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At least 26 great apes illegally taken from the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been captured in Zimbabwe, where four suspected traffickers have been arrested.
Congo’s Environment Minister Claude Nyamugabo Bazibuhe also announced a large seizure of pangolin scales in the northeast of the country.
The Congo is one of the world’s last refuges for endangered great apes such as the eastern lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas, while the pangolin is considered the most trafficked animal worldwide for its scales. , appreciated in traditional Chinese medicine.
Two Congolese nationals, a Malawian and a Zambian were arrested on Wednesday during a routine check at the border post as they entered Zimbabwe with the apes in a truck, said Tinashe Farawo, a spokesman for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, on Friday. .
Farawo said the primates were being cared for by Zimbabwean officials until they could be returned to the Congo.
Nyamugabo Bazibuhe said in a statement that 32 live chimpanzees were recently taken from Haut-Katanga province in southeastern Congo, on the border with Zambia.
The smugglers used false documents to get them out of the country and headed for South Africa, he said.
“The investigation is continuing … to accurately identify the specimens ‘seized in Zimbabwe’ before considering their repatriation,” the minister said.
“All great apes (gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees) and pangolins are fully protected.”
On Wednesday, 125 pounds (56 kg) of pangolin scales were recovered from a private residence as they prepared for export, the Congo’s environment minister announced.
They were taken from the Garamba nature reserve, on the border with South Sudan and Uganda.
The scales are used to treat various diseases such as arthritis, ulcers, and tumors, despite the lack of scientific evidence.
Some scientists believe that small animals are the possible host of the new coronavirus.
They are the most trafficked mammals in the world and seizures of their scales increased tenfold between 2014 and 2018, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
The world has lost more than two-thirds of its wildlife populations in less than 50 years, mainly due to human activity, the World Wildlife Fund said in a strong report on Thursday.
