A Kenyan court on Wednesday (May 7) fined four men $7,700 each for attempting to traffic thousands of ants out of the country, in a case that wildlife experts say signals a shift in biopiracy from iconic animals like elephants to lesser-known species. - REUTERS
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00:01A Kenyan court fined four men on Wednesday for attempting to traffic thousands of ants out of the country.
00:09Two Belgian teenagers, a Vietnamese man and a Kenyan national were arrested on April 5th,
00:15accused of trying to smuggle roughly 5,440 giant African harvester ant queens in modified test tubes and syringes.
00:24Kenyan prosecutors valued the ants at around 1.2 million Kenyan shillings, or 9,300 U.S. dollars.
00:32Retail prices in the U.K., however, suggest the haul could have fetched as much as one million dollars if it had reached European shores.
00:42There, ant enthusiasts maintain colonies in large transparent vessels known as formicariums to observe their cooperative behavior.
00:49Lone and Sepe are sentenced to pay a fine.
00:52Wildlife experts say the Kenyan case signals a shift in biopiracy from iconic animals like elephants to lesser known species.
01:01All four traffickers pleaded guilty.
01:04They were each ordered to pay a $7,700 fine or face 12 months in jail.