Nigeria backs international community with major action on wildlife conservation
- Dozens of elephant tusks illegally imported into the country have been seized by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service
- The move follows the call by the international community for support from African nations in order to stop illegal ivory trade
- Hundreds of African elephants are poached and killed annually for their tusks, making them a highly endangered species
The Nigerian government has seized dozens of elephant tusks illegally imported into the country, in a bid to enforce the global ban on illegal ivory trade, Premium Times reports.
The development was confirmed on Wednesday, December 6, by Francis Adetoye, area controller in charge of Adamawa and Taraba commands, Nigeria Customs Service.
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NAIJ.com gathers that Adetoye disclosed that about 55 calibre of elephant tusks were seized by Customs operatives, along the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
Adetoye further disclosed that the successful operation was carried out in conjunction with sister agencies.
He stated: “On November 20, the command’s anti-smuggling team successfully seized 55 huge size of elephant tusks being smuggling into Nigeria from a neighbouring country.”
African elephants have become an endangered species as hundreds of them are poached and killed annually for their tusks which are then shipped to Asian and Western countries in what has now become a multi-million dollar illegal trade.
Conservation leaders from Europe and the USA have urged global governments to support African nations to put an end to the ivory trade.
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In a related development, NAIJ.com previously reported that Cyanide was used to kill 300 elephants in Zimbabwe's biggest nature reserve - three times the original estimate.
The full extent of the devastation wreaked in Hwange, the country's largest national park, was revealed by legitimate hunters who discovered what conservationists described as the worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years.
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Source: Naija.ng