The government has disproved claims contained in a report by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that elephants in the Selous Game Reserve will be extinct by 2022. Through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, it has instead criticised the WWF for failing to take into consideration efforts taken to curb poaching in the country.
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It is well publicised that that the scale of the elephant poaching problem is immense, with an estimated 35,000 African elephants being illegally killed annually for their ivory. Some conservationists believe it to be closer to 50, 000. How can a global crisis of this magnitude be immobilised?
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The illegal wildlife trade has serious global security implications and is one of the world’s most profitable criminal activities, valued at an estimated $10 to $23 billion per year. How can a global crisis of this magnitude be immobilised? The legal wildlife trade market is an estimated 14 times the size of the illegal market, providing loopholes in the system. TRAFFIC estimates the value of legal wildlife products imported globally in 2009 was over $323 billion.
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A 66-year-old bespectacled Chinese woman may not be most people’s idea of an ivory smuggling kingpin, but that’s exactly what Tanzanian investigators say Yang Fenglan is. She is accused of leading one of Africa’s biggest ivory smuggling rings, responsible for more than 700 elephant tusks worth $2.5m (£1.7m) illegally leaving Tanzania for the Far East.
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A multi-pronged Tanzanian project has reduced elephant poaching numbers by two thirds within six years. It’s a model for all Africa. When elephant poachers enter a protected area they’re armed, alert and dangerous. Back home they’re relaxed and vulnerable. That’s where an organization in Ruvuma, Southern Tanzania, hits them hardest.
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Tanzania: WWF Faulted On Elephant Report
The intelligent Approach to Saving Nature’s Giants
Legal Wildlife Traffic 10 Time More Than Illegal Traffic
Who is the ‘Ivory Queen’?
Anti-poaching lessons from Tanzania