have explained further on within this news and media documentary.
There is no hiding the fact though that poaching is erratically out of control in Africa with last year’s poaching statistics standing at an eye watering six hundred and twenty two brutally slain Rhinoceros for counterfeit Asian pharmaceuticals for the month of December 19th 2012 as stated by the Department of Environmental Affairs minister Rt Hon Albi Modise and Rt Hon Minister Bomo Edna Molewa.
The total end poaching statistics for December end of 2012 stood at six hundred and sixty-eight poached Rhinoceros for South Africa shocking Africa and many conservationists around the globe. http://wessa.org.za/get-involved/rhino-initiative/current-rhino-poaching-stats.htm
The current number of Rhinoceros in South Africa alone that we can only go on from our previous correspondence with the Department of Environmental Affairs (Dec 2012) is totalled at 18,800 however this number in detailed correspondence in many email’s to us from Rt Hon Albi Modise states that number is from the “2010 census count” and is not the true figure for 2012-2013 with many propagandists placing the Rhinoceros populations in South Africa at a non-factual 22,000 – 22.200 which it completely untrue with no supporting evidence to back this evidence up.
Based on poaching statists and the population counts for 2010 then adding to that the “gestation” length of birth coupled with the female cow only giving birth to one Rhinoceros with gestation at 450 days then we have estimated the total number of Rhinoceros (which is not a factual precise number) at 15,300 and dropping rapidly now at two to three a day every day being poached. We also took into account the number of hunting permits that was handed to hunters (hunting within Africa) to hunt “Rhinoceros” standing at one every year.
15,300 is as we have calculated non-factual due to not being able to “fulfil a detailed census count” however based on reams of evidence this is the closest number based on scientific data, hunting permit records, gestation, and the number of poaching incidents to the “population” count of 2010 too that we have located which is now frighteningly worrying. Should there be no serious plan of action implemented on all sides and not just including the South African government then regrettably we will one of our famous big five.
Within India Assam, Kaziranga that holds roughly 2,200 Indian one horned Rhinoceros the poaching figures for December end 2012 was eighteen with many arrests and poachers shot dead on site. For February 2013 India sadly see’s nine one horned Rhinoceros poached dead to date for February 16th 2013 as communicated to us by the forestry and ecotourism ministry of Assam, India.
Elephant poaching statistics for the entire continent of Africa, and India including Indonesia and Malaysia are sketchy as the authorities are reluctant to release factual data with regards to the world’s largest land mammal that’s roamed the continents for millions of years.
What we have managed to locate is an estimated 25,000 elephants that were slaughtered in 2011 with most of these being hit in Kenya, Cameroon and Zimbabwe. For 2012 the “estimated figures are” that have yet to be released by all official governmental environmental agencies stands at 27,600 again that is increasing and very alarming and is estimated by many non-governmental organisations and non-profits. The actual true extent down to the nearest number will never be known for Africa or India due to the sheer size in continents and dead non-accounted for.
Within India the total number of Elephants slain is again sketchy as (The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora does not want to place within the public domain information with regards to the poaching of these magnificent gentle giants to a certain level.
For 2012 in India that holds a very low population of Asian Elephants standing at 20,000 poaching statistics are roughly to date for February 16th 2013 sixty one poached, however in Odisha just outside of India the number of deaths stands at two hundred and ninety five. Odisha is situated here http://goo.gl/maps/Qrv60
The Asian Elephant is now at extremely decreased population levels concerning ourselves International Animal Rescue Foundation ©, World Wildlife Fund, The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, TRAFFIC the wildlife trade monitoring network, and The International Union for the Conservation of Nature plus many more conservation networks.
The critically endangered Pygmy Elephant is also in danger to, the Pygmy that “had” a population of 1,500 at the start of January 2013 now stands at 1,430 with most slaughtered not for “ivory” but because they are pests within and around the buffer zones of palm oil and pulp and paper plantations within mainly Malaysia and Indonesia.
Before January 2013 it was estimated that 11 critically endangered Pygmy Elephants had been deliberately slaughtered by poisons just to keep them away from the palm and paper plantation’s with another 8 found on January 26th 2013 and 5 more on February 4th 2013 there is unfortunately speculation that more may lay dead from poisoning just to satisfy greed from over obsessive consumerism outside of Asia for palm oil, wood and paper products.
The Asian Elephant is continuously slaughtered now in the most graphic and nauseas manners we’ve ever seen of such a splendid mammal, almost identical to that of the barbaric fur trade they are slaughtered by electrocution a new and torturous method of murder for ivory.
To kill an animal in such a disgraceful manner like this, knowing that it will burn alive from the inside out slowly and withering in agony then poachers and syndicates are dropping to all-time lows in side India and Africa which now must work together to end this sickening and repulsive bloody destruction of our critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable fauna and flora just for myths and counterfeit Asian pharmaceuticals within the Asian alternative medicine market.
Recent surveys have proved for 2012 that the Alternative Medicine Market or TCM/TIM is now using more African animal parts than ever before. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional Indian Medicine that are both popular alternative medicine practices internationally using approximately 1,000 plant and 36 animal species to date based on recent 2012-13 TCM/TIM surveys conducted by International Animal Rescue Foundation ©, this is also including the tiger, rhinoceros, black bear, musk deer, and sea horse the tiger, rhinoceros, and sea horse are endangered or moving to endangerment.
As many know or don’t know Rhinoceros horn is used in fake Asian medicine to treat fever, convulsions, and delirium (Rhinoceros horn does not and never has cured any disease). Its popularity has been a major factor in the reduction of the rhinoceros population in Africa and Asia.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, only about 3,100 black Rhinoceros in Africa and 2,800 of all three Asian species (Sumatran, Javan, and Indian) in Asia are still survive. Black, Sumatran, and Javan Rhinoceros are designated as critically endangered on the 2007 World Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Species. The Javan numbers at 30 left in the Asian wild (2013)
The Indian endangered one horn Rhinoceros, and the African White Rhinoceros variety are now nearing possible endangerment to extinction of which we could see the Indian species gone in 1-2 years maximum unless actions are taken to flow the demand with the White Rhinoceros banished in 3-4 years.
Despite protective laws, poaching continues still motivated by the Asian market for Rhinoceros horn. Captive-breeding is now the only hope for some species until protection can be provided in the wild sadly this is not the always the answer and breeding does not and has proven to be ineffective in increasing birth rates however does higher “mortality” to a considerable level, it regrettably is not the answer though.
Within India In an attempt to stay one step ahead of the local authorities, poachers in the Ganjam district of Odisha, India, are configuring power lines into homemade, electrocution tripwires, which they are using to kill elephants. 91 deaths that have occurred of the Asian Elephant have occurred from “some form of Electrocution” it’s the most silent way and easiest way in order to take an Elephant down so Assam Anti-Poaching teams have quoted to us (2013) which they are now launching in-depth investigations into the number of deaths so far this year.
Wildlife officers have suggested several remedies, including building taller, more insulated power lines, to help ensure the elephants’ safety. Others suggest cutting off power to areas with large elephant populations during strategic migratory periods. With poaching “known” though in these areas energy officers and anti-poaching rangers are in bitter battles on “who is to blame” (the poacher or the energy officials) “I think we all know who is to blame.
Zimbabwe holds a rough total of 700 Rhinoceros with 19 lost in 2011 from illegal poaching with great fears that the current poaching epidemic has now spread in to neighbouring states concerning many conservationists. Reported on 14th January 2013 Zimbabwe saw a copious hit on its Rhinoceros population on New Year’s Day with a total of four white Rhinoceros slaughtered with a remaining eight Rhinoceros horns recovered and spent ammunition cartridges. 2010 saw 23 Rhinoceros poached. Poaching is now considered rife in Zimbabwe’s game reserves, fuelled by cross-border syndicates from Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa.
It was stated in news feeds with regards to the four Rhinoceros that had been slaughtered in Zimbabwe that “mounting speculation that there is more than meets the eye in the suspected ‘poaching’ of the Rhinoceros on the Thetford Estate, which belongs to controversial businessman and known ZANU PF crony Mr John Bredenkamp”.
At the beginning of January it was reported in Kenya one of the worst nations with regards to out of control Elephant poaching that a family of 12 elephants were the most recent victims of a new epidemic of poaching sweeping Kenya, and Africa. It was the worst poaching hit in decades.
A gang stuck the Tsavo National Park in Kenya, one of the largest elephant sanctuaries in the world, slaughtering the animals, hacking off their tusks. The incident is the worst recorded ivory poaching incident in the history of the country.
According to the Kenyan Wildlife Service and International Fund for Animal Welfare, the trade in ivory, fuelled from Asian countries such as Japan and the rapidly prospering China, has increased to epidemic levels over the past few years.
Last year almost 34 tonnes of ivory was seized across East Africa, with 34 tons seized in 2012 with nearly 90% of all ivory seized had come from or had been transported through East Africa, and The number of animals that died for their tusks doubled in less than two years to approximately 360 in 2012.
In 2011 40 poachers where shot dead on site in Kenya by rangers, all of the poacher had heavy military or “hunting rifles” which is now fuelling speculation again that there is a hunting fraternity in Africa that is supplying these rifles, who these individuals are though are yet to be announced however we ourselves are investigating too with Africa being one of the worst nations in the world with regards to illegal poaching rising (and it’s going to keep rising unless more governments act and place a complete moratorium on hunting which we International Animal Rescue Foundation © are fighting in silence.
We know that hunters, rangers, police, to even the specialist Anti-Poaching Units are involved to “a degree” not all but some individuals are which has been proven time again. These members of the public and wildlife protection force are supposedly trusted individuals however with recent arrests in 2011 and 2012 it’s not looking good and is also effecting funding and “whom” to place trust in.
Some Charities are calling for a return to a full ban on the sale of ivory, and for authorities to address the involvement of international criminal gangs being involved in the trade.
Greater education for consumers might also help to stem demand, according to campaign group Dirty Ivory, a survey in China showed that almost 70% of the public thought ivory did not come from dead elephants, but that it fell out naturally, like teeth, by simply searching online one can view that ivory is freely available to purchase. Please view the links of which took our investigators on 3.6 minutes to search for and is widely available on the internet illegally.
http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh98/carvings/ch_05.html
http://duocminhanh.com.vn/am140/Vong-tay-nga-voi.html
Elephant slaughtered for it’s tusks in Tanzania - Just to make ivory (What a waste of such a precious life)
The South African government have again launched a new war on the poachers however it’s not working and what it appears to us is that “anyone and everyone” is being arrested apart from the perpetrators themselves.
Within SABC news column the Department of Environment and Affairs minister for South Africa quipped;
Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa says she’s confident that Sanparks may be on the verge of a turnaround with regard to the fight against rhino poaching.
Molewa says they now had a stronger team and a stronger force to help in the fight against rhino poaching. “Indeed there are people who have helped us to get new equipment which are able to help us deter those poachers from very far. There has been a contribution of helicopters by private sector and ordinary people.
“We now have a stronger team and a stronger force not just from Sanparks but from South Africans and the media” says Molewa. The Minister also thanked Lead SA, who she says has been at the fore front of the campaign.
Meanwhile, two more rhinos have been poached. The Hawks say the animals were killed and dehorned at Bulhoek farm near Brits in the North West, three or four days ago from the 10th February 2013. The rhino task team in the province is investigating.
Over 80 rhinos have been killed in South Africa since the beginning of the year (Jan 2012). Kruger National Park remains the hardest hit with 61 rhinos lost, to presumed foreign poachers. Kruger National Park is the worst hit park of them all.
We do not view this as very promising and with the latest shoot-out last Saturday and Sunday (Feb 2012) http://stfrancischronicle.com/2013/02/11/three-suspected-rhino-poachers-killed-in-shootout-with-rangers/ and with demand shooting through the roof then the war needs to be “moved into Asia” and not just in South Africa.
The Rhinoceros species could be preserved more if the government of South Africa simply;
- Place an immediate moratorium on hunting of which they quoted to us that this is not possible as hunting brings in more funding thus preserving conservation, plus in further correspondence “it would have to be proven that species in Africa where under threat”
- Cease the movements/sales of all Rhinoceros in South Africa to nations where Vietnamese hunting permits can still be used
- Improves tourism which brings in a considerable amount of income for conservation relief
- Quicker and harsher sentences for poachers and corrupt individuals
- Improving communications
- Brining all Anti-Poaching Units under governmental control and “funding them”
- Introducing a strategic Anti-Poaching command base with landing pads and runways
- Rooting out corruption with the use of polygraph technology invented in 1921
- Securing the main border channels
- More stringent checks on Asian construction workers
- Ceasing the sales of taxidermy to Asia which would impact on demand
- Tackling the air and freight ports
- Funding more security and newer high grade technology for reserves and farms
- Lowering tuition fees for those wanting to train as conservationists and/or ranger’s within South Africa
- Funding more ranger schools
- Tackling crime in “shanty town districts where poaching gangs are known by ourselves to hide”
- Education and awareness of tribal gangs and community relations
- Investigations into where donations are going to that are being ploughed in parks
- Release the R1 million that SANparks asked for in 2012 for equipment and ranger training (and purchase more equipment) International Animal Rescue Foundation © gave $10,000 with regards to the 2012 video advertisement for funds for this vital equipment and training however it’s being held back to hand to “anyone that can shop a poacher OR name a syndicate”.
- Setting a task force up to locate syndicates over the border
The above are just a handful of many tasks that the government can work towards to help in preserving our endangered fauna and flora, however they refuse and continue to support the likes of the hunting trade that is fronting the poaching trade and as much as many people “may disagree” the evidence is more than evident.
M99 (Entorphine) is still being used to take the Rhinoceros down, the Rhinoceros horn treatment is still not funded by the government, freight and airports are left untouched of which the DEA know damn well this is the main exit point for ivory and horn.
Non-profit Organisations, to non-governmental organisations and opportunists are working as rapidly and to the best of their ability to preserve and conserve however “funding is needed” and whilst funding is being pushed in to over 130+ African zoo’s where is the funding for the Rhinoceros protection? It’s slowly trickling in from the humble public in small quantities that’s going astray.
Pelham Jones makes very dull point here http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/south-africa/120226/rhino-war-can-hunting-save-the-rhino of which he truly believes that “hunting animals is preserving them” however this is totally untrue, and should one look at the PHASA terms and conditions and their “voluntary donations” scheme then one will understand that “tourism brings in more money than that of hunting” as more people travel to AFRICA to shoot with a camera than they do with a rifle.
Pelham Jones quotes “that when hunters come for trophy hunting, they kill old, non-breeding animals. “We have no problem with this,” he said. “Unlike with humans, there are no retirement villages for animals.” (Utter nonsense) excuse me Mr Jones can you explain to me why there are breeding farms located all over South Africa?
Yes I understand that one then has to move new stock in but how is this actually preserving our wildlife? It’s exactly the same as purchasing a new car, you trade the old one in for half the price if that, and then you purchase a new model. In this case it is the animal, so next question is exactly how much of the so called remaining pocket funds goes back into conservation? Oh yes very little, and it’s proven time again.
Why is there breeding farms located here http://goo.gl/maps/qnSX5 that have links (and strong ones as we have checked to canned hunters?) I suppose that these breeding farm’s “coincidentally next to Wild Cats World and Daniels Cheetah Project don’t purchase new young then sell the surplus to canned hunters or to zoos too? Zoo’s in the Netherlands that coincidentally purchase animals which then travel BACK to Africa and are then shot dead.
(To those that are reading we were threatened by Danish mafia (apparently) in 2 emails if we carried on harassing this area of interest that we are disgusted and sickened about.
What tourism can bring for YOU but most importantly CONSERVING FAUNA AND FLORA
Tourism is regarded as a modern-day engine of growth and is one of the largest industries globally. In 2012, G20 heads of state recognised tourism as a driver of growth and development, as well as a sector that has the potential to spur global economic recovery. Just in 2009-2010 in Uganda (not related to this tourism shot up by 300%) That’s in a war torn zone.
South Africa has earmarked tourism as a key sector with excellent potential for growth: the government has increased tourism’s contribution, both direct and indirectly, to the economy from the 2009 baseline of R189, 4-billion (7.9% of GDP) to R499-billion by 2020 (National Department of Tourism, 2012). Tourism supports one in every 12 jobs in South Africa and heavily supports conservation (but we need more)
South Africa’s spectacular scenery, friendly people, world-class infrastructure make it one of the most desired destinations in the world. The sector was given a massive boost by the successful hosting of the World Cup in 2010, when the country received a record-breaking 8.1-million foreign visitors. Despite tough global economic conditions, tourism grew in 2011, with 8.3-million international tourists. The regional African tourist market is South Africa’s important tourist markets, contributing more than 73% of total tourist arrivals and more than R50-billion in revenue in 2011.
Domestic tourism is also an important source of revenue and employment, contributing 52% of total tourism consumption. Cruise and rural tourism are focusing within growth areas.
A labour-intensive sector, with a supply chain that links across sectors, tourism is a priority sector in the government’s planning and policy frameworks – it is one of the six job drivers of the New Growth Path framework.
The National Tourism Sector Strategy, launched in 2011, aims to ensure the sector realises its full potential in terms of job creation, social inclusion, services exports and foreign exchange earnings, fostering a better understanding between peoples and cultures, and green transformation, and conservation.
South Africa is a popular destination for business travellers, who spend on average three times more than their leisure counterparts while crossing over significantly into leisure travel themselves, through tours before or after their business activities and through return trips in subsequent years.
With its first-world infrastructure, balmy climate and breath-taking scenery – not to mention acres of golf courses – South Africa is an ideal location for international congresses and conventions.
The country has well over 1 000 world-class conference and exhibition venues, ranging from intimate bush hideaways to large-scale, hi-tech convention centres. All of these offer a wealth of leisure activities, side-tours and events: from walking with elephants to first-hand experiences of African culture to luxury shopping and relaxation.
The country has set up the National Conventions Bureau to help it secure more international conferences, an excellent source of foreign tourists and revenue. The conference industry is in 37th place in the International Congress and Convention Association’s top-100 list of leading destinations in the world, released in 2012.
South Africa is home to diverse cultures, ranging from the Zulus who resisted European conquest to the nomadic San of the Karoo desert. Each culture has evolved its own distinctive art forms, music and traditional rituals, while the descendants of colonial settlers have evolved variations of their European roots.
South Africa’s history has been one of confrontation, but is now also known as one of reconciliation. World-class sites have been established to commemorate the country’s past and celebrate its new-found unity, while the number and quality of cultural villages, community and township tours has grown dramatically.
World Heritage
South Africa is home to eight World Heritage sites, places of “outstanding value to humanity”.
Four of South Africa’s eight Unesco World Heritage sites are cultural sites, while one is a mixed cultural/natural site. These are: Robben Island, the Cradle of Humankind, the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park.
South Africa’s diverse climates range from tropical in the south-east to desert in the central region. The scenery runs the gamut from spectacular mountain ranges to vast grass plains, from coastline to meandering rivers to desert dunes. The country’s wildlife is far more varied than just the celebrated “Big Five”, and is supported by an extraordinary biological diversity.
Three of South Africa’s eight Unesco World Heritage sites are natural sites, while one is a mixed cultural/natural site. These are the Cape Floral Region, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the Vredefort Dome, and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park.
South Africa is leading the way in one of the boldest cross-border initiatives currently unfolding in southern Africa, the development of transfrontier parks.
There are 19 national parks, including the world-famous 20 000km2 Kruger National Park. The country’s terrestrial protected areas stand at around 6.9%, according to a World Bank report published in 2012. Marine protected areas make up around 11%. The country’s private game lodges range in standard from middle to very upmarket, with ultra-luxury lodges catering almost exclusively to foreign tourists.
Being at the southern tip of a large continent, South Africa offers 3 000 kilometres of coastline along with breath-taking mountains – often side by side. The country’s diverse terrain, together with a climate suited to outdoor activities, make it an ideal hunting ground for adrenaline seekers.
South Africa offers world-class climbing, surfing, diving, hiking, horseback safaris, mountain biking, river rafting – and just about any other extreme activity you can name, all supported by dedicated operators.
World-class venues and supporting infrastructure, top international events, and South Africans’ passion for sport combine to make the country a huge draw card for sports fans.
More than 10% of foreign tourists come to South Africa to watch or participate in sport events, with spectators accounting for 60% to 80% of these arrivals.
There are numerous world-class sporting events on South Africa’s calendar every year, such as the Cape Argus Cycle Race and the 89km Comrades marathon. The country has proved that it can successfully pull off the really big events, which have included the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 2003 Cricket World Cup, and the biggest of them all, the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
PLEASE VISIT SOUTH AFRICA – SHOOT WITH YOUR CAMERA – PLEASE GIVE TO CONSERVATION
In 2012 we made a direct demand to President Jacob Zuma that should he not clean the poaching trade up then we would launch imminent and immediate boycotts of the South African tourism and trade industry. Please view the links
http://www.waterconservation.co.za/2012/01/20/threat-of-boycott-to-save-the-rhino/
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-01-13-rhino-lovers-issue-ultimatum
It was a wrong and uneducated move by me the founder/CEO of the International Animal Rescue Foundation of which I didn’t see the full potential of what tourism could bring into South Africa which has masses of “potential if the tourism trade acts with us and others”.
Tourism is big business in South Africa and in the European Union, Africa is plastered on every tourism outlet everywhere one travels, by working with the tourism industry, showing the trade that walks through the door of what is happening in the nation they wish to visit then “more sums of monetary gain” can be achieved and pushed directly into conservation to protect our Rhinoceros and Elephant, Lions to Pangolins and more.
International Animal Rescue Foundation © has been working intensively to help preserve the famous big five in Africa along with many other conservationists and individuals, we placed conservation teams on the ground with our own European Anti-Poaching Units that are kept low key as we believe that corruption in Africa involving the animal parts trade doesn’t just involve government, police, rangers, to farmers.
As explained we also believe that there are individuals working within Anti-Poaching Units that are tipping poaching gangs off with planned movements of Anti-Poaching personnel. We refuse to allow any African Anti-Poaching teams or Africans to work with us not because of discrimination but because we are highly concerned at the corruption of instate individuals and we do not wish to take chances. This we feel very unfair as it could introduce good working relations, and rapport.
There are also other major factors that are not being taken into consideration with regards to poaching and every time we mention these important factors to government and smaller non-profits and non-governmental agencies they are simply brushed aside. We are not going to allow those problems to be simply hammered down because of fear of upsetting people in other nations, or their own governments.
We explained to our team back in 2009 that we need to look at poaching in Africa within a more (broader setting), who else could be involved? Why have the numbers of poached Rhinoceros drastically increased from 7 in 2000, to 122 in 2009 than 2011 seeing just over 448 poached?
Elephant poaching statistics went skyrocketing from 2005-2006 being the start of the main Elephant poaching frenzy then decreasing in 2007 to a maximum number of 15,000 with 2008 being the lowest ever year recorded in Africa alone for Elephant poaching with numbers of poached Elephants under 10,000.
Then 2009 see’s under 37,000 thousand poached Elephants with the year 2010 practically shooting of the graphs with poaching statistics standing at just under 58,000 poached dead, 2011 and 2012 see’s the largest now moving into hundreds of thousands standing at 25,000+ with formal records still to come back to the IUCN and CITES.
The statistics of “poaching incidents” for both Rhinoceros and Elephants are almost identical, and yes we are fully aware that the Rhinoceros hasn’t been poached into the thousands as with the Elephant species but what we are trying to explain is the “years of increasing hits” on wildlife.
Let’s pull some facts and questions here and lay them on the table;
- Between the years of 2002 and 2009 the poaching “hits or incidents” and not (numbers of poached) on both the Rhinoceros and the Elephant have increased at the same time moving from a steady low then high to decreased poaching rates then sliding of the scale. Why did Africa see these rates at such fluctuating levels?
- There are more poaching incidents next to “war torn” or “poverty hit nations” (we know the KNP (Kruger National Park) holds the largest number of Rhinoceros and we are also aware that Kruger and Mozambique meet that are not secure or manned properly at the border posts with some poachers traveling through the Giriyondo gate via the getaway or just moving animal parts discreetly through the frontiers.
- There are more poaching incidents of Rhinoceros in the Kruger “which people believe is (only) because there is more numbers of Rhinoceros in the Kruger however this side of Africa (KNP) also borders extremely poor nations” where civil unrest and refugee camps are becoming increasingly larger.
- There are more Mozambique’s, Somalia’s, and Ethiopians arrested in “poaching incidents” than there are Asian poaching gangs with regards to the Rhinoceros and Elephant.
- Moving back to the poaching of Elephants the numbers stand at this in (percentage) for 2011. 1) The percentage of poached Elephants for 2011 in central Africa stood at 90% 2) The percentage of poached Elephants for 2011 in East Africa stood at 59% 3) The percentage of poached Elephants for 2011 in southern Africa stood at 51% 4) The percentage of poached Elephants for 2011 in Western Africa stood at 84%
ONLY YOU AND WE CAN STOP THIS - STOP IGNORING THE DAMAGE - START TAKING ACTION - WE NEED MORE ACTION IN THE FIELDS NOW - WE ARE LOSING THIS BLOODY WAR - PLEASE HELP US - PLEASE HELP THE AFRICAN BIODIVERSITY NOW!.
Identifying other areas of interest I have listed below.
- There has been 16 years of civil war in Mozambique that ended in 1992. Stated in 1975 after independence from Portugal it displaced millions, ruined homes and infrastructure, agriculture, and living, pushing people into poverty and crime with most people living on $1 a day to support themselves and family. Although in Mozambique the Civil war has since ended (to a degree) the country still sees for 2012 based on UNHCR statistics some 145,000 refugees, 245,000 asylum seekers, 55,000 internally displaced persons, with only “four thousand returnees”. The country also has a 20%+ unemployment rate.
- In 2002 a severe drought hit many central and southern parts of the Mozambique, including previously flood-stricken areas. Poverty remained widespread, with more than 50% of Mozambicans living on less than $1 a day. At this same time of year poaching increased of the Rhinoceros from 6 in 2001 to 25 in 2002 than 22 in 2003 with a decrease in poaching between the years of 2004-2007 with only 2006 seeing a fluctuation, the years of 2002 to 2005 is a typical “drought session” is this an indicating factor that we should all be looking for in the future to prepare oneself for possible poaching “incidents?
- In 2012 it was reported that Individuals in mixed-migration movements towards South Africa often use camps in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as temporary stopovers, putting a strain on scarce humanitarian resources and creating tensions locally. This has led many governments in the region to restrict access to the asylum system by requiring travel documents at entry points and applying the “first safe country” principle, whereby entry is refused to asylum-seekers who have travelled through a safe country prior to their arrival.
- 2012 The UNHCR has now called on the Mozambique government to STOP asylum seekers from being deported of which will see more pressure placed on refugee camps, more crime, poverty and anti-social unrest. (Could this be another reason why poaching is increasing as of asylum into a poor nation?) Why would anyone decide on seeking asylum in Mozambique in such (small numbers that are not even totalling that of what Britain see’s and being under 200,000)
- In 1993 President Robert Mugabe born 21 February 1924 threatened to expel white landowners who objected to the 1992 Land Acquisition Act permitting the government to force them to give up their land for redistribution to black Zimbabweans.
- In 2000 President Robert Mugabe begins ordering white farmers to give up their land. Some 4,000 farmers lose their land and Zimbabwe’s agricultural output decreases sharply.
- In 2004 it accusations by Human Rights Watch state that starvation is being used as a tool for the regime’s support among Zimbabweans. Farm output has decreased sharply since Mugabe began his policy of land grabs.
- 4,500 white commercial farmers to surrender their lands without compensation to black settlers that had NO agricultural or botanical experience at all plunging the economy into doom with hypermarket shelves left bare and empty.
- In 2000 Up to 13 million people, close to half of them in Zimbabwe, starved over the six months as a result of drought and political mismanagement across six countries in the region. Between 2000 and 2008 203 Rhinoceros where poached (there is now 700 Rhinoceros left in Zimbabwe alone) Was the land reform partly responsible for poaching fluctuations too in South Africa coupled with droughts of 2000 in Mozambique?
- From 1999-2000 Zimbabweans unemployment rate stood at 52% and as drought took hold due to rapid climate change and lack of agricultural consumer goods as of inexperienced agriculturists this had a knock on effect with increased unemployment increasing, from 2001 unemployment shot up to 57% from 2005 unemployment stood at 73.4% then rising yet again in 2007 at a staggering 88% unemployed with 2009 at 95% for the years of 2011 to 2012 the unemployment rate is of the scale with most of those unemployed between the ages of 18-35 years of age. (Coincidentally those that are arrested for poaching are also in between this age group and are from Mozambique, or Zimbabwe. Between the years of 2007-2011 poaching skyrocketed (could this be another reason why poaching took off coupled with the animal parts trade in Traditional Chinese Medicine too?
- Zimbabwe has the “highest rate” of unemployment in the whole of Africa standing at 95% with Mozambique at 21% (are more poachers deriving from Zimbabwe where Asian syndicate gangs are taking advantage?) Namibia stands at 51.2% unemployed, Kenya and Swaziland stands at exactly 40% unemployed, South Africa 24.9% Ghana 11%
- As reported on May 8th 2012 Angola entered its pre-electoral phase, with civil unrest very likely to rise effecting Botswana although Botswana is a relatively peaceful nation compared to others it’s not of a major concern to ourselves with regards to poachers slipping over the borders or possible syndicates seeing these areas as poaching havens to pay poachers to do their dirty work whilst they stay relatively safe in neighbouring nations bordering South Africa.
South Africa borders four other major African nations as explained above, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana with Swaziland closest to Mozambique and Lesotho 30 degrees east. Leaving Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Namibia out of the equation the top ranking nations that have the most problems with petty crime, unemployment, social dysfunction, organised crime, and drought to very low income then these nations can be and are from what we are seeing being targeted by highly sophisticated Asian syndicate gangs.
The opportunist is also targeting our wildlife within South Africa and who can blame them when you see figures such as this above from mainly Mozambique and Zimbabwe regarding unemployment, civil unrest and drought.
The same more or less is on-going in Indonesia and Malaysia with regards to illegal logging of which poor families that are none the wiser are completely oblivious to what damage they are causing to our sensitive biodiversity.
Bringing these two together with the poor and the sophisticated heavily armed and trained poachers could this be a reason why the Rhinoceros and the Elephant is now being plunged into nearing extinction at such a rapid rate? And are the syndicates residing in Zimbabwe where they know there basically untouchable thus sending in trained poachers to take down South African wildlife. We all know that from time to time the poor man will take his fair share, however the poor can easily be manipulated and bribed and $1000 sounds a lot better than $1 A DAY!
Shoot out 26th November 2012 - with the other two poachers moving back across the border into Mozambique http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2012/11/26/two-men-arrested-for-rhino-poaching
On the 7 March 2012 more Mozambicans were arrested for Rhinoceros poaching - Mozambican nationals, Timothy Ngcobe, 44, David Lazerus, 29, Carlito Masundu, 25, Santos Smit, 28, Chicco Khoza, 35, Sam Mashaba, 36, and Sello Zitha, 35 were later arrested over the weekend. - http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/more-rhino-poachers-be-arrested-says-kruger
9th February 2013 – Shootout erupts with remaining poachers fleeing back over the border into Mozambique - http://blog.getaway.co.za/travel-news/suspected-poachers-killed-arrested-kruger/
24th January 2013 – The DEA reports on more arrests with “poachers fleeing over the border into Mozambique” feeling over the border http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?oid=352926&sn=Detail&pid=71654
It was stated on the 6th March 2011 by the Department of Environmental Affairs
“South Africa and Mozambique have signed a historic agreement to drop fences between the two countries for biodiversity reasons in the Greater Limpopo Trans-frontier Park. Evidently, this has been exploited by criminal elements.
Working together with her Mozambican counterpart, Minister Molewa will address this concern. This bilateral with Mozambique will address among others how we should jointly strengthen and upgrade the security situation to arrest the scourge of rhino poaching. We also would want to share with our Mozambican counterparts our initiatives that allow collaboration between various security agencies to deal with poaching as a priority crime”. http://www.environment.gov.za/?q=content/rhino_poaching_cause_concern
What minister Molewa shouldn’t off done was drop the fence, the Minister has along with her Mozambique counterpart increased poaching figures dramatically, and yet still claims that she is cracking down on poaching. This is bloody absurd and the so called “criminal elements” are the Mozambicans, Zimbabwean’s themselves or are they?
One cannot just blame or point the finger though at Mozambique or Zimbabwe, we also have refugee camps that are in dilapidated and in repulsive conditions with little food, electricity black outs, social dysfunction, drought, lack of sanitation “if any at all”, to people living way below the bread line. What would you do if you had been forced out of your nation with three children in tow and had to live months if not years in cramped, stinking, and heat swamped conditions? These areas also need addressing and rapidly.
The Rhinoceros and the Elephant we are fully aware is being targeted for TCM and TIM as there is no use for these animal parts in other nations. However we MUST locate these syndicates and vaporise them for good. International Animal Rescue Foundation © believes that these syndicates are over the border and this is a prime interest area for us.
We must also remember that Rhinoceros and Elephant poaching is not just “Asian related”. The poor that are attacking our precious biodiversity are also being targeted by syndicates in a no win situation. We need to clean these areas up, and that is exactly what we are going to do based on accurate informer intelligence and co-operation from over border agencies.
Together working in unity we will crush these bastards that are slaughtering our natural and most beautiful biodiversity fauna and flora.
Please stay tuned for part II of Five detailing the Rhinoceros and Elephant crisis.
Thank you for reading.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr J C Dimetri & Directive team of staff International Animal Rescue Foundation
If you would like to know more about the the International Anti-Poaching Foundation please visit
http://www.wildvolunteer.com/volunteer-international-anti-poaching-foundation/
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Environmentalism Chapter 9 - Animal parts trade - Probing the problem part II
At the start of the month January we had the pleasure of screening a young wildlife photographers work by Pooja Gupta regarding the trade in Parrots and whether it is an ethical choice or not on purchasing them to just place within solitary confinements of a cage.
The pet trade is mirroring that of the illegal tropical pet trade of which many animals from around the world are stolen from their natural habitat then bred time again that provides an array of animals both for the “legal pet trade in tropical domestic tropical animals” to the illegal trade of which 90% of all funds now go to illegal arms sales and deals to fund terrorists.
These terrorists are mainly groups such as Al-Qaida, Abu Nidal Organization, Army of Islam, to the communist party of India and China, and internet terrorists such as Anonymous that claim to be “animal lovers” when in reality their battle is nothing more than fighting politics alongside all other domestic and non-domestic terror cells that cause havoc and disruption on an international scale without understanding the basic fundamental views of what they are fighting for, to even battling in the wrong perspective causing more harm than good.
One cannot preserve life by fighting on the computer, nor can one cannot save an animal online hence why we stand by our word and will not nor ever “support terrorists” that lack support of millions hence why they attack in certain ways and “areas” to gain support of weak minds” that fight with “emotions and love instead of education and hands on experience.
One of the main mission statements of the International Animal Rescue Foundation © is to create awareness of the key animal and environmental international issues that are effecting our way of living and Mother Nature that surrounds us. The illegal pet trade and animal parts trade is one of them and it’s now time to attack this head on and pin point the main spots that we now must focus on before the situation grows more out of hand.
As I stated yesterday 23 January 2013 the illegal animal parts trade and pet trade is now the number one easy money maker plus is now finically supporting terrorism in many nations online and on the ground. How bad though is the problem? I have outlined this below in brief;
- The global illegal trade in live species and animal parts — used for luxury accessories, Asian medicine or folk remedies like aphrodisiacs — is estimated to be worth up to $20 billion a year, Interpol quoted in 2011 this has now risen to a eye watering 34.6 billion a year “just for illegal pet trade”.
- Dealers will specialise in mainly big profit animals such as arachnids, reptilians, big cats, to birds and fish making on average for each species a whopping $30,000 to $90,000 (each) the more the sell of one species the quicker that species becomes critically endangered.
- It’s now a well-known fact that law enforcement and customs are poorly trained on recognising endangered species to taking action with the offenders getting of scot free or with just a slap on the wrist.
- Links between the animal tropical pet trade and narcotic smuggling are now identical with animal trafficking now seen as best opportunity to make money easily and quick without the authorities being alerted as narcotic smuggling would be.
- According to a series of U.N. studies on the illicit traffic of wildlife, wildlife experts claim that Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Russian organized crime syndicates are “heavily involved in illegal wildlife trade.” While such claims do not suggest that organized crime syndicates are involved in all forms of wildlife trafficking, the United Nations reports that syndicates are “strongly present” in some sectors. Further, even when criminal syndicates are not controlling the trade, much of the trafficking is commonly described as “highly organized…” Anecdotal accounts also indicate that some organized groups are involved in both illegal wildlife and human trafficking.
- Although evidence has been reported as “slim” to link the pet trade to terrorism the evidence that’s been located so far by Interpol states that Asia and Africa are the two number one key groups that are profiteering, trafficking and involved in illegal arms deals to terrorism of which “animals are the number one sufferer”.
Two incidents from the last few years show;
In a major 2007 sting operation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the largest of its kind, undercover agents spent three years infiltrating a ring smuggling endangered sea turtle skins from the shores of southern Mexico to as far north as Chicago. Illegal drugs turned up on both sides of the border over the course of the investigation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent quoted.
In the same investigations another incident showed;
In the United States, marijuana was seized at one of the raided warehouses filled with animal skin boots. On the Mexican side, smugglers offered to ship cocaine along with the hides of turtles whose numbers are rapidly dwindling in the wild. “It was just thrown out there like ‘Hey, we can also move this stuff if you want.’… They are pretty much moving anything from pets to animal parts.
The pet trade and illegal animal parts trade we all know is big but does it ever enter into the “professional business’s” and then people’s homes? I mean you would expect that professional pet stores that are selling freely handing out advice to advertising on television would know the difference between an “endangered species” and a pet yes?
“Since the World Trade Center Attacks the illegal animal parts trade and exotic pet trade has driven terrorism vastly funding organised crime from narcotics to the military arms deals in Asia and Africa”..
Location Beirut;
Grey parrots and vervet monkeys mingle with cats, dogs and hamsters in many of Lebanon’s pet shops, but if you want the really exciting animals, you have to ask behind the counter.
Lions, panthers and bears—in fact many of the mascots from the American sports franchises—are just a few of the animals you can buy here. One pet store in Beirut—whose owner requested anonymity for fear of protests from animal rights groups—offers a chance at owning your own piece of the wild. The owner received a degree in veterinarian studies in Russia and, unlike many pet stores here, the six dogs strategically placed in the window are clean, healthy and vaccinated.
But these aren’t the only animals he sells. He can get you lion and bear cubs, leopards, even a baby crocodile. Sitting behind a tidy desk surrounded by bags of pet food, he describes the process of how a wild animal is ordered and smuggled into Lebanon.
It starts with a deposit (lions, for example, require a down payment of $1,000-$1,500). The pet store owner then puts in an order to a Lebanese middleman who contacts a farm in neighboring Syria, where lions are raised for sale. The animals are placed in boxes and loaded into taxis that head for the Lebanese-Syrian border. At the border the taxi driver will often bribe a guard around $10, usually saying there are dogs in the crates.
According to Jason Mier of Animals Lebanon, chimpanzees in central Africa can go for as little as $20. This means buying and reselling the animals abroad can bring in a huge profit. (Photo courtesy of Animals Lebanon)
The pet store owner offers a video on his iPhone as proof of the process. In it a lion cub is jammed into a metal kennel most likely meant for domesticated dogs or cats. A man whose face is out of the frame kicks the cage.
“[The animals] have a better life here [in Lebanon] than on the farms in Syria,” says the pet store owner, adding that carnivores like lions and leopards are often underfed because farm owners can’t afford to feed them meat. But despite his concern for the animals, his motives are economic. He says orders are sporadic and so exact figures are hard to pin down, but one lion cub tends to go for $3,000-$5,000. In the right market, with the right client, the cost can go as high as $10,000.
Current Lebanese animal welfare legislation consists of just three sentences and calls for a maximum penalty of less than $15. In addition, it is rarely enforced—Animals Lebanon states “extensive research has not shown this law used even once in the past twenty years.”
And though Lebanese parliament voted in July to become the 176th member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, few here seem convinced that the trade of exotic animals will stop. Because the trafficking of exotic pets is illegal in Lebanon, it’s hard to know exactly how many wild animals are smuggled into the country every year. The pet store owner estimates there are around 40 locations in the country that keep exotic pets on private or public display—from zoos to pet stores and even family homes.
“The phenomenon of keeping large ‘dangerous’ animals as pets appears to be gaining popularity in the Middle East,” writes Richard Thomas, communications coordinator for the wildlife trade monitoring organization TRAFFIC International, by email. “We receive regular report[s] of … Cheetah, Lions, Tigers, etc. in that region.” A lion is rescued by Animals Lebanon from an Egyptian circus. (Photo courtesy Animals Lebanon)
Lebanon and Syria are not the only countries implicated in this trend. Jason Mier, executive director of Animals Lebanon, says that in addition to “at least four zoos in Damascus,” Central and West Africa are hotbeds for wild animal smuggling.
Mier, who worked on animal welfare issues in a number of African countries before coming to Lebanon, says poverty drives the exotic animal trade in many countries. He says he saw vendors in the Congo selling baby chimpanzees for $20, an amount that represents a “huge profit when people on average earn 23 cents a day.”
According to Mier, other countries that supply Lebanon include South Africa, Ukraine and Bulgaria (where Mier says you can rent a lion cub for a day). According to the pet store owner, crocodiles are often smuggled through the airport from Malaysia labeled as “fish.”
So who is buying and raising these animals? Especially at time when the Lebanese middle class is struggling with electricity and water shortages? “The keeping of exotic animals as pets is centuries old,” explains Thomas. “Cleopatra is believed to have owned a pet leopard named Arrow and possibly even a pet tiger too.” But history aside, Thomas says prestige among Lebanon’s upper crust is the real reason people want to have exotic pets.
“The impression I have is that it has become something of a fashion/status symbol to own a dangerous pet,” he writes, “which is why it’s growing in popularity.” According to the pet store owner, the secluded villas of the Lebanese elite outside Beirut are the destination for many of these animals. They are kept in cages or allowed to roam in fenced gardens.
Souraya Mouawad grew up in such a villa, one that was briefly home to a doomed leopard named Moulou in the 1970s. Speaking on the phone, Mouawad, who was born and lived in Africa as a child but moved to Lebanon as a teenager, fondly remembers the adored childhood pet.
http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/fatal-attractions/lists/facts-exotic-pet-trade.htm
“My father bought a big house in Tripoli with lots of space and he went back to Africa. We settled there—my sister, my mother and my aunt. When my father came back he brought us a 3-month-old leopard.
Foxes are one of the few wild animals native to Lebanon that are kept as exotic pets. (Photo by Carine Mechref) “We named him Moulou. When we first got him … we stayed at the Carlton, a five-star hotel. The valet parking man who was wearing white gloves brought steak for Moulou to eat. Moulou slept in the Carlton hotel garden that night and when we woke up he had broken all the small plants and trees.”
As infants, wild animals are often cute and manageable. But Mounir Abi-Said, founder of a wildlife preservation in Aley (a town northwest of the capitol), says wild animals are often locked in small cages and left in poor conditions once they become older, more dangerous and more expensive to care for. “Moulou was an adult at one year,” says Mouawad of the leopard’s transition from a cuddly playmate to a wild animal. “He ate 10 pounds of fresh meat a day and drank 5 liters of milk.”
Despite the family buying a large parking area so Moulou could get his necessary exercise, Moulou suffered from back paralysis and couldn’t run. “We didn’t know he should be in Africa and not with us,” says Mouawad, who is now founder of Animals Pride and Freedom (APAF), an animal rescue organization.
As danger from Lebanon’s civil war rose in early 1975, Mouawad and her family decided to return to Africa, but Moulou couldn’t travel in his condition. After numerous attempts at finding a new home for the leopard, Mouawad’s father had the animal secretly euthanized just as the family left for the airport.
When Mouawad learned the truth years later, it caused a deep rift between her and her father. “I didn’t eat at the same table with my father for four years and I didn’t talk to him for four years,” she says. The vervet monkey is commonly found in Lebanese pet stores. (Photo courtesy of Carine Mechref)
Exotic pets often meet tragic ends. Owners are faced with the reality of a full-grown wild animal in their house and among their family. For some, like Mouawad, there is an emotional attachment; in other cases the animal is simply an accessory that has grown inconvenient.
Mier remembers one recent case when a chimpanzee was left on the side of the road next to a private villa. Despite the poor conditions, Mier was unable to do much legally and it took months to convince the owner to hand over the chimp to Animals Lebanon so they could relocate it to a sanctuary.
Lebanon’s lack of laws—and the government’s inability to enforce them—pose challenges to animal rights supporters. While it doesn’t replace national laws, Mier maintains that CITES’s framework will help Lebanon develop proper laws as well as educate officials to take appropriate actions toward the wild animal trade.
“[In other countries, CITES] slowed smuggling and saved some animals from going extinct,” said Mier.
Mier contends that it will take more to slow the “multibillion-dollar industry” that is the exotic animal trade here.
Location Japan; 2012
Animal charities have condemned NOAH: The Inner City Zoo for selling penguins, meerkats, alligators and monkeys. The creatures are caged in one squashed room — on the second floor of an office building.
Set up in 1999, NOAH (Nature Orientated Animal House) also sells otters, megabats, sloths, foxes and a crane — alongside several other exotic animals. Some of the animals cost thousands of pounds to buy and customers even have to pay a £4 entry fee to look around the shop.
One onlooker said: “Most animals were quiet, as if they’d come to terms with their enforced captivity. Many are in tiny cages, and the owls are tightly fixed down so they can’t fly.
Josey Sharrad from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said: “IFAW absolutely condemn the treatment of these animals. “These conditions cause severe stress for the animals which can weaken immune systems and leas to risk of disease. “When these creatures are available for purchase, it confuses people as to whether an animal is really at risk of extinction or not.”
According to their website, NOAH has just recently taken stock of marmosets, fennecs and squirrels — all as babies. Prices are often on request, and a prairie dog — a type of rodent — was priced at £1,500. Alan Knight, Chief Executive of International Animal Rescue said: “We would urge people to stay away from this pet shop and others like it. “Exotic animals should live in the wild as nature intended, not in captivity as a source of entertainment and prestige, and to line the pockets of greedy pet shop owners.
“Breeding and selling wild animals as exotic pets is cruel and irresponsible. “Undoubtedly many of them are eventually abandoned when they become ill or grow too large and too strong for their owners to manage.” Owner, Kenji Takahashi, 59, insists that he obeys all the rules of Japan.
He said: “I may not agree with all the laws of Japan, but I must obey them. “My premises may not be perfect and the space we have for each animal is not as big as we would sometimes like. “But the same could be said for any zoo across the world. “What I am trying to do is increase the love that humans have for exotic animals.”
In the United Kingdom one of the last continents that one would least expect to find or even know of anyone selling or profiteering from the exotic pet trade of which you would think that this is simply a taboo and that the United Kingdom is known for its love of animals and nature wouldn’t be involved in such crimes.
Regrettably that there are many illegally exotic pets entering England and leaving the England every day that customs are still “not trained” in identifying to going through every single item in the crates.
In the UK, wild animals deemed ‘hazardous’ are licensed under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act of 1976. However, this legislation was created mainly to protect the public rather than ensure high standards of animal welfare.
In the UK there are known to be at least 154 big cats held in private hands (including 12 lions and 14 tigers), almost 500 assorted monkeys, over 250 venomous snakes and 50 members of the crocodile family. (Big cats in Britain, 2006)
Between 1994-2004, the European Union was one of the largest importers of wild-caught birds, importing a massive 9.5 million birds of species listed in the Appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – equivalent 87% of world trade. However, as a result of the avian influenza outbreak and campaigning by the RSPB¹, APA² and others, July 2007 brought permanent ban on the import of wild birds into Britain and the rest of the European Union.
Location; United Kingdom Leeds 2010
A couple who ran a pet shop turned their hand to illegal trading in the skins and bones of some of the most endangered species in the world.
Graham and Norah Pitchforth sold on eBay, among others, a stuffed lion cub and birds of prey, monkey skulls, flying fox skulls, butterflies, snake skulls and the skin and skull of a penguin.
Other species included baboons, macaques, otters, macaws, rhinoceros, kestrels and a porcupine. The Pitchforths ran a legitimate business, called Get The Bug, on the internet auction site, selling specimens of animals they had imported or acquired – but some transactions were outlawed. They each pleaded guilty earlier this year to multiple charges relating to the importing, exporting, selling and possession of endangered species after failing to get necessary documentation.
Leeds Crown Court heard that the couple sometimes labelled packages as other items, such as “table decorations”, to avoid suspicion, and on one occasion agreed with a seller to claim that a stuffed snowy owl was a gift when he had paid £150 for the item. The pair, from West Yorkshire, were yesterday sentenced to 44 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. They were also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
The court was told that the couple, of Wrenthorpe, Wakefield, had run a pet shop for 20 years and were “extremely well-thought-of” in the local community. Graham Pitchforth, 61, had an interest in collecting specimens and taxidermy and had a part-time job lecturing students at Wakefield College about endangered animals. The pair set up the eBay shop and sold 3,637 animal specimens – of which 22 were found to have been traded illegally between October 2005 and December 2006, making a profit of £2,329.16.
The court heard that the couple failed to get the relevant permits for the importation, exportation or sale of these 22 transactions, despite knowing they were needed. Sentencing, Judge Christopher Batty told them: “You fall to be sentenced for 22 transactions made in the full knowledge you were not entitled to make them. You did and knew you did not have the necessary authorisation so to do. Much of your business was legitimate, and as such it is clear that you had the relevant knowledge and expertise to deal legitimately in the trade of endangered species.”
Judge Batty said Norah Pitchforth, 65, received a police caution in July 2005 for offering a barn owl for sale without the appropriate permit. On other occasions, the couple were told that some skulls required certificates but continued without and a consignment of hornbill casks exported to the United States was seized for not having proper documentation. Some transactions were arranged by email, which the couple sometimes asked to be destroyed following the sale.
The couple held hands and Norah Pitchforth repeatedly wiped her eyes as Judge Batty told them he would suspend their sentences, despite the serious nature of the crimes.
He said: “I have thought long and hard today about what to do with you. This was a deliberate flouting of the regulations for commercial gain.” The pair admitted 12 counts of illegally exporting, three of illegally importing, seven of illegally selling and two of illegally possessing specimens under the Customs and Excise Management Act.
3,637 Animal specimens sold – 22 of which were found to have been traded illegally.
No continent is immune from the illegal wildlife trade or the exotic pet trade and although this et store was not you “average Joe Blogs” it still accounts for a pet store that kept no records of which somewhere in the United Kingdom people have in their possession “critically endangered species” and this is why International Animal Rescue Foundation © never fuels, or supports such activities that are wiping out our species every year.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has brought together 175 nations to combat the illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade through a uniform regulatory regime and increased coordination on a global scale. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s (Service) Division of Management Authority and Division of Scientific Authority, as well as the Office of Law Enforcement, are primarily responsible for implementing and enforcing CITES in the United States.
Recently, CITES founded the International Consortium on Combatting Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), a collaborative effort between the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank and the World Customs Organization (WCO). ICCWC was formed to increase prosecution and punishment for caught smugglers and poachers as well as increase law enforcement in developing nations. Visit the CITES website to learn more about ICCWC.
Yesterday we focused on two fundamental and known factors of which we are fully investigating, Climatological destruction we are 100% certain is fuelling the skyrocketing demand for more wildlife/pet products, because the normal TCM/TIM markets are running short of medicinal plants that the TCM/TIM markets are mostly made up of.
As quoted we have to look at all sides of the problem and not just focus on the poacher and “demand for fake medicine to the individual consumer purchasing for entertainment and consumption purposes” because this is NOT the key element that is funding the trade of illegal animal parts and the exotic animal trade of illegally imported animals.
The trade is also being funded by “ourselves without knowing” which we are investigating and and now producing an international survey as well as asking other a-like wildlife organisations for their help to now pinpoint even the smallest of problem areas, highlight them, and then deal with them. You can answer the survey anonymously below and please be truthful. We will not know whom has answered to what location in the world your based. The survey is a simple yes and no answer poll with multiple questions.
We will only accept one answer per question and one cannot re-answer the poll of which gives us accurate results. We thank you for your honesty and feed back and would be most kind if you would share this survey to your friends, family and Social Media friends.
The other main factors are;
- Pet trade (lack of awareness and education) Purchasing exotic pets that have been illegally imported which the customer purchases “unwittingly” not knowing the damage they are causing to vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered species.
- Tourism (Tourists purchasing trinkets or souvenir’s from beach sellers, to flea markets, again the buyer unwittingly knowing they are funding the illegal wildlife trade/pet trade) from purchasing products.
- EBay and other Internet sales sites (International Animal Rescue Foundation © has two operation’s in progress so far, one running from 2011 and the other from 2012 Operation Trojan horse – OTH) is focusing on the illegal pet and animal parts trade in seven locations internationally and Operation Swift Cover OSC – is primarily focusing on international online, market and black market sellers to tourism and two other areas that are not named for security reasons.
We must look at the poacher as the harvester as that is all he or she is they are not the seller, producer, courier, or trafficker they simply harvest the goods via an order from the “top of the pyramid” above which in reality is the “least of our worries” and/or the live animals of which they then pass the item/animals on to the courier that then reach the producer/buyer of which the item/animal is then sold on to the “distributor” = a purchaser being the last “action” trade that makes the sale. The profits are then fed In to terrorism/narcotics and the vicious circle goes round again.
Opportunistic poacher/trafficker
The opportunist mostly derives from a poor family with very low income or an individual that needs financial support, and this we all need to tackle and nip in the bud as it is contributing to barbaric slaughter and the exotic pet trade. The Opportunist mainly derives from a poor background and is only seeking profits for their family or themselves of which the government have let them down. So “Community relations /education and AWARENESS” is needed vastly to help in this area.
Within first world nations opportunistic theft is similar to poaching/smuggling although it doesn’t include animals but rather stealing money from the government’s via benefit fraud, illegally working with no permits to basic shop lifting as the opportunist is looking for “a better life or way of living”. So in reality the the poacher/smuggler is no different to that to the modernized thief hence why community relations need to be built to tackle this area.
This area we must address and with Africa and Asia being the number two nations involved here within trafficking/poaching/ and exotic pet trade we must deal with this sensitively and with love and consideration too that will in turn cease the trade of the “opportunists” therefore killing part of the “the problem”.
E-bay and other international buy and sell online sites must be tackled too as there simply is not enough online trade and customs monitoring to cease the sales of inland and international sales of pet/animal parts sales.
January 23rd 2013 we located an Eastern Russian buy and sell site that had within it’s hunting listings Tiger and Leopard skin’s for sale with the opportunity of satisfying the customer with “exotic skins and endangered animal parts”. This has since been reported to law enforcement of which the surveillance team working within Operation Trojan Horse’s Unit have deployed more people to this particular area to probe.
You are breaking the law if you commit an act of poaching/purchasing/distributing/or dealing in endangered species to exotic pets.
Please don’t be a statistic or you could end up in prison.
Please click on the link below to stay up to date with news, view and media on animal and environmental affairs.
Dr J C Dimetri V.M.D, B.E.S, Ma, PhD , MEnvSc
info@international-animalrescue-foundation.org.uk
WARNING IF WE/LAW ENFORCEMENT SUSPECT THAT YOU ARE POACHING/TRAFFICKING/LAUNDERING/DISTRIBUTING/AND OR DEALING IN WILDLIFE PRODUCTS YOU WILL BE LOCATED AND PROSECUTED, ANTI POACHING TEAMS ARE NOW SHOOTING POACHERS ON SITE DON’T BE A STATISTIC ARE A FEW $$ REALLY WORTH YOUR LIFE?
Many people ask why we don’t support reserve’s and zoo’s to captivity - Please watch the video all the way through below.
speakupforthevoiceless
