Elephants shipped in a jumbo jet – view
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Tomboys prepare a drugged elephant for transport.
The President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, was stunned: «What are you talking about? Elephant export? You mean we should put the elephants on a plane? On an airplane? Are you crazy?” The interview took place in March. But it was of no use: the next day, a Boeing 747 with 22 elephants in shipping containers on board flew to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They were loaded in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia – heavily sedated so that they did not panic.
It is not entirely clear whether the Namibian President knew about this when he gave an interview to a journalist from the Al Jazeera TV channel during a visit to Qatar. The reporter had been asked by Karl Ammann to ask about the elephant trade. The Swiss conservationist himself had to stay in the background so as not to jeopardize his research. Karl Ammann is not just anyone – in the 1990s the photographer brought the international trade in monkey meat to light, and in 2007 Time Magazine included him in the list of “Environmental Heroes”.
At home in north-western Namibia
At the end of September he found the elephant trade on the news website The New Arab. He did dies under a pseudonym. For SonntagsBlick he is now answering questions with his real name.
Actually, the elephants should roam freely through the savannah. Their natural habitat is in north-western Namibia, in the Kamanjab region. But at the beginning of September 2021, the tomboys came in helicopters and jeeps. They shot the gentle giants with tranquilizer darts, loaded 22 of them onto trucks with cranes, and took them away. Photos show the poachers posing proudly with their prey. The elephants remained in quarantine captivity for six months before being exported.
“It’s about money and status symbols”
live the pachyderms in the Sharjah Safari Park and in the Al-Ain Zoo in Abu Dhabi. According to official information, both facilities serve to protect wildlife. That’s an excuse, says Karl Ammann: “In reality, it’s about money and status symbols.” The wildlife trade is the fourth most profitable illegal business in the world. Well over 15 billion Swiss francs are generated every year. Ammann: “Twenty years ago it was still a business for the lower levels. Criminal gangs, sheikhs and heads of state are now involved who cheat with permits.”
Why did Sharjah Park and Al-Ain Zoo want African elephants from Namibia? There are enough Asian breeding elephants on the market. “They absolutely want to simulate the African natural landscape,” says Ammann. “Cost what it may.” With breeding elephants, the selection is smaller – and the waiting time is longer. In addition, elephants that are used to hot and dry weather live in the south-west African region of Kamanjab. “It sounds better if you drag these elephants into the desert of the United Arab Emirates, where 50 degrees Celsius is common,” says Ammann.
Lack of government help is a problem
The Namibian authorities, for their part, claim that there are too many elephants in Kamanjab. Due to the high population density, the local population suffers. The animals pushed into the settlement area, destroyed crops and used water from cisterns.
Journalists from the “New Arab” have examined this information on the spot. They confirm occasional conflicts between elephants and humans – which, however, took place due to the lack of government help against the water shortage. Most local farmers, the reporters said, don’t see elephants as a problem.
Namibia has also signed agreements
Scientific studies also contradict the Namibian statements. They conclude that the number of desert-adapted elephants has shrunk due to drought, poaching and mismanagement. The export to the emirate is now an additional threat to the pachyderm population in South West Africa.
Preventing species protection violations would be the task of the Geneva-based Cites. The abbreviation stands for “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora”, also known as the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species. Namibia and the UAE signed it – and promised to only export animals to countries where they occur naturally. In the case of Namibian elephants, it would be regions of southern Africa.
Gaps in the regulations?
However, those involved in trade between Namibia and the UAE use a loophole in the cites regulations: the elephants are designated as of special value – which prohibits any commercial trade, but zoos and safari parks are considered non-commercial. So they could import or export elephants.
When the animal protection group EMS Foundation obtained a legal opinion, the South African law firm Cullinan & Associates came to the conclusion: The Namibian elephants should not have been exported. The trade was no more beneficial to the animals than it was to the locals. The protection status of the elephants is a hoax: their export was only intended to simulate an African safari experience in Emirati zoos. In total, the zoos paid the equivalent of around 3.3 million Swiss francs. The Namibian government received less than 100,000 Swiss francs. The rest went to middlemen.
Responsible silence
“The New Arab” confronted those responsible at Sharjah Safari Park and Al-Ain Zoo with the allegations. The inquiries were not answered. A request from SonntagsBlick to Cites spokesman David Whitbourn also went unanswered.
The Swiss animal rights activist Karl Ammann is dismayed: “The Cites is useless. These crimes happen, but nobody really cared.” The Cites could impose sanctions and exclude Namibia and the UAE from the trade. “I’ve had enough of lame excuses like: You didn’t know anything about it.”
In Ammann’s eyes, Switzerland is also doing too little. Since the Cites is based in Geneva, they have a special responsibility. In November, the Quotations deals with the elephant trade for the umpteenth time. Ammann calls for sanctions: “Otherwise Switzerland will also lose face.”