AWF aims to operate in most African countries – African Daily Voice

NEWSROOM (ADV) – The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) plans to provide sniffer dogs to all African countries to help reduce poaching and illegal trade in wildlife products.

Jia Qiao, advocacy officer with AWF, said Wednesday that this decision followed a successful detection role played by dogs at Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

"We plan to provide the dogs gradually to all the countries of Africa to help reduce poaching and illegal trade in wildlife products," Qiao told Xinhua during an interview in the sidelines. of the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Qiao said that AWF had recently dispatched a team of dogs to Entebbe International Airport (EIA) to help Uganda prevent animal products from passing through. by the airport.

She revealed that the agency for the protection of wildlife was committed to sending the dogs to Mozambique, Tanzania and Botswana, while the shipment to Cameroon will be delivered to them. next year.

She said that AWF is working with wildlife authorities and is training dogs to detect wildlife products such as ivory, rhinoceros horns and seahorse scales. pangolin, often hidden in luggage or travel bags.

At the JKIA, dogs have proven to be a deterrent to potential traffickers because canines purchased from breeders in Europe are trained to detect hidden smuggling.

The JKIA AWF team has detected 26 products since 2016, including products for wildlife, such as the live turtle.

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