Uganda’s illegal wildlife traders undeterred by Covid-19 restrictions

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Asia’s massive appetite for Africa’s wildlife has sustained a profitable international smuggling business, despite lockdowns.

Measures to help curb the spread of Covid-19 in Uganda – such as restrictions on movement – apparently have not deterred the illegal international wildlife trade. The demand for both traditional wildlife products (such as pangolin scales) and newer ones (such as elephant penises) has continued, with numerous arrests made last year.

 
There was an increase in poaching in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda’s top wildlife reserve, with 60 poachers arrested between March and May 2020. In June, after a nine-year poaching reprieve of the endangered silverback gorillas, one was killed by four poachers in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

In May, 14 Chinese nationals were arrested in Uganda in possession of 10 elephant penises worth over $4.5-million, six tortoises, and half a kilogram of pangolin scales, together worth an estimated $8,000.