Tanzanian gov't plans census for hippos

The government of Tanzania said on Wednesday that it was planning to carry out a countrywide census for hippopotamus.

The move followed reports indicating that poachers are now targeting the animals for their teeth which have a profitable market in Asia.

Alexander Songorwa, the Director of Wildlife in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, said the last countrywide census specifically for hippos was conducted in 2001 and the result showed there were 20,079 of them.

"The government plans to conduct a new census to know the number of the huge animals," said Songorwa, adding that the ministry was currently soliciting funds for conducting the hippo survey.

He said Tanzania has a licensing system, which allows sport hunting and sale of hippopotamus teeth collected from animals that die from natural cause.

However, issuance of permits for export of hippo teeth was suspended since 2004, meaning that no hippo teeth were exported legally except those obtained through sport hunting, said Songorwa.

He said Tanzania believed that with the existing regulatory mechanism and intensified anti-poaching efforts the country's hippopotamus population was not threatened by the existing level of legal harvest.

Records from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) show that between 2004 and 2014 Hong Kong reported importing almost 60 tonnes of teeth from wild hippos in Africa for commercial purpose.

Trade figures show that the source countries for hippos teeth were now predominantly Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

A report by the National Geographic released in December 2016 titled: "Fighting the Underground Trade in Hippo Teeth" said poaching cartels operating in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa have recently turned to hippos for their teeth which are curved into ornaments which fetch millions of dollars in Asia. Endit