Last week in Kenya, four youths were found guilty of trying to smuggle ants. In two separate events, men – two Belgium, one Vietnamese and one Kenai – were fined $ 7.700 (€ 6.911) or one year in jail for their rapes. Belgian suspects admitted that they had ants in possession but said they were gathering him as a hobby. One of the men is a long -term ant fan and belongs to a Facebook group called “The Ant Gang”. However, the Kenyan judge did not believe him.
The people of Belgium, both were found with 19 years old, 5,000 live ants, who were packed in their possession at a guest house near a national park, 2.244 small plastic testing tubes with cotton wool. Vietnamese and Kenai people met at the airport and went to buy ants together. They were found in about 140 tubes with 300 ants. In the case, the judge separated the Vietnamese man as only a “mule” for ants.
Valuable ant species
Some of the ants in men’s possession were huge African Harvester ants (Mesore Safelots), which cost more than $ 100 to around $ 100. If the ant smuggling had been successful, they would have earned a lot of money.
Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS stated that the court ruled against the alleged ant smugglers, “The will for Kenya’s zero-tolerance stand on wildlife smuggling.”
Smuggling ants can be seen as a biopieri, KWC said, as it is a violation of the so -called Nagoya protocol, “for the international agreement, aimed at sharing the benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources in a fair and equal way.”
Biopieri is a growing problem in Kenya. Webster-Merium Dictionary has defined it as “immoral or illegal appropriation or commercial abuse of organic materials (discovery as an extract of medicinal plant) that is native to a particular country or region with fair financial compensation for people of a particular country or that country or region.”
According to KWS, the latest incident in his country explains how illegal wildlife trade is changing potentially, “Less than the iconic large mammals is still going into ecological crimely species.” This type of crime is the fourth largest international criminal activity after drugs and fake goods and trade in human trafficking.
Illegal trade in insects is considered a small part of this illegal trade. There is no way to know how big the global insect trade is, because no centralized database has been placed for such a tour. But there is no doubt that collectors and enthusiasts are ready to pay as ants and spiders to discover illegally imported insects.
Precious for construction skills
After the giant African Harvester Ant by Antiacea, because KWS states, it shows unique behavior and complex colony-building capabilities. The ant collectors inspect the latter, called a formicarium, in the art farm where the colony can be seen.
Collectors have kept them in the so -called form for observation. The huge African harvester ant harvester is the largest of the acadeted species and can be up to 20 millimeters, with the queen 25 millimeters long with ants.
Kenya Magistrate Najari Thuku said that every species should be preserved. “Our wildlife, from ants to elephants, maintain our ecosystem and national heritage,” he argued.
KWS Consent. The agency said in a statement, “Traffickers often reduce the ecological value of small species, but their role in our ecosystem is irreparable.”
Ants are important players in our ecosystem. They improve soil, control some insects and spread seeds. If they are removed and introduced into new environment, the sects in some circumstances may be fatal.
Red fire ant is a good example of how. Native of South America, Red Fire Ant has been found in places in Europe in the last two years – the first colonies were found in Sicily, Italy in 2023. If not erased, aggressive ants, which possibly reach imported fruits or soil, complete severe environmental damage in Europe. It is unlikely that giant African harvester ants can live easily in Europe, although they require high temperatures to flourish.
Zunotic danger
Illegal trade in wild animals also brings other risk when it comes to human health. Transport of animals often occurs in unnatural conditions and increased the risk of increased contact between humans and wild animals, which is known as zunosis, for infectious disease transmitted from animals to humans.
There are many examples including Salmonella, Koronwirus, MPOx and bird flu.
All emerging human infectious diseases arise from about three -fourths of animals, the nature of Germany and the biodiversity conservation association, or Nabu. This calls wildlife trade “a recipe for Pandemics”.
Researchers have found that mammals and birds have 540,000 and 850,000 unknown viruses that have the ability to infect humans. And scientific studies have shown this More than a quarter (26.5%) of mammal in wildlife business is “75% of the known zunotic virus is much higher than the port, domestic and non-trade mammal.”
This story was the original published in German.
