Nairobi, KenyaReuters —
A Kenyan court on Wednesday sentenced a Chinese man to a 1 million shilling ($7,746) fine and 12 months in prison for trying to smuggle live ants out of the country.
The judge in the case said a harsh sentence was needed as a deterrent, given the spate of ant trafficking cases in Kenya.
This is available to markets such as China, where hobbyists pay large sums of money to maintain ant colonies in large transparent containers known as fornicariums, where they can study the ants’ complex social structure and behavior.
Chinese national Zhang Kegun was arrested at Nairobi’s main international airport last month with more than 2,200 live garden ants in his luggage.
Zhang’s lawyer said he plans to appeal the verdict.
He initially pleaded not guilty to charges including trafficking in live wildlife species, but later changed his plea to guilty.
“Given the ever-increasing number of cases dealing with large numbers of garden ants and the negative environmental impact of mass harvesting, strong deterrents are needed,” said judge Irene Gichobi.
A Kenyan man, Charles Mwangi, was also charged in the case, accused of supplying the ants to Zhang.
Mr Mwangi has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail. His case was not brought to court Wednesday.
Last year, four men were each fined Sh1 million for attempting to traffick in thousands of ants. Wildlife experts said at the time that the case marked a shift in biological piracy from trophies like elephant ivory to lesser-known species.
