It seems incredible that despite the worldwide abhorrence of
the trade in ivory, that the slaughter of these noble beasts still continues.
Last week conservation groups from around the world called for a global ban on
the domestic trade in ivory.
Eh? Thought the trade was already banned? No. International
trade was banned in 1989 – 27 years ago, but internal markets could still trade…
Who thought of that stupidity? May have been pressure from South Africa... Yes, there probably has been the need to cull a certain
number of elephants in a particular region due to destruction of the habitat,
encroachment on human communities; so their ivory is fair game, no pun
intended.
Well, it comes as no surprise that the internal markets in
countries such as South Africa to some extent serve as a cover for illicit
ivory sales for the international market, and inevitably they encourage
poaching.
Some 10,000 delegates from 192 countries met in Hawaii for
the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). I hadn’t heard of
the IUCN, yet it was founded in France in 1948 by Julian Huxley with laudable
aims; though considering the decimation of so many animal species one has to
question its effectiveness. They do
supply a ‘red list’ of endangered species – see here.
The first continent wide aerial survey of Africa revealed
that 30% of elephants living in savannah grasslands – 144,000 – were lost to
poachers between 2007 and 2014.
Estimates by Charity Elephants Without Borders suggest the
remaining 352,000 elephants is being slashed by 8% per year. Smaller elephants
dwelling in jungles have declined even faster, by 60%; easier prey, harder to
find the poachers.
‘The shutting down of domestic ivory markets,’ the president of the Wildlife Conservation
Society said, ‘will send a clear signal
to traffickers and organised criminal syndicates that ivory will no longer
support their criminal activities.
We should also pause for a moment and give thanks to the
many rangers, anti-poachers and conservationists who have died in their efforts
to thwart the poachers. Money is one of the issues when protection of the
species is concerned. The cynic in me has to ask how much of the cost of
flights to Hawaii could have been diverted to funding more rangers, more
protection?
Last month, eco-investigators TRAFFIC stated that while
thousands of antique ivory items were still on sale in London, it found no new
ivory there. That has to be good news, surely?
Towards the end of this month, the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) will gather in Johannesburg.
***
CITES
also figures in my novel Blood of theDragon Trees, published by Crooked Cat Publishing.
What’s
it about? The blurb runs like this: Laura Reid likes her new job on Tenerife,
teaching the Spanish twins Maria and Ricardo Chávez. She certainly doesn’t want
to get involved with Andrew Kirby and his pal, Jalbala Emcheta, who work for
CITES, tracking down illegal traders in endangered species. Yet she’s
undeniably drawn to Andrew, which is complicated, as she’s also attracted to
Felipe, the brother of her widower host, Don Alonso.
Felipe’s
girlfriend Lola is jealous and Laura is forced to take sides – risking her own
life – as she and Andrew uncover the criminal network that not only deals in
the products from endangered species, but also thrives on people trafficking.
The pair are aided by two Spanish lawmen, Lieutenant Vargas of the Guardia
Civil and Ruben Salazar, Inspector Jefe del Grupo de Homicidios de las
Canarias.
Very
soon betrayal and mortal danger lurk in the shadows, along with the dark deeds
of kidnappers and clandestine scuba divers…
Partial Amazon review:
Visitors to Tenerife will recognise the beauty of the island in Nik Morton's
evocative descriptions of what the island has to offer to the tourist, but few,
if any, will recognise the darker side so vividly portrayed in this novel… Nik
Morton takes the story along at a fine pace, and readers of his past novels
will not be disappointed in his narrative, his characterisation and careful
plotting. – Michael Parker, author of The
Boy from Berlin and other thrillers.
The reviewer also stated: ‘No doubt the
fiction is inspired by Morton's ability as a thriller writer, and not something
that he has uncovered by stealth.’ True enough, but I did do a great deal of
research, some of it distressing, to comprehend the background of this filthy
trade.
As it happens, I was so captivated by
some of the characters in this romantic thriller that I used them in the third
adventure of ‘The Avenging Cat’, Cataclysm,
which is mainly set in China, where the ill-gotten products from the endangered
species end up.
Blood
Cataclysm
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