Nairobi, Kenya – Two Belgian teenagers were accused on Tuesday of wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenya’s authorities said it was part of a trend in traffic of smaller and less known species.
Lornay David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19 -year -old girls who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants in a guest house, seemed distressed during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know it was illegal.
In a separate criminal case, Kenya Dennis Ng’ang’a and Duh Vietnamese Hung Nguyen were also accused of illegal traffic in the same court of the court, after their arrest while they have 400 ants.
Kenya’s Wildlife Service said that the four men were involved in the trafficking of the markets in Europe and Asia, and that the species included Messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red native harvester of native anthric ants.
The illegal export of ants “not only undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over her biodiversity, but also deprives local communities and research institutions of possible ecological and economic benefits,” KWS said in a statement.
In the past, Kenya has fought against the traffic of body parts of the largest species of wild animals such as elephants, rhinos and pangolines, among others. But cases against four men represent “a change in traffic trends, from large iconic mammals to less known but ecologically critical species,” Kws said.
The two Belgians were arrested in Kenyan Nakuru County, which is home to several national parks. The 5,000 ants were found in a guest house where they were staying, and were filled in 2,244 test tubes that had been full of cotton to allow ants to survive for months.
The other two men were arrested in Nairobi, where it was discovered that they had 400 ants in their apartments.
Kenya authorities valued ants in 1 million chelines ($ 7,700). Ants prices can vary greatly according to the species and the market.
Philip Muruthi, vice president of conservation at the Foundation of Wildlife of Africa in Nairobi, said that ants play the role of enriching soils, allowing germination and providing food for species such as birds.
“The point is that, when you see a healthy forest, such as the Ngong forest, you do not think about what is doing healthy. They are relationships from bacteria to ants and the biggest things,” he said.
Muruthi warned about the risk of species traffic and export of diseases to the agricultural industry of the destination countries.
“Even if there is commerce, it must be regulated and nobody should take our resources like that,” he said.
