NairobiA court jailed a man for a year over 2,000 smuggled ants.
Two Belgian teenagers were convicted last May over 5,000 of the same species, giant harvester ants.
One study counted close to 60,000 colonies from 209 species sold online in China in six months in 2021.
Willis Okumu of the Institute for Security Studies says low penalties against the ants’ potential value may encourage trafficking.
Harvester ants disperse grassland seeds and feed endangered pangolins, so researchers say smuggling damages ecosystems.
How each outlet framed it
- Dialogue Earth
- traces the ant trade to hobbyist ant-keeping demand in Vietnam, China and Europe, and credits Kenyan airport arrests for the spotlight
Sources: Dialogue Earth