Two Belgian teenagers found with 5,000 ants in Kenya were given a choice of paying a fine of US$7,700 or serving 12 months in prison โ the maximum penalty for the offence โ for violating wildlife conservation laws.
Authorities said the ants were destined for European and Asian markets in an emerging trend of trafficking lesser-known wildlife species.
Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19 years old, were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house in Nakuru county, which is home to various national parks. They were charged on April 15.
Magistrate Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenyaโs main airport on Wednesday, said in her ruling that despite the teenagers telling the court they were naive and collecting the ants as a hobby, the particular species of ants they collected is valuable and they had thousands of them โ not just a few.
The Kenya Wildlife Service had said the teenagers were involved in trafficking the ants to markets in Europe and Asia, and that the species included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red-coloured harvester ant native to East Africa.
โThis is beyond a hobby. Indeed, there is a biting shortage of messor cepholates online,โ Thuku said in her ruling.