A Rocha Ghana has criticised Adom TV’s Fufuo party organizers for the use and destruction of pangolins in the recently held ‘Adom TV Fufuo Party’ on Independence Day.
According to A Rocha Ghana, the act which was widely published on Adom TV Instagram page, and viewed by over 12,000 fans is in breach of the Wildlife Preservation Act 43 and its regulations in Wildlife Conservation Regulation L.I 685 and its Amendments.
A Rocha Ghana has therefore called for an investigation into activities that led to the display of a dead and alive pangolin, an endangered and wholly protected species in Ghana, at the ‘Adom TV Fufuo Party’.
A statement signed by Mr Daryl Bosu, Deputy National Director of A Rocha Ghana and copied to the media on Sunday said: “It has come to our notice that organizers of the second edition of the popular ‘Adom TV Fufuo Party’ which took place on March 6, 2019, supervised the ‘Illegal’ use of Pangolins, an endangered and globally protected species for some of the local delicacies featured at the event”.
“In a widely publicized video spotted by our team, two Pangolins, commonly known as ‘aprawa,’ an endangered species, together with other animals had been stunned and displayed on a mat at the premises of the Multimedia Group, one of the largest independent commercial media and entertainment company in Ghana, during the event. One of the pangolins was clearly alive, while the other was dead, with blood all over its scales”.
It said, A Rocha Ghana finds it hard to believe that a well-respected media entity like Adom TV oversaw such illegality three weeks, after the 16th of February, which was World Pangolin Day, where the hashtag #Stoppangolintrade was in the trends for two days running and the day carried by several media outlets.
The statement said, the feature and publicity of Adom TV which encouraged and endorsed the capture and destruction of pangolins was most unfortunate and erodes efforts in the last five years to minimize and eliminate the trade in pangolins.