Macrobolic’s BodyBlog

Bamako Declaration unites African nations in elephant conservation

	Michael Wamithi, IFAW; James Isiche, IFAW; Bourama Niagate, Director of National Parks and Reserves Biosphere in Mali and Kevin Shields, IFAW at the Elephant Coalition Meeting in Mali.
	The Mali Minister for Environment & Sanitation, Agatham Ag Alhassan, center, closes the meeting. On his left is Col Alsanne Boncana Maiga, Advisor for Environment in Mali,and on his right, Kevin Shields of IFAW.

Representatives from 17 African states gathered in Bamako, Mali on February 6-7 to sign the monumental Bamako Declaration, which not only protects elephants for years to come, but strengthens the spirit of cooperation between African elephant range states. The meeting followed decisions at the 14th Conference of the Parties of CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) to allow huge ivory stock sales, which will take place before commencement of a nine-year trade suspension.

IFAW facilitated the Bamako meeting, which included representatives from Mali, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. The Governments of Mali and Kenya hosted the meeting.

“This is a momentous occasion in the world of elephant conservation,” stated Michael Wamithi, Programme Manager for IFAW’s global elephant campaign. “Numerous African countries have come together and essentially proclaimed that they will not stand for their wildlife to be decimated any longer.”

	A tale of long distance love Debbie Campbell, a veterinarian from the USA who visited an IFAW clinic in South Africa, became so attached to two desperately sad little puppies, that she took them back home to the States with her! One had badly crooked front legs, and she nursed the other through a severe illness. Enter Debbie’s friend Lana Mendelsohn, a professional photographer from Boston whose dog, Otis, had recently passed away. Lana adopted one of the puppies, who is now full grown and allegedly the “most spoiled dog in the universe”!

Veterinary services for dogs and cats are plentiful in the main part of Cape Town, South Africa. But it’s a different story when you leave the famous beachfront areas and head inland to the sprawling, impoverished community of Khayelitsha, where one-third of the city’s three million people live. Mdzananda is the only veterinary clinic that operates in Cape Town’s most populous settlement.

Mdzananda clinic is extremely busy, providing everything from spay/neuter operations to tick dipping and basic veterinary care. The staff also provides mobile services to those who need them most but can’t visit the clinic because they are too poor to get there.

Since our donors first partnered with IFAW on Mdzananda in 2003, the number of dogs and cats treated has skyrocketed, and so has the demand. The monthly average of animals treated during 2007 went up by 50 percent. In the last year alone, more than 4,100 animals were treated, almost 3,000 were dewormed and 1,600 dogs and cats were sterilized. This is an amazing achievement for a clinic with just one veterinarian and a small staff.

Mdzananda has come a long way in its first decade, but this clinic must do more to meet increased needs. Through the generous support of donors, IFAW will be able to hire more veterinarians, fill the clinic’s scant shelves with medical supplies, and install the equipment needed to bring an animal back from the brink of death.