Mali acquires Dutch dogs to help in fight against Ivory trade

Mali’s wildlife authorities have acquired Dutch dogs to help in the fight against illegal ivory trade, the latest additions to the fight against elephant poaching in the country.

The dogs are the newest members of an anti-poaching brigade set up to dismantle ivory trafficking networks that have devastated elephant herds in Mali, Reuters reports General Birama Sissoko, an adviser to the environment ministry, to say.

Poaching has been rampant since Tuareg rebels and Islamists took over the north of the country in 2012.

French forces pushed them back a year later, but lawlessness still reigns and ivory smuggling has flourished.

The United Nations says the trade in elephant tusks funds militants.

Only about 300 elephants are left in Mali, and about 167 have been slaughtered since fighting broke out in 2012 and a system of local self-policing fell apart, the environment minister said earlier this year.

“There is a stock of ivory that circulates. If we can get hold of the ivory, we can work backwards until we get hold of the poachers,” Sissoko told Reuters.

The anti-poaching team will take the dogs on searches when they get intelligence about traffickers’ hideouts, and they should be able to help police make arrests, said Susan Canney, director of the Mali Elephant Project, which partnered with the US-based Chengeta Wildlife organization to obtain the dogs.

Elephant tusks from Mali are thought to be sold on the black market for up to $5,000, Canney said.

(CGTN)