The First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone, H. E. Fatima Maada Bio has called on neighbouring countries to work with Sierra Leone in protecting the lives of elephants in the continent. She made this call at the International wildlife conference held in London.
Delivering her speech H. E. Fatima Bio said Sierra Leone is a country that has more elephants than what the country can account for. She stated that the country has not been able to fully account for the number of elephants the country has, which according to her is as a result of the lack of required capacity to fully assess the situation of elephants in the country.
She mentioned that the administration of His Excellency Julius Maada Bio is determined to put an end to illegal wildlife trade in Sierra Leone. She maintained that the new direction administration is committed to empowering the National Protected Area Authority for the overall supervision and protection of all National packs and other protected area including the Gola forest.
“We believe the employment of more rangers has helped protect the elephant population and other wildlife species.” She added
She asked for support in order for the country to undertake a survey that will determine Sierra Leone’s elephant population.
Her Excellency Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio concluded that she is ready to stand and work with Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI) and other elephant co-operations around the world, and that every life matter.
The EPI consultative Group meeting has been one of the highlight of the illegal wildlife trade conference that is geared towards protecting wildlife species.
It has been reported that 20,000 elephants are killed each year in Africa, and it is believed that if it continue elephants will be wiped out completely in a decade or two.