CRAIG R. SHOLLEY
IN LATE FEBRUARY, Uganda Wildlife Authority and Uganda Police raided a home near Kampala, the country’s capital, and arrested three suspected ivory dealers. The authorities seized an estimated 1.5 tons of ivory during the raid. “Thanks to concerted efforts by the government, the elephant population is on the rise in Uganda,” said AWF President Kaddu Sebunya. “But this country continues to be a major trafficking conduit, and we are seeing with this latest incident just how much the illicit ivory trade continues to wreak havoc on the continent – on African wildlife and security in particular.”
For its part, AWF partners closely with wildlife and law enforcement authorities in Uganda and throughout the continent to combat illegal wildlife trafficking. AWF’s Canines for Conservation programme is proving to be an effective force in this fight. Detection units deployed in 2015 are consistently discovering wildlife contraband hidden in luggage and cargo that’s set to depart from African ports. This past November, six dogs and 12 Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers trained by AWF were deployed to Entebbe International Airport in Kampala. Over the course of a single month at the airport, they made a whopping 21 busts!