‘Most endangered’ zebra safer
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) says the Cape mountain zebra is not threatened with extinction but may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
THE growth in numbers of the Cape mountain zebra population has enabled the species to move off the most endangered list of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
This according to Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa who on Wednesday said: “South Africa’s proposal to transfer the Cape mountain zebra from Appendix I to Appendix II of CITES has been adopted at the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to CITES, which is underway in Johannesburg.”
Appendix I lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants. They are threatened with extinction and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species, except when the purpose of the import is not commercial and is for scientific research. Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
The proposal was based on the remarkable recovery from just less than 100 individual animals in the 1990s to a number well over 5 000 in 2016, signifying South Africa’s success in the conservation of the subspecies.
