Elephant,
giraffe and zebra in the world's newest nation South Sudan could soon be
extinct due to rampant poaching and trafficking, conservation experts warned
Tuesday.
Ironically,
animals in South Sudan's vast wildernesses had been largely protected by almost
five decades of civil war, despite poaching by rebels.
The
war stifled development and preserved the largest intact savannah in East
Africa, according to the United States-based Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS).
But
war also left the fledgling nation awash with guns, and in the years since a
2005 peace deal, increasingly organised armed groups are trafficking ivory and
killing animals for food.
The
elephant population, estimated at 130,000 in 1986, has crashed to 5,000 if
South Sudan is "lucky", WCS director in South Sudan Paul Elkan told
reporters.
"Within
the next five years, they could completely be gone with the current rates of
poaching," Elkan said, adding that even security forces are "involved
in trafficking."
South
Sudan's animal migration is one of the largest in Africa, potentially topping
in size even the world famous Maasai Mara and Serengeti migrations between
Tanzania and Kenya, WCS said.
But
the wildlife faces major challenges.
"Other
species such as the zebra may already be gone, the rhino is probably already
gone, giraffes are on the way out, so commercial bush meat also needs to be
brought under control", Elkan added.
But
a lack of laws and weak institutions prevent poachers and traffickers who are
caught from being brought to book.
"We
have apprehended so many poachers, caught red handed ... but because of this
legal vacuum it is very difficult to prosecute them", said Gabriel
Changson Chang, the country's wildlife, conservation and tourism minister.
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