Neil,
These International NGOs are a menace. They have no idea of the practical situation 
and also they don't seem to realise that their so-called efforts at conservation actually do 
more harm than good - you look at the proposed Wildlife Bill for Kenya, it is a disaster. 
The Africans do not benefit from this trade, or any other wildlife trade,  it is depleting their 
country of its natural resources.
We are battling against the Wildlife Act, the new proposal to do sugarcane farming in the 
Tana Delta and various other crazy ideas!

Maia
To:             	tanzaniabirds@yahoogroups.com
Copies to:      	AfricanBirding@yahoogroups.com, kenyabirdsnet@yahoogroups.com
From:           	Neil & Liz Baker <tzbirdatlas@yahoo.co.uk>
Date sent:      	Fri, 14 Sep 2007 07:47:55 +0000 (GMT)
Subject:        	[KENYABIRDSNET] trade in cranes

> this depressing note in from the International Crane Foundation.
> 
>  """ We have found that
>  South Africa , Kenya ,
>  Uganda ,
>  Mali and
>  Nigeria are all exporting cranes as
> well – and these are only the countries we looked at – so there may be
> more. """"
> 
> What a mess and none of the International NGOs are doing anything
> about it.
> 
> CITES, TRAFFIC, Birdlife International & the RSPB actually encourage
> this trade as they remain convinced that poor Africans benefit from
> it. Not that they know any of course. That's how far out of touch
> these conservation bureaucrats have become.
> 
> Our Wattled Cranes now well below 200 birds, perhaps even less than
> 100 in total.
> 
> Grey Crowned Cranes continue to "hang on" in small numbers in
> protected areas but, well, do we have any evidence that we have as
> many as 1000 left.
> 
> No reports of "numbers" from anyone in recent years. What about that
> non-breeding flock of > 100 on West Kilimanjaro. Any recent sightings
> ?
> 
> There is good historical data from the NCA, any recent counts out
> there ?
> 
> Can't think of anything polite to say about this.
> 
> Neil
> 
> 
> 
> Neil and Liz Baker, Tanzania Bird Atlas, P.O. Box 1605, Iringa,
> Tanzania. Mobiles: 0786-404792 and 0784-834273.
> http://tanzaniabirdatlas.com Subscribe to:
> tanzaniabirds-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> 
> 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pat and Maia Hemphill
Sea Adventures Ltd., P.O. Box 348, Ukunda, Kenya
Tel : +254 40 52220
Fax : + 254 41 2227675
Email : pat_maia@bigame.com
Website : http://www.bigame.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~