URA hands over ivory to UWA
May 26, 2009
THE UGANDA Revenue Authority has handed over 100 pieces of ivory and a leopard skin to the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
By Anthony Bugembe and Brian Mayanja
THE UGANDA Revenue Authority has handed over 100 pieces of ivory and a leopard skin to the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
The ivory, intercepted last month between Masaka and Kampala, was found concealed in a bag of matooke in a bus from the DR Congo.
The owner was not identified because the bus operators were duped into believing that the bag contained matooke. Many passengers on the bus had matooke.
“The 100 pieces weighing 35kg mean that 50 animals were killed. These were either elephants or rhinos, which attract tourists into our country. If we keep a blind eye, we shall lose a lot of revenue,†Geoffrey Balamaga, the URA customs manager, said during the hand over at the URA headquarters in Nakawa, Kampala.
The ivory, worth over sh3m, will be kept in the tourism ministry’s strong-room, where it will be labelled and weighed. It will later be destroyed.
“The poaching of elephants intensified in the 1990s and now the poachers use machine guns to hunt down the animals.
Elephants, rhinos, lions, buffaloes, hippos are facing extinction,†said UWA’s assistant warden for operations, Haruna Kirya.
He noted that most of the ivory comes from eastern Congo because Uganda had intensified the fight against poaching. Uganda mainly acts as a transit point.
There is a worldwide ban on ivory trade in a bid to save elephants.
However, there are a few countries where ivory trade is legal.
“Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa requested to have regulated trade in ivory because they had an increased population of elephants particularly on public ranches. The request is still under discussion,†explained Kirya.
Congolese elephants are being hunted down for their ivory which is in high demand for making ornaments.
This is the second consignment of ivory impounded this year. In both cases, it was traced back to the DR Congo.
THE UGANDA Revenue Authority has handed over 100 pieces of ivory and a leopard skin to the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
The ivory, intercepted last month between Masaka and Kampala, was found concealed in a bag of matooke in a bus from the DR Congo.
The owner was not identified because the bus operators were duped into believing that the bag contained matooke. Many passengers on the bus had matooke.
“The 100 pieces weighing 35kg mean that 50 animals were killed. These were either elephants or rhinos, which attract tourists into our country. If we keep a blind eye, we shall lose a lot of revenue,†Geoffrey Balamaga, the URA customs manager, said during the hand over at the URA headquarters in Nakawa, Kampala.
The ivory, worth over sh3m, will be kept in the tourism ministry’s strong-room, where it will be labelled and weighed. It will later be destroyed.
“The poaching of elephants intensified in the 1990s and now the poachers use machine guns to hunt down the animals.
Elephants, rhinos, lions, buffaloes, hippos are facing extinction,†said UWA’s assistant warden for operations, Haruna Kirya.
He noted that most of the ivory comes from eastern Congo because Uganda had intensified the fight against poaching. Uganda mainly acts as a transit point.
There is a worldwide ban on ivory trade in a bid to save elephants.
However, there are a few countries where ivory trade is legal.
“Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa requested to have regulated trade in ivory because they had an increased population of elephants particularly on public ranches. The request is still under discussion,†explained Kirya.
Congolese elephants are being hunted down for their ivory which is in high demand for making ornaments.
This is the second consignment of ivory impounded this year. In both cases, it was traced back to the DR Congo.