When Born Free USA’s experts traveled to West Africa to collect data for our threat assessment missions, they often found that a lack of information sharing and weak collaboration between various law enforcement agencies, at the national and sub-regional levels, were an obstacle to fighting effectively against the scourge of wildlife crime.
This is why, throughout our various training workshops in West Africa, we insist on the importance of establishing effective intelligence management and information sharing systems and of strengthening inter-agency collaboration at the national and sub-regional levels. This is something we stressed during our most recent regional training workshop for customs officers and CITES Management Authorities from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, held on November 30 – December 4, 2020.
We are thrilled to learn that effective collaboration between the customs officers of Mali and Burkina Faso, with the support of CITES focal points of the Customs General Directorate of both countries, and the Bamako Airport Anti-Traffic Unit, led to the seizure of 555 African spurred tortoises on June 8, 2021!
The seizure was made by the Customs Mobile Brigade of Koudougou (Burkina Faso), following information received by the Mobile Brigade of Fô (situated at the border between Burkina Faso and Mali). The 555 tortoises were hidden in the luggage compartment of a bus travelling between Bamako, in Mali, and Lomé, in Togo. The trafficker, a Malian national, used a false CITES permit to export the tortoises to Togo. Sadly, about 30 of the tortoises had already died.
African spurred tortoises can live up to 30 years. They are listed on CITES Appendix II and categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. They are particularly threatened by the loss of their habitat and by poaching. In Africa, these tortoises are used for traditional medicine and crafts and their meat and eggs are eaten.
The 555 juvenile tortoises seized by Burkina customs have an overall commercial value of $99,000 (€83,000), or $180 per animal. When they grow to 20 cm in length, their commercial value on the black market can reach as high as $600 to $715 (€500 to €600) per animal.
The tortoises were handled by the Water and Forests Authorities and are now in a zoo on the outskirts of the city of Ouagadougou, where they await the end of the judicial procedure.
Born Free USA warmly congratulates the enforcement authorities of Burkina Faso and Mali for applying the knowledge imparted at the last training workshop we organized, and for their continued and effective efforts in the fight against wildlife crime! Born Free USA is honored to be part of this process and is committed to continuing to provide knowledge and resources at future training workshops.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Aurora
