NAIROBI, Kenya (Associated Press) — According to the regulations governing animal conservation, two Belgian adolescents who were discovered in Kenya with 5,000 ants were given the option of either paying a fine of $7,700 or facing a minimum sentence of twelve months in prison. This was the minimum penalty for the violation.
It is becoming increasingly common for less well-known species of wildlife to be trafficked, and the authorities have stated that the ants were bound for markets in Europe and Asia.
On April 5, Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19 years old, were taken into custody at a guest house in Nakuru county, which is home to a number of national parks. They were found to be in possession of 5,000 ants. It was on April 15 when they were charged.
In her ruling, Magistrate Njeri Thuku, who was present at the court in Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday, stated that despite the fact that the teenagers admitted to the court that they were naive and that they collected the ants as a hobby, the particular species of ants that they collected is valuable, and they had thousands of them, rather than just a few.
The Kenya Wildlife Service had stated that the adolescents were involved in the trafficking of the ants to markets in Europe and Asia. The ants included messor cephalotes, which is a harvester ant that is native to East Africa and is characterized by its big size and red coloration.
“This is beyond a hobby. Indeed, there is a biting shortage of messor cepholates online,” Thuku said in her ruling.
Mr. Halima Nyakinyua, the attorney for the adolescents, referred to the sentence as “fair” and stated that her clients will not be appealing the decision.
To the extent that the statutes define a particular minimum sum, the court is not permitted to go below that amount. Therefore, even if we were to take our case to the court of appeal, the court would not change its decision,” she explained.
“When the statutes prescribe a specific minimum amount, the court cannot go lower than that. So, even if we went to the court of appeal, the court is not going to revise that,” she said.
Two further individuals who were accused after they were discovered to be in possession of 400 ants were each given a fine of $7,700 and the possibility of serving a year in prison in a separate but connected set of circumstances.
The Vietnamese national Duh Hung Nguyen said in court that he was dispatched to collect the ants and landed at the primary airport in Kenya. There, he met his contact person, Dennis Ng’ang’a, and the two of them traveled together to visit the locals who sell the ants.
Ng’ang’a, who is from Kenya, had stated that he was unaware that it was against the law because ants are offered for sale and consumed in the area.
During the verdict, Magistrate Thuku referred to the meeting between Ng’ang’a and Nguyen as “part of an elaborate scheme.”
In recent days, specialists in Kenya have issued a warning about a developing trend that involves the trafficking of less well-known species of wildlife.
In an interview with The Associated Press, entomologist Shadrack Muya, who is also a senior lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya, stated that garden ants play a significant role in the process of aerating soils, increasing soil fertility, and disseminating seeds.
“Ants play a very important role in the environment and their disturbance, which is also their removal, will lead to disruption of the ecosystem,” he said.
Muya cautioned against removing ants from their original habitats, stating that it was highly improbable that they would survive if they were not provided with the necessary support to adjust to their new surroundings.
The interventions that are likely to take place will determine whether or not an individual is able to survive in the new environment. According to what he indicated, there is a possibility that an ecological catastrophe would occur as a result of the disturbance that has occurred in the area where it formerly existed.
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