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The Hague, The Netherlands—A
United
Nations meeting today supported proposals to establish or increase
leopard trophy export quotas for two African nations. The delegates to
the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES) approved a proposal by Uganda to export 28 leopard trophies
annually, and by Mozambique to increase their quota of 60 to 120
leopard trophies annually.
Germany, speaking on behalf of the
European
Union, supported both proposals while at the same time acknowledging
that the two countries had no current population data and that the most
recent figures were from 1988. Inexplicably, they said that the quota
was nonetheless conservative.
“CITES requires export
quotas to be
science-based,” said Dr. Teresa Telecky, Director of the
Wildlife
Trade Program for Humane Society International and Chair of the Trophy
Hunting Working Group of the SSN. “The EU ignored the lack of
a
credible scientific basis in supporting these proposals.”
Experts consider the wild leopard
population
to be declining in the wild although the actual number of leopards is
unknown. A continent wide census has never been conducted and neither
Mozambique nor Namibia had any recent data on population sizes. Even
the older data they used in support of their proposals were based on
indirect counts using rainfall and available habitat to estimate
numbers: these methodologies are known to grossly over-estimate leopard
populations.
“The agreement to set
leopard export
quotas arbitrarily and without a requiring a scientific basis for them
undermines the credibility of the Convention and endangers wild
populations,” said Dr. Telecky.
For more information contact:
Adam
M. Roberts, Press
Officer,
In The Hague: 06-5213 6798
Globally: 1-202-445-3572
E-mail: press@ssn.org
WORLD FORUM CONVENTION CENTRE
10, Churchillplein NL-2508 THE HAGUE
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