3 Suspected Wildlife Traffickers Arrested in Nigeria - The plight of Africa's Wildlife

​worldanimalnews.com/breaking-nigeria-customs-arrest-three-suspected-wildlife-traffickers-after-more-than-7-1-tons-of-pangolin-scales-846kg-of-ivory-was-seized/

3 suspected wildlife traffickers in Nigeria were arrested by Nigerian customs after the discovery of 7.1 tons of endangered pangolin scales and 846 kg. of ivory. This is now the 9th largest seizure of pangolin scales since 2019 and paints a very clear picture of how grave the situation continues to be for elephants, pangolins, rhinos, and all of Africa's most endangered species.

All of Africa's most recognized and beloved wildlife face insurmountable perils that are putting their future in jeopardy. Habitat loss, fragmentation, human conflicts, trophy hunting, and poaching are ravaging Africa's wildlife but worst of all, the illegal wildlife trade continues to decimate wildlife populations rapidly. In this case, if you consider the amount of pangolins / elephants that were likely slaughtered to amass 846 kg of ivory or 7.1 tons of scales, you can only imagine the scale of the wildlife trafficking happening in the country. While every bust is a reason to celebrate, it's also a wake-up call as to just how grave the situation is and why we must do more before it's too late.

The pangolin remains one of the most heavily trafficked and endangered species in Africa.

We need to be investing more of our resources on an International level to properly protect wildlife and target wildlife trafficking. What we're currently doing is not enough as these stories indicate that  wildlife trafficking is prevalent and continues to wreak havoc on Africa's wildlife. If we don't aggressively target illegal wildlife trafficking and shut down all markets for these products, elephants and pangolins will undoubtedly go extinct in the wild. 

WHAT CAN WE DO?

• FUNNEL MORE RESOURCES into anti-trafficking & anti-poaching initiatives in Africa.
• WORK WITH countries where these products are coming in to better prevent import of endangered species.
• WORK WITH International communities in devaluing all products that come from Endangered species. 
• USE THE MEDIA to portray these products as invaluable, selling the idea that they have absolutely no value. This is especially important in places like China where body parts of endangered species are used as traditional medicines that have absolutely no scientific backing.
• INCREASE the amount of protected habitat in Africa which would also increase resources for patrolling and protecting these species.
• BAN TROPHY HUNTING - Although it is not wholly responsible for the decimation of Africa's wildlife, it sends a hypocritical message in that we are aggressively trying to protect these species from extinction while simultaneously selling opportunities to slaughter them for large amounts of money.

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