Cameroon, Man Arrested in For Chimpanzee Trade

Disturbing note from our friends in wildlife enforcement in Cameroon
Dear Supporters,

Warm greetings from Cameroon.

On Thursday a long term LAGA investigation resulted in the successful arrest of an Italian director of a logging company for illegal detention of three chimps and other illegal wildlife trophies. Relentlessly fighting corruption, we insured the foreign national getts behind bars, we monitor the prison cell every few hours, to secure justice is served rather than bought out.

Early this year the director of the logging company was identified as a major client of protected species ordering chimps antelopes and other illegal trophies.

For sometime we have observed his activities. I do not know if he exports the animals.

Mirko Ramoni, Italian national, is the director of the company SMK operating in Ngambe Tikar. It is a small company that processes timber and exports it.

Note that for every chimp found in captivity you can calculate 9 dead chimps killed in the process (Dr. Jane Goodall estimation). The chimps are taken care of by the Limbe Wildlife Center.

While the chimps were younger than three years, the Italian claimed in his testimony that he had the chimps from 1997. We assume his motive for lying under oath is fear to be charged again for other chimps he held in past years which either died or were traded.

Corruption is observed in 85% of our cases. This case presents a higher risk for the accused to be freed. The powerful logging industry can “take care of itslef” when it comes to bribing power.

This is not the first time that a European logger is arrested on wildlife crime charges - last year a greek manager of a logging company was arrested with two chimps, he is free and we suspect corruption to be the reason why he is not now in jail.

Add to that another one of our cases againt a logging company worker near Campo Maan National Park arrested and served 3 months as a wildlife criminal.

I hope these anacdotes can serve as a wake up call in the conference halls for the huge gap between written promises and sweet words by the timber industry, to the damage their activities create in reality."

Ofir Drori

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