Elephants, gorillas threatened

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A lethal combination of corrupt African officials, an oil company and Chinese consumers with little conscience are threatening many of Africa’s wild animals.

Countries involved include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Uganda, plus China and the United Kingdom, home to oil-seeking SOCO International.

The newest horror comes in Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the DRC and home to a third of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas. SOCO is exploring there for oil and natural gas and it is already damaging the habitat of gorillas and other species. The animals have been threatened for years by various armies from Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC, plus militias that live off the land.

SOCO International carried out exploration, then assured the World Wildlife Fund that it would stop. But it later told the DRC that it would continue its work, feeding the government’s hopes for oil and gas revenue. SOCO has links to the Bank of America and JPMorgan and some of its officials are American.

Another horror story comes from Tanzania. The London-based, nongovernmental Environmental Investigation Agency reported that a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Tanzania last year ended with tons of ivory in diplomatic sacks loaded onto his plane for export to China. Tanzania’s elephant count has dropped from 142,000 in 2005 to 55,000 now, a 61 percent plunge. The Chinese carve the tusks into chopsticks and other merchandise.

The United States should use its leverage with these countries to stem the slaughter. It is the world’s wildlife heritage that is at stake.