Existing restrictions on elephant tusk ivory trafficking make hippos more vulnerable to poachers hunting for their giant ivory teeth, further threatening the already endangered species. The alarm was sounded by British animal and environmental associations following the closure in Montreal, Quebec, of the UN Conference on biodiversity, Cop 15, which resulted in a global agreement to better protect ecosystems and animal species at risk. The story of the hippos is emblematic of the fact that as soon as a ban is issued, traffickers try to circumvent it to continue their lucrative trade.
Since last June, when an almost total ban on the trade in elephant ivory came into force, the trade in that taken from hippos has grown exponentially, as noted by the Born Free association, underlining that “in nature the numbers of the species are already threatened”. Hippopotamus body parts can still be traded under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), although all international sales require an export permit.
Between 1975 – when Cites registrations began – and 2017, 770,000 kg of hippopotamus teeth were legally traded, but there is also a thriving illegal trade. In 2020, hippopotamus teeth were among the most frequently seized mammalian body parts in the European Union, according to an EU Commission report.
A study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated the global population of the common hippopotamus to be between 115,000 and 130,000, down 30% from 1994 to 2016. Ten West and Central African countries they say there has continued to be a sharp decline in the species, due to poaching and soil degradation. They proposed a total trade ban on the eve of a CITES meeting in Panama last month, but that would only have been possible (under CITES rules) if there had been a population decline of more than 50% over the past 10 years. and an analysis by the IUCN did not support this conclusion. But the proposal has not been backed by the EU and countries in eastern and southern Africa, who say hippo populations remain at a good level. Three-quarters of the estimated 13,909 hippos whose organs or parts were exchanged between 2009 and 2018 come from just a few of these nations – Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe -.
Furthermore, hippos have a low birth rate, producing only one offspring every two years, so a reduction in population will have a long-term impact. All hippos live in Africa: there are two types, the common hippopotamus and the pygmy hippopotamus, 2 to 3 thousand left. The common hippopotamus has been classified as ‘vulnerable to extinction’ on the IUCN Red List. Without tougher controls, activists warn, hippos face the same fate as elephants, in danger – or in grave danger in the case of the African forest elephant – because large numbers have already been killed by poachers for their tusks. Numbers in hand, elephant tusks are up to 2 meters long, against 50 centimeters for hippopotamus teeth, the lower canines that are denser and more difficult to work with.
