Uganda Wildlife Authority officers were in time to stop the illegal smuggling of over 700kg of elephant tusks and 2 tonnes of pangolin skin at Entebbe international on Sunday 15th March. The elephant tusks were cut into small pieces, mixed with pangolin skins and placed in 3 big boxes that had labels of communication systems equipment to masquerade the stolen items as they were being exported to Amsterdam. The UWA officials at the scanning area were able to identify the tusks and skins using the airport X-ray machines finally nabbing the ivory smugglers at the final check point after they had managed to bypass custom officials.
Poaching of wildlife has been one of the biggest hindrances to tourism growth in most safari destinations in Africa for centuries dating back to the ancient Ivory trade carried out on the East African coast between Africans and Arabians. The theme of recently concluded World Wildlife Day celebrations was #SeriousAboutWildlifeCrime , a strong topic that needs urgent attention if Africa is to put an end to this evil trade of wildlife parts for money. Kenya burnt over 15000 tonnes of Ivory in Nairobi national park and Uganda recently micro-chipped rhinos at the Zziwa Sanctuary indicating the seriousness of East African countries towards wildlife crime in 2015.
This is really good news for tourism in Uganda and Africa at large as the we fight to kick out poaching in the world. Lets Get Serious About Wildlife Crime- They need us, We need them.
