Nairobi, Kenya (AP) – Two Belgian teenagers who were found in Kenya with 5,000 ants were given the choice to pay a fine of $ 7,700 or to serve 12 months in prison – the maximum fine for the violation – for violating natural laws for nature conservation.
Authorities said the ants were intended for European and Asian markets in an emerging trend of human trafficking in lesser nature species.
Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19 years old, were arrested on 5 April with 5,000 ants in a guest house in Nakuru County, the home of various national parks. They were charged on April 15.
Magistrate Njeri Thuku, who was in the Court in the main airport of Kenya on Wednesday, said in her statement that despite the teenagers that they told the court that they were naive and collect the ants as a hobby, the specific types of ants that they collected are valuable and thousands – not just a few.
The Kenya Wildlife Service had said that the teenagers were involved in trading the ants on markets in Europe and Asia, and that the kind of Messor was Cephaloten, a distinctive, large and red-colored harvester in the East Africa.
“This goes beyond a hobby. Indeed, there is a corrosive shortage of Messor Cepolaten online,” Thuku said in her statement.
The illegal export of the ants “not only undermine the sovereign rights of Kenya about its biodiversity, but also robes local communities and research institutions for potential ecological and economic benefits,” KWS said in a statement.
In a separate but related case, two other men who were charged after they were found with 400 ants were also a fine of $ 7,700 with an option to serve 12 months in prison.
Duh Hunguyen, a Vietnamese national, the court said that he was sent to pick up the ants and arrived at the most important airport of Kenya, where he met his contact person, Dennis Ng'ang'a, and together they traveled to meet the locals who sell the ants.
Ng'ang'a, who comes from Kenya, had said that he did not know it was illegal because ants are sold and eaten locally.
Magistrate Thuku During the ruling, Ng'ang'a and Nguyen's meeting described as 'part of an extensive schedule'.
Experts in Kenya have warned in recent days for an emerging trend for traffic lesser -known nature species.
Entomologist Shadrack Muya, a senior teacher at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology of Kenya, told The Associated Press that garden ants are important for aerating soils, improving soil fertility and distributing seeds.
“Ants play a very important role in the environment and their disruption, which is also their removal, will lead to disruption of the ecosystem,” he said.
Muya warned against taking ants from their natural habitats and said it was unlikely that they would survive if they were not supported to adapt to their new environment.
“Survival in the new environment will depend on the interventions that are likely to take place. Where it has been taken away, there is a chance of an ecological disaster that can happen due to that disturbance,” he said.
