On Tuesday 8 March, the Fondation Franz Weber (FFW) deplored the confirmation, two days earlier, of the sale by the Namibian government of 22 wild elephants to a zoo in the United Arab Emirates, in violation of the CITES Convention, according to the NGO.
With a meeting of the CITES Standing Committee (7-11 March, Lyon, France) underway to consider the legality of this decision on 9 March, FFW is calling on all parties to the Convention to reject Namibia’s justification that such exports act as “an intervention in the growing cases of human-wildlife conflict”.
Technically, Namibia is only allowed to export live elephants to in situ conservation programmes (i.e., within the natural range of the species in Africa), the NGO points out.
“In 2019, a majority of CITES members banned international trade in live, wild-caught elephants for use in captivity, including the EU, which is leading a global movement to protect and preserve international biodiversity. This barbaric export of live elephants should be condemned by policymakers in Brussels, Paris, Berlin and beyond”, explained FFW President Vera Weber in a statement.
FFW had already addressed the EU on this issue in September 2021 (see EUROPE 12798/13). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)