Patrick Kaijage

EDITOR––Tanzania has been implicated as the source of nearly 50%of the ivory seized worldwide. Poaching in Tanzania is common but in the long run will cost us in terms of wildlife and revenue thereof.

Recently, an investigation by a panel of international and local experts implicated senior government officials in the illegal ivory trade and the rise in elephant poaching in Tanzania.

According to a report, seizures involving Tanzania between 1989 and 2010 represent one third of all ivory seized globally, and Tanzania ranks first among African countries in terms of the total volume of ivory reported by large-scale seizures.

With the continued rise in poaching, its horrible that EU and UK could ever consider a move to reject the proposal for a 20-year ban!

No matter what government says, the argument that it wants to save storage and security costs from its ivory stockpile makes doesnt wash!

Government must wake up and deal with the perpetrators of the trade and clamp down on poaching! otherwise what shall we have left in the next 20 years?

Patrick Kaijage

Shinyanga,Tanzania