Cordovan ecologist Ana Benítez has spent years studying the impact of anthropogenic factors and the associated dangers that could lead to species extinction. illegal wildlife hunting. Cases of nature park rangers killed by criminal groups around the world are a sad reality. Among the victims linked to the protection and visibility of illegal hunting, we must add the lives of three journalists, including the Spaniards David Beriáin and Roberto Fraile, who were killed in the vicinity of a natural park in Burkina Faso last year.
Ana Benitez (Cordoba, 1981) Integrative Ecology Department researcher at the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC). His field of study is the study of the impact of hunting on wildlife in Latin America, Africa and Asia. His work focuses on identifying the factors that determine the distribution and abundance of species, anthropogenic influences and how these can drive local populations or species to extinction. This is his interview with Agencia Sinc.
– Why does illegal hunting remain the biggest threat to wildlife?
The poaching trade is a multi-million dollar business, moving between $7,000 and $23,000 million a year, comparable to drug or weapons smuggling. It’s a business because there are items on the market that are listed at a higher price than gold. For example, rhino horn. Many parts are in demand for their supposed healing properties. In other cases, consuming certain species is a sign of social status. Finally, there are species marketed as exotic pets or for collection purposes, as with many reptiles, parrots and parakeets, there are also caged songbirds that are in high demand in Indonesia or China.
– An illegal business that caused fights and claimed lives…
About 1,000 bodyguards have been killed in Africa alone in recent years. One of the clearest examples is Virunga National Park, one of the oldest parks in Africa with a population of about 600 mountain gorillas.
-How do you fight?
-The main tool to combat this is CITES, which regulates the legal trade of living things. When a species is suspected of being heavily trafficked and populations declining, international agreements can be reached to include it in Appendix 1 to CITES, which includes all species whose hunting is prohibited. For example, in 2016 it was decided to ban the legal trade of eight pangolin species and it was recommended to include them in the annex. On a more local scale, many protected areas have patrols to control poachers. Also, the most conflicting ports and airports are checked to request possible shipments of exotic species.
-What consequences does this activity have on biodiversity?
– Illegal hunting implies mass depopulation and possible extinction of large numbers of creatures, this is called slander. Most of the hunted species are large animals with low reproductive rates. This makes them vulnerable because when hunting pressure is too high, populations cannot multiply fast enough to compensate for this mortality. In addition, many of these species perform very important functions such as seed dispersal, nutrient redistribution or pest control. Through the removal of species such as forest elephants, the ability to transport large quantities of nutrients and seeds over great distances, processes essential to the functioning of ecosystems, is lost. Also, elephants are ecosystem engineers as they change forest structure by creating new habitats and microhabitats for other species.
-Which animal species are most vulnerable to this illegal practice?
-One of the most obvious cases is the rhino case. There are countries like Vietnam where their horns are in demand for cancer treatment. Due to these beliefs and increased international demand, it reached $60,000 per kilo in 2012, doubling the value of gold or platinum, making it more valuable than diamonds or cocaine. According to the WWF, illegal rhino poaching in South Africa increased 9,000% between 2007 and 2014 for these reasons.
What other examples are there associated with these beliefs?
-Another case is pangolins, whose scales are in great demand in countries such as China and Vietnam to be used in the treatment of diseases such as asthma, rheumatism or arthritis. Asian pangolins are nearly extinct or highly threatened. In recent years, the pressure on African pangolins to be illegally exported to Southeast Asia has increased tremendously. Today it is considered the most trafficked mammal in the world. Recent estimates indicate that over 2.7 million pangolins are hunted in a year in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.
-Is it a visible enough problem?
– The general population is aware that there are creatures such as elephants, tigers, rhinos or gorillas that are highly threatened by illegal trade. But these are just the tip of the iceberg for the thousands of other illegally traded species. One of the clearest implications for society is the risk of zoonotic disease that can spread from animals to humans, and MERS, SARS or covid-19 are pretty clear cases.
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