Following reports of wildlife being traded from Mabaruma, Region One, during the closed season, the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission (GWCMC) has launched an investigation, according to Commissioner Alona Sankar.
Sankar recently told Stabroek News that upon receiving the report, a team was dispatched to the location where it was reported that the trading was taking place.
However, she said that by the time officers arrived at the location the traders had already vanished.
Sankar said that one of the challenges the GWCMC faces is a lack of human and financial resources. As a result, it was unable to act swiftly when reports are made. On this note, she said the commission will be implementing a multi-agency approach in an effort to clamp down on the trade during the closed season.
The commissioner also informed that the Commission was forced to cancel field visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant travel restrictions. This, she said, has severely impacted the commission’s work.
Sankar explained that many traders who were trading sloths were caught off guard as this has been the first time in two years that they have implemented a closed period on sloths. She explained that despite publishing the notice earlier in the year, many had not adjusted to the change and as a result continue to trade the wild animal. Animal rights activist Syeda Manbodh, in a recent letter to the editor of this newspaper, stated that on April 9, (eight days into the closed season) at the Transport & Harbours Department (T&HD) Stelling, on Water Street, Georgetown, approximately 12 sloths and other wildlife were seen arriving on the boat from Mabaruma.
Pictures were posted on Facebook by animal lover Andrew Campbell and the GWCMC was notified, she said in the letter. She went on to disclose that on the morning of Wednesday, May 13 (42 days into the closed season for sloths), she received a distressing call from Campbell, who informed her that he was at the T&HD Stelling and had just witnessed sloths and other wildlife being offloaded from a boat that just arrived from Mabaruma. “I immediately called the Wildlife Emergency cell number [648-8839] but by the time the authorities arrived at the wharf the wildlife had been picked up,” she wrote.
Manbodh questioned why the captain of the boat did not alert the authorities such as the Guyana Livestock Development Authority Officer in Mabaruma, who is required to issue a health permit for all wildlife transported from Mabaruma or authorities of (T&HD in Georgetown since T&HD is required to notify the GWCMC. The GWCMC, in a Facebook post, had announced that the trapping, killing, hunting, wounding, and sale of selected species is prohibited during the following periods: For sloths – from April 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020; and for tufted Capuchins – from May 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020. The GWCMC post went on to say that any person engaging in the trade of these and other species will be liable to pay a fine of $750,000 to $2,000,000, and imprisonment up to 3 years.
“While I disapprove of the wildlife trade in general, I do not criticise the activities of registered traders who follow the rules and treat animals humanely. However, those who break the rules and treat animals inhumanely should be held accountable to the full extent of the law,” Manbodh declared.
