South Africa to probe giraffe, meerkat, rhino shipments to China

Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s environment minister, said she is planning an investigation after animal rights organizations alleged that wildlife ranging from giraffes and meerkats to rhinos are being illegally sold and shipped to Chinese zoos.

In a 118-page report, Ban Animal Trading and the EMS Foundation alleged that at least 5,035 animals were shipped from South Africa to China between 2016 and 2019, many of them in contravention of the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.

The minister “is convening an urgent online meeting between EMS Foundation, Ban Animal Trading and the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries to discuss how we investigate these allegations of irregularities, whether the convention or other aspects of South African law have been infringed, and if so, what remedial action needs to be taken,” the department said in a statement.