Somalia: Rare lion cubs rescued from traffickers

[Somalina]

Somali officials have intervened to save two three-month-old lion cubs smuggled on board a ship in the port of Berbera, Somalia. The brother and sister are believed to be rare Berbera lions.

 

They were confiscated four weeks ago after Mogadishu's port manager told Bancroft, an organisation training African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital, of his suspicions that the animals were being trafficked as pets.

 

The cubs, believed to have been destined for Dubai, are now being cared for by Bancroft staff, who have suitable facilities and veterinary care because they provide teams of bomb-sniffing dogs.

A pair of three-month-old lion cubs that were rescued from traffickers in Somalia. Photograph: Edward Parsons/AP

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/mar/27/rare-lion-cubs-rescued-traffickers-somalia

[Somalina]

Pair of rare lion cubs saved from life as pets

 

Smuggling attempt

Their mother was shot and they were driven through a raging civil war, destined to be pets in the Middle East -- until Somali authorities intervened to save two lion cubs smuggled aboard a ship at port.

 

The two 3-month-old cubs, a brother and sister, are believed to be rare Berbera lions because of their spotted coats. They were confiscated just more than a month ago after Mogadishu's port manager reported his suspicions to Bancroft, an organization that is training African Union peacekeepers in the war-ravaged Somali capital.

 

The lion cubs are now being cared for by Bancroft staff, who have suitable facilities and veterinary care because they provide teams of bomb-sniffing dogs.

 

Mike Stock, head of Bancroft, said, "The plan is that (Somali President) Sheikh Sharif will give them to (Ugandan President) Museveni until Somalia is capable of taking them back."

 

Detroit Free Press

[Somalina]

Libaaxyadii dekedda Muqdisho lagu qabtay oo Uganda loo qaadayo

 

 

Liibaaxyadii yar-yaraa ee lagu qabtay dhawaan dekedda magaalada Muqdisho xilli la doonayay in si dhuumaaleysi ah halkaaso looga dhoofiyo ayaa waxaa iminka loo wadaa dalka Uganda si ay ugu noolaadaan.

 

Libaaxyadan "caruurta ah" oo kala ah lab iyo dhadig walaalo ah ayaa hooyadood xabad lagu dilay, waxaana markii dekedda Muqdisho lagu qabanayay loo waday dalalka isu tagga imaaraadka (Dubai) halkaasoo loo iib geyn rabay.

 

Tan iyo markii la bad-baadiyay ayaa waxa ay ku jireen xero loo sameeyay taas oo ku taal duleedka garoonka diyaaradaha oo ay ku sugan yihiin ciidamada Uganda.

 

Ra`iisal wasaarada Soomaaliya Maxmed C/laahi Farmaajo oo arintan wax laga weydiiyay ayaa sheegay in ay bad-baadinayaan naf walba, xataa duur-joogta, balse waqti xaadirkan ujeedadiisu tahay sidii uu Al-Shabaab u tir-tiri.

 

Wararka ayaa sheegaya in libaaxyadan laga keenay magaalada Ber-bera ee waqooyiga Soomaaliya, mana cada wali qaabka Muqdisho lagu keenay.

 

Ma ahan markii ugu horeysay oo dibadda loo iib geeyo duur-joogta Soomaaliya oo ay colaada dabada dheeraatay intooda badan leysay.

[Valenteenah.]

Damn, I was under the impression that the last lions in Somalia were killed by the late 1960s. Where did these cubs come from and do they have to be taken to Uganda? I know no facilities to care for them exist in Somalia at the moment but anagaa leh.

[Showqi]

And the bililiqo still continues. Loooooool @ anagaa leh.....Val kuwaas ka samir!

Mar hadii Uganda loo qaaday u malayn maayo in ay soo celin doonaan.

[Taleexi]

Dadku ha kala badbaado ugu horayn, dawlad tayo leh oo dhexdhexaad ahna ha la helo intaa dabadeed duunyada iyo duurjoogtuba way dabaaldegi.

[Showqi]

Taleexi, labada libaax kamaba qasna hada. Maalin walba ri baa loo qalaa...

[Taleexi]

Weynuhu haw siyaadiyo

[Somalina]

Somalia’s worrying lion cub smuggling trade

 

Tristan McConnell

Global Post

 

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA—Behind a fortified compound encircled with sandbags near Mogadishu’s airport is a large fenced enclosure that was the unlikely home to a pair of lion cubs rescued from smugglers earlier this year.

 

The two cubs were discovered aboard a ship at Mogadishu port. They were taken in and cared for by foreign contractors in the war-torn city until last week, when they were finally flown out to an animal sanctuary in South Africa.

 

Grumpy and Scar, as they were nicknamed, (the former has a bad temper and is prone to nipping overfriendly visitors; the latter has a blemish on her forehead) were found and confiscated by port authorities in late February.

 

Officials believe they were to be shipped to the home of a wealthy exotic-pet owner in the Arabian Gulf, and their discovery sheds light on the hidden plunder of Somalia’s wildlife and natural resources from the country’s anarchic hinterland.

 

“Smuggling animals has been a problem since the fall of the Somali state,” said Dr. Osman Gedow Amir, chairman of the Somali Organic Agriculture Development Organization, to GlobalPost.

 

The German-trained biogeographer researches the destruction wrought on Somalia’s environment by 20 years of war.

 

“My studies have found smuggling in each region of Somalia, with demand coming from the Gulf States and the Far East,” he said, referring to a paper submitted to the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2006. The Gulf States have the highest demand, he said, but Asia comes in second.

 

His research shows that more common than the smuggling of lions is the smuggling of large birds such as raptors and bustards, which are like vultures; as well as antelopes. All of them are kept as exotic pets. Demand from Asia is mostly for reptiles, including snakes and chameleons.

 

Amir estimated that at current prices Grumpy and Scar could be worth around $1,000 each — “This is big business,” he said — and warned that smuggling was decimating populations and could lead to the local disappearance of some endemic species.

 

It is not just animals that have suffered.

 

“Huge amounts of charcoal is exported to the Gulf States,” said Amir. “We are destroying our ecosystem.”

 

A recent report by a team of United Nations investigators monitoring the arms embargo on Somalia described the charcoal trade as “black gold” for Al Shabaab, Somalia’s Islamist insurgent group, which profits from the trade.

 

“Charcoal is gathered from pastoralist and agricultural areas, mainly from acacia forests in riverine zones between the Juba and Shabelle rivers,” the report said. “Packaged and sold in sacks weighing 23 to 25 kilograms each, charcoal has become the most lucrative source of income for Al Shabaab. An estimated 80 per cent of charcoal produced in Somalia is destined for export.”

 

The report estimated that Al Shabaab’s annual income from charcoal exported from the port at Kismayo is more than $15 million — the result of deforestation on a massive scale and the destruction of animal (and human) habitat.

 

Speaking in Mogadishu in August, Somalia’s Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali blamed the famine afflicting his country on lawlessness and “environmental degradation.”

 

But, as Amir said, “To have wildlife protection you need a state and law enforcement; without that you can do nothing.” Somalia has neither, which makes Grumpy and Scar all the luckier and their tale all the more uplifting.

 

With their oversized paws, furry ears and dark-spotted tummies and legs, the cubs became an attraction at the camp run by Bancroft Global Development located close to the airport in Mogadishu.

 

Their 25-by-25 foot enclosure under a copse of shady acacia trees was surrounded by a steel mesh usually used in blast-proof walls; a wooden dog kennel in the corner protected them from occasional tropical downpours.

 

Their keeper, who did not want to be named, was a South African dog handler working with Bancroft’s team of security advisors in Mogadishu. Last week, he escorted his leonine charges as far as Uganda from where they were flown on to South Africa.

 

His hands and forearms are covered in nicks and scratches from when the lions got cross — usually Grumpy was to blame, he said — or just overly exuberant in their play.

 

“They just fell into our hands,” he told GlobalPost. “No one else had the capacity to look after them, so we took them on. We’ve been muddling through feeding them and giving antibiotics to keep them healthy. It’s not the same thing as looking after dogs and cats.”

 

When they first arrived, the lion cubs were as small as kittens, and were fed on a mixture of eggs, meat and milk. They have grown fast. By the end of their stay in Mogadishu they were eating a whole goat every few days.

 

Recently a vet was flown in from Uganda to give the animals a medical check-up, take blood samples, give vaccinations and microchip them in preparation for their expected “export” to the South African game reserve.

 

Residents and guests at Bancroft’s Mogadishu compound said they would miss the cubs, but there is little doubt they will have happier — and safer — lives outside Somalia.

[Somalina]

[Somalina]

[Somalina]

[Somalina]

[N.O.R.F]

In a Dubai parking lot

 

 

http://gulfnews.com/about-gulf-news/al-nisr-portfolio/xpress/articles/pet-cheetah-in-parking-lot-catches-onlookers-by-surprise-1.864961

 

That's what an unknown owner showed when he walked around with the world's fastest animal on a leash at the Dubai Media City on Wednesday evening.

 

The sight of the big cat prancing around caused a commotion among people who spotted it outside the OSN Showtime building, just after 6pm.

 

"The cheetah was walking about the parking lot for about 20 minutes, being held on a leash by a man who was keen to show it off," said Jane, an expatriate who works at the Media City. Many onlookers on their way home, double-parked their vehicles to have a closer look at the surreal spectacle.

 

"Initially, I thought there was an accident. When they realised what was going on, people started crowding around. Where in your life can you ever have a cheetah for a pet? It was beautiful — too docile. It seemed very domesticated. I saw people petting it," said Jane, who took pictures of the animal.

 

Restless

 

"But when a car jam-braked nearby, the animal got agitated and restless."

 

After a while, the owner just picked it up and put it inside his white Porsche Cayenne.

 

Dr Reza Khan, an expert at the Dubai Zoo, has identified the animal as a sub-adult African cheetah, probably less than 12 months old. He wondered how the cheetah, an endangered species, landed in private hands in Dubai.

 

"Cheetah is on the list of endangered animals as per IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List and in Cites (Convention on the International Trade of Endagered Specicies) Appendix I," he said.

 

‘Cannot be traded'

 

"So, it cannot be traded and procured from any country without a Cites permit," said Dr Khan, a member of IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas.

 

"No wild animal should be kept on leash and be walked through public places. Wild cats are dangerous to the public … Wildlife is always best in its natural habitats, not in human company," he said.

 

Genealogy

 

Cheetah is considered to be a dying breed of cat because almost all the cheetahs alive today have come out of a small gene pool and through too much in-breeding.

 

As a species, its genetic base is too narrow and few survive in nature.

[Faarax-Brawn]

The fleecing of Africa continues...but, Somalis and Africans in general, do not care about preservation: Be it wildlife, forests, water resources, land you name it.