Two lionesses rub against a cage fence at a captive breeding centre for large predators at an undisclosed location in South Africa's Free State Province in an undated picture...
Sub-Saharan Africa has enormous tourism potential: leopards lounging in acacia trees, elephant herds drifting across vast savannah plains, gorillas and chimps rioting in deep...
A local environmental and wildlife organisation People and Earth Solidarity Law Network (PES Lawyers) together with six others in Zimbabwe, have petitioned Parliament demanding...
"By shutting down the movement of ivory of unknown origin, the domestic market is moving closer to an effective closure," Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada said at a press...
Once cubs in captivity get too big to be stroked and cuddled by tourists, they’re sold into the canned hunting and Asian bone trade industries. Shutterstock Ross Harvey, South...
Photo credit: Francis Garrard President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana said last week that “elephants bleed [the] government coffers”, as “Botswana is indirectly subsidising...
The seasonal flood plains of the Kwando River. (Photo by Gallo Images/GO!/Toast Coetzer) There are worrying signs that Namibia’s legendary wild game numbers may be...
Members of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, announced a proposal to ban the use of pangolin products, the world’s most trafficked animal, in traditional...
Non-governmental and conservation organizations are highly upset that the Department of Environmental Affairs has not shown the "political will" to close the Canned Lion Breeding...
The Government of Botswana is considering significant changes to the country’s approach to wildlife management.The proposed policy reflects a worrying lack of recognition of the...
Botswana’s proposals to lift its hunting ban and to introduce elephant culling has fuelled political posturing, denials, misinformation, and lobbying from pro hunting and culling...
Photo credit: WILL BURRARD-LUCAS For more than 60 years, the elephant known as F_MU1, roamed the plains of Tsavo, Kenya. She was one of Africa's last remaining "super tuskers" -...
In an article to mark World Wildlife Day, Leith Meyer, a veterinarian at the University of Pretoria, writes about the danger of poorly informed social media campaigns mounted by...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During the 2018 dry season, a fixed-wing aerial survey of elephants and wildlife was flown over the core conservation areas of northern Botswana as well as...
A Response to: Kathleen Alexander - Virginia Tech University John (Tico) McNutt - Botswana Predator Conservation Trust Mark Vandewalle - CARACAL In a September 2018 article in...
THIS STUDY WAS FUNDED BY THE FRANCE-IUCN PARTNERSHIP. France has entered a partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the oldest and largest...
HordynskiPhotography/Shutterstock Vicky Boult, University of Reading Africa’s elephant population has plummeted from roughly a million in 1970 to around 400,000 today – a decline...
Nambia's wild horses. Photo: Christine-Wulff-Swiegers The desert sun is setting on the Wild Horse population that has roamed Namibia’s Garub plains for over a hundred years as...
Botswana has about 122,000 elephants left. Mike Dexter/Shutterstock Ross Harvey, South African Institute of International Affairs Botswana has an elephant poaching problem. The...
Elephants Without Borders, who conducted an aerial research survey in Botswana, has had their wildlife research licence suspended by the Botswana government. See original...
PRESS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE VIDEO: Elephant experts condemn Zimbabwe’s inhumane capture of wild baby elephants for Chinese zoos as video emerges showing animals in...
The results of the recent and most extensive elephant population survey of Botswana estimates the country’s population at 126,000 elephants, a further decline from 131,600...
Elephants Without Borders Response to Press Release by: Permanent Secretary, Mr. Thato Raphaka Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism 24 February...
Image supplied A report by Elephants Without Borders claiming ‘a significant poaching outbreak is ongoing in at least four distinct hotspots’ in Botswana has provoked government...
Killing of elephants for their tusks crisis is not a new issue Photo credit: Mike Chase After months of controversy, the results of the most extensive elephant population survey...
This image from a SANParks camera trap survey shows the adult female elephant that was repeatedly identified. SANParks has long held that only a single, elderly elephant clings...
Tigers rub against a cage fence at a captive breeding centre for large predators at an undisclosed location in the Free State, South Africa, in this undated Before more...
Two elephants play in the Mara Triangle, the north-western part of Masai Mara. Image: Getty, YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP Technology has made a tremendous difference in the world, in...
The Humane Society International (HSI) launched a scathingattack on both the Zimbabwean government and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) last...
Recent years have shown an increase in the, often heated, debate on trophy hunting, with some important developments taking place in southern Africa. To name just some that have...
South Africans, global supporters, and international celebrities ask the Johannesburg Zoo to have a heart CAPE TOWN (15 Feb. 2019) – People from around the world, including...
South African hunting outfitters are eagerly awaiting the end of the Zambian rainy season in April to start a killing-spree of up to 1250 hippopotamus living in the...
Kruger National Park has been condemned by Parliament for signing an agreement which it had been expressly forbidden to sign by the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs....
Thirty-five young elephants are to be flown from Zimbabwe to zoos in China after being forcibly separated from their mothers in an operation "designed to disorientate, exhaust...
Johannesburg Zoo claims that Lammie the lonely elephant is getting the best care and that there’s no need to mover her to a sanctuary. Who’s doing the caring is cause for...
Rangers risk their lives while Chinese tech giants facilitate illegal wildlife trade. Instead of dealing with the problem, last year the former head of Alibaba, Jack Ma, was in...
Parliament, Wednesday, 6 February 2019 – The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs strongly condemns the actions of South African National Parks (SANParks) in proceeding...
© Dereck and Beverly Big Cat Conservation Opinion post by Dereck Joubert I’ve been asked to respond to the following remarks that came up in a discussion following the...
Abalone will be on the banquet table of many Chinese families celebrating Spring Festival this year. The sea mollusc will probably have been illegally poached and smuggled all...
Every year, thousands of tourists visit South African private nature reserves to see wild animals in unspoilt surroundings. But how many of these travellers know that some of the...
A Norwegian company has applied to conduct seismic surveys for oil along the Cape’s West Coast using air-gun blasts known to be highly damaging to marine life. Petroleum...
Photo: South African Breaking News Thirteen of the world’s most respected elephant behavioural specialists and researchers have supported calls to release Lammie to a rewilding...
A report by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources Executive Summary Hunting of imperiled animals can save species from extinction. It is a claim that...
We, the undersigned elephant specialists, would like to set the record straight in the case of the lone female elephant, Lammie, at the Johannesburg Zoo, South Africa. There have...
Image supplied. We need to talk about the future of zoos. There are about 1,500 formal and many more informal ones in the world, holding between three and four million...
PREAMBLE Demands for competing land uses that are not compatible with conservation practices, make the need for viable conservation incentives more urgent. Well governed trophy...
Lammie’s mother, Dolly, was captured from the wild in Botswana aged about 3 and arrived at the zoo in 1966. She was euthanised in 2000, aged about 37, when during what should...
The furore over the zoo’s solitary elephant has increased as the NSPCA (National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) resigned from the...
A picture made available Wedensday 22 September 2004 shows young black rhinoceros staring at the camera in this undated file photo. EPA/JON HRUSA CITES, the United Nations...
The study by Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group, a coalition of local groups, offers one of the most detailed analyses yet on smuggling rackets in the city. FILE: Seized...
Slowly, the tiny ball in the wooden crate began to unwind. Its scales moved and a pointy nose followed by two black button eyes emerged. Natalie was entranced. The baby pangolin...
CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA Eighteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties Colombo (Sri Lanka), 23 May – 3 June 2019 Read...
East London Zoo - Photo: SABC News This is a story about a lonely bear in a pit, a jaguar with nowhere to run or trees to climb, a vulture with nowhere to fly and the cruelty of...
Lammie the elephant has lost everyone she knows — her parents, her brothers and now her longtime partner, Kinkel. Not surprisingly, she is devastated. Johannesburg Zoo, where...
The international body responsible for protecting endangered animals is to consider relaxing restrictions on the ivory trade, prompting fears such a move could trigger a huge...
Just as the furore about the trophy hunting of the pride male named Skye began abating, another incident has highlighted the ethics of hunting in the Associated Private Nature...
HSI/Africa urges department of environmental affairs to heed Parliament’s call to end captive lion breeding for trophy hunting and the bone trade CAPE TOWN (6 DECEMBER 2018) – In...
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: BIODIVERSITY ACT, 2004 (ACT NO. 10 OF 2004) THE NATIONAL NORMS AND STANDARDS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ELEPHANTS IN SOUTH AFRICA I, Derek Andre...
Botswana’s parliament recently passed a motion considering lifting the ban on elephant trophy hunting, citing an increase in both the elephant population and human-elephant...
Are we about to see the end of one of South Africa’s most infamous practices – captive lion breeding for hunting and trading of their parts? If Parliament adopts the...
DRAFT REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS ON THE COLLOQUIUM ON Captive lion breeding for hunting in South Africa: Harming or promoting the conservation...
This is despite animal welfare specialists’ renewed calls on The Johannesburg City Council to relocate the grieving elephant from the zoo to a free-roaming area after the...
South Africa is playing a dangerous double game with rhinos and it’s time to ask why. The department doesn’t appear to have a clue how to save them from extinction. Last week the...
Dinokeng Game Reserve's dominant elephant bull was recently shot as a ‘problem animal’ for breaking fences and escaping from the reserve, even though management admits that the...
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries (DAFF) plans to appeal the recent Western Cape High Court ruling against fishing quotas for West Coast Rock Lobster...
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, China, Thailand and the Philippines, some of the world's worst countries for poaching and illegal trade in ivory have been allowed to exit a key...
The NSPCA has made an urgent application to the Gauteng High Court which contains photographic evidence of alarming and persistent neglect by a game farmer in Alldays....
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The National Ivory Action Plan (NIAP) process is an important framework. It was developed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered...
A strategic report on poaching just released by the Department of Environmental Affairs shows that fewer rhinos but more elephants are being killed. Of concern,...
Lion experts dispute conservation value of test tube lions questioning whether this merely supports lion breeders’ claims that they contribute to the conservation of lions....
Reports of elephant poaching in Botswana are under the spotlight with various claims in national and international media that the current adverse situation is driven by...
THE controversy deepens around the death of a magnificent male lion in Umbabat Private Nature Reserve (PNR) as Parliament was given the wrong pictures last week, which may have...
The authority that licensed the lion trophy hunt which became the focus of a parliamentary inquiry last week has been at pains to assure everyone it was not the pride male named...
While Lammie the elephant languishes alone since the recent death of her partner, Kinkel, elephant experts are calling for her release from Johannesburg Zoo to a sanctuary,...
Parliament, Wednesday, 12 September 2018 – The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs today had an engagement with the Department of Environmental Affairs, South...
It was in Umbabat that a lion was recently hunted and ended up being discussed in Parliament, following accusations that it was an under-age pride male and was baited illegally....
Chairperson: Mr MP Mapulane (ANC) Meeting Summary The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs hosted a Colloquium on captive lion breeding entitled Captive Lion...
Chairperson: Mr M Mapulane (ANC) Meeting Summary The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs hosted a two-day colloquium on captive lion breeding under the...
Captive Bred Lions destined for canned hunting or slaughter for their bones are not protected by South Africa’s animal welfare laws. The Departments responsible for their welfare...
Mr Mapulane, members of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs, members of the Colloquium, thank you for inviting me to present my findings and views on trophy hunting...
There was an overwhelming consensus for the need to bring an end to the controversial captive lion breeding industry in South Africa at a two-day Parliamentary Colloquium of the...
New poll: vast majority of South Africans believes the lion breeding industry harms the country’s international reputation Economic contribution of the industry is tiny compared...
The largest airline exporter of lion bones from South Africa to Southeast Asia will no longer support SA’s bone trade from captive-bred big cats. Following a recent internal...
"MPs must be concerned when reputable conservation agencies turn their backs on SA and deplore its policies [regarding captive lion breeding],” said Mohlopi Mapulane, Portfolio...
Canned lion hunting and trading in lion skeletons is having ever-widening negative ramifications for Brand South Africa. More than 40 airlines are refusing to transport trophies,...
Outrage, secrecy, abomination, controversy, suspicion, and cat and mouse game, are some of the verbalisations around the events linked to the lion hunt in the Umbabat Private...
Executive Summary In July 2018, without public consultation or scientific substantiation, South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) raised its annual lion skeleton...
Should we be farming lions to slaughter? The Problems No conservation value Inadequate welfare standards Lack of regulation Inability of DEA, DAFF and Provinces to enforce...
South Africa has opened hunting season on leopards after two years of grace. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has given permission to shoot two leopards in...
Predator breeding using lions and other species could cost South Africa over R54-billion over the next 10 years in loss of tourism brand attractiveness. This is according to a...
A review of the worldwide reaction to South Africa’s captive lion breeding and canned hunting industry and involvement in the lion bone trade. Read the full report...
A number of the private reserves in the Greater Kruger National Park appear to be violating the protocols and regulations that permitted them to drop fences with Kruger and hunt...
South Africa's unregulated captive lion breeding industry will shortly be reviewed by the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs in a two-day hearing open to the public....
Last week, the carcass of a 40-year old elephant bull was found in Ngamiland, northern Botswana, partly covered with still green Mopane bushes and half of its skull hacked away...
At least 600 cheetahs are kept in captivity in South African tourism facilities, offering interactions and cub petting in the name of conservation and education. Do these...
CAPTIVE LION BREEDING FOR HUNTING IN SOUTH AFRICA: HARMING OR PROMOTING THE CONSERVATION IMAGE OF THE COUNTRY DATE: 21ST & 22ND AUGUST 2018 VENUE: GOOD HOPE CHAMBER,...
This week, we have been taking part in the 70th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Animals Committee in Geneva, calling...
Dogged by allegations of bribery and unethical operators, a dodgy permitting system, and the contentious hunting of so-called ‘problem animals’ – Namibia’s hunting community has...
In 2017, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) announced an annual export quota of 800 skeletons (with or without the skull) for the international trade in lion bones....
A DAMNING report on South Africa’s lion bone trade has called for the end of the trade, a forensic investigation into the affairs of lion breeders and a restriction on the...
1. The Petition 1.1 On the 7th June 2018, a citizen of the United States of America, named in a recent article as Jared Whitworth...
The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has increased South Africa’s lion bone export quota from 800 to 1,500 a year, despite being aware that some skeletons are being...
This Report examines and investigates substantial problems and endemic loopholes in the CITES permitting, enforcement and oversight system. It further demonstrates the failings...
A Collaborative Lion Bone Research Project 1 Introduction and Project Aims The African lion is the only big cat listed on CITES Appendix II, and the only one for which...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The legal regulation of wild animal welfare in South Africa follows the traditional – but outdated – distinction between animal welfare and...
Given the importance of wildlife in South Africa’s tourism industry and its international reputation, it may come as a surprise that the legal protection of wild animals in South...
The proposed hippo culling spree in Zambia’s world-renowned Luangwa Valley has a dodgy tender process at its core and appears to be an attempt by Zambian Government to cover...
On June 21, 2018, some of Botswana's Members of Parliament adopted a motion to lift the elephant hunting ban. They cited the following reasons for this decision: 1. An increase...
Leopards are Asia’s most trafficked big cat, with more than 4,900 seized from illegal trade in Asia since 2000 – but despite this, new evidence indicates the Government of...
The hunting of a lion in Umbabat Reserve alongside the Kruger National Park has been cloaked in secrecy ever since it was discovered. With the worldwide outcry at the killing of...
In a joint report published today, the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) set out findings of a review of the...
Read MTPA's approval letter for Umbabat PNR hunting proposal, including hunting one male lion: MTPA letter
Animal numbers in APNR reserves, proposed hunting quotas and basis for recommendations with reservations, does not recommend hunting a male lion. Read SANParks-KNP's...
An American is believed to have paid R1-million to bring down a Kruger Park lion from a pride beloved of tourists. On Friday a male lion was shot by a trophy hunter...
South African hunters will take part in the slaughter of 2 000 hippos in the pristine Luangwa Valley in Zambia next month. This follows a shock move by the Zambian government,...
Captive-bred lions at a recently exposed 'lion-abattoir' in the Free State are waiting for their fate to be decided as both the Departments of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and...
EMBATTLED North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has set his sights on the wildlife reserves within the province, proposing a bill last week repealing the North West Parks Board...
The troubled East London Zoo’s plans to buy Wild Dogs as soon as a moratorium on purchasing animals at the zoo is lifted are facing criticism from conservationists. The Zoo is...
HAVE WE FORGOTTEN THAT WILDERNESS IS NOT A PLACE BUT A SEASON AND THAT WE ARE IN ITS FINAL HOUR? – IAN MCCALLUM, WILDERNESS This Friday, 18...
Trophy hunting is like the fossil fuel industry. They’re both messy, unsustainable, in need of an alternative approach and, ultimately, fail to deliver on their promises. ...
Lion cubs bred in captivity. Picture: Audrey Delsink Two South African hunting associations that embrace canned lion hunting have lost an appeal to retain their membership...
It's been a bloody time for the South African canned lion industry. Last week‚ a lion 'abattoir' was exposed on a farm in the Free State‚ where close to 100 lions were...
The life of an elephant bull in his prime is hanging in the balance as a tug of war ensues between private reserve owners and conservation groups. Riff Raff, a 40 year-old...
South Africa is one the world’s biggest exporters of endangered tigers, almost all of which end up as floor mats, wall hangings or skeletons submerged in vats of Asian tiger-bone...
In Africa an elephant dies from a poacher’s bullet every 15 minutes. But in South Africa’s private reserves they’re breeding like bunnies and there’s trouble up ahead. The...
The practice of breeding the animals in captivity as ‘ambassadors’ is doing the species more harm than good, Louise de Waal reports A WORRYING trend is emerging in South Africa...
In this photo taken on May 3 last year, a ranger takes care of Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia county in Kenya. Sudan...
Criminal syndicates may use the legal trade in lion bones from our captive lion population, as a cover for illegal wildlife trade, reveals new report. A damning report titled...
More than 25 years of civil war in Angola between 1975-2002 not only took its toll on people, with huge losses of life and the displacement of millions of people, but it also...
David H.W. Morgan Chief, Governing Bodies and Meeting Services CITES Secretariat c/o Pascal Perraud (pascal.perraud@cites.org 28 February 2018 FACILITIES (FARMS AND INDIVIDUALS)...
The Department of Environmental Affairs has been slammed for allowing canned lion hunting and the export of lion bones without evidence that it has any scientific or conservation...
Forward Africa’s lions are facing an unprecedented crisis. Loss of habitat, reduced prey numbers, increasing conflict with a rapidly growing human population, unsustainable...
The second Giants Club Summit meets in Kasane over the next few days, uniting African leadership with global science, finance and influence to accelerate anti-poaching efforts,...
Quite apart from the decimation of illegal poaching, legal export to Asian markets is tearing the wild heart out of Africa. Each year thousands of tonnes of live animals, bones,...
Parliamentary wildlife colloquium ignores benefits of non-consumptive wildlife utilisation as ecological sustainability is obscured by the increasing commodification of SA’s...
DA MP Ross Purdon tabled a parliamentary motion this week calling on government departments to revisit this national rhino poaching crisis with the urgency it deserves....
International wildlife trade can represent a major threat to biodiversity conservation. Annually, billions of plants, animals and their products are traded across international...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Many people would be surprised to learn that 975 different taxa listed in the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and...
"The only value ivory has is on a living elephant," said Karen Pomeranz as she handed in six 20-year-old napkin rings to be crushed. "I was never comfortable owning ivory items....
This is the story about near-magical seabirds that criss-cross the globe, and small, lentil-sized blobs of plastic called nurdles. It is both astounding and worrying, writes DON...
All is not well at the Dinokeng Game Reserve in Gauteng. As the reserve weathers the furious storm of criticism after a lion belonging to local owner Kevin Richardson killed...
Changes to Cites legislation in 2016 allowing South Africa to establish ‘annual export quotas for trade in bones, bone pieces, bone products, claws, skeletons, skulls and teeth...
Cape Town - The East London Zoo has again come under fire for the poor care of its captive animals with experts saying the neglect has been going on for years. Despite these...
1. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT Since the early-1980s the number of fenced elephant populations on private property in South Africa has grown considerably, contributing to the...
In a surprising move, President Donald Trump has left-footed his own Department of Interior’s attempts to overturn former president Barack Obama’s ban on the import of wildlife...
Abstract The world's biodiversity is shared by countries that are increasingly recognizing the need for effective responses to human influence and climate change impacts through...
PREAMBLE Demands for competing land uses that are not compatible with conservation practices, make the need for viable conservation incentives more urgent. Well governed trophy...
By the time Zimbabwe’s new political winds of change reach its wildlife practices – the heart of its potential tourism industry – they appear to ebb to a light Chinese breeze. It...
The small decrease in overall poaching in 2017 has been overshadowed by a growing concern for the increase and broadening of poaching elsewhere in South Africa as only 1 in 10...
All wildlife interactions, including walking-with-lions and cheetah petting at the Polokwane Ranch Resort has been stopped. Following an article highlighting the...
MEDIA STATEMENT Fellow South Africans, Ladies and gentlemen of the media, Welcome to the first report back for 2018 on the Integrated Strategic Management approach to combat...
Cape Town - Three weeks after 31 young elephants were exported, presumedly to China, Zimbabwe’s office of the president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, announced the nation would...
January 11, 2018 His Excellency Emmerson Mnangagwa President of Zimbabwe cc: The Right Honourable Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate The Right...
Cape Town - Human-wildlife interactions with iconic big cats including lions, cheetahs and their cubs are being promoted via the Ranch Protea Hotel in Limpopo, owned by Marriott...
China has reportedly imported more than 30 wild caught elephant calves from Zimbabwe in a controversial if not cynical move which took place on the very day China banned the sale...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) held in September...
Cape Town - Regulations governing the extensive trade in wild caught baby elephants require only that they are housed in suitably equipped facilities, in appropriate and...
The South African Predator Association (SAPA) – whose members breed for hunting, among other creatures, what it terms “managed ranch lions” – has set its cross-hairs on another...
US policy on trophy hunting has descended into a confusion of mixed messages following a tweet by President Donald Trump that it’s a “horror show”. This coincided with an...
CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA Sixty-ninth meeting of the Standing Committee Geneva (Switzerland), 27 November -1 December...
A split in the ranks as some professional hunters still side for canned lion hunting and the debate continues in South Africa. “Canned hunting is fake hunting for people who...
European and American conservation leaders today called on governments worldwide to support requests from African nations to end all trade in elephant ivory to safeguard the...
Attention Secretary Ryan Zinke Secretary of the Interior Department of the Interior 1849 C Street. N.W. Washington D.C 21240 United States of America OPEN LETTER TO SECRETARY...
Introduction Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev. CoP17) on Trade in elephant specimens, in paragraph 11, directs the Secretariat, pending the necessary external funding, to: (a) report...
Two major US conservation NGOs are suing the Trump administration for allowing American hunters to import elephant and lion trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Two major US...
US President Donald Trump and his Department of Interior Affairs Secretary, Ryan Zinke, have halted the reversal of a ban on importation of elephant hunt trophies...
Australian MP Jason Wood, who introduced the motion last month, says an Australian domestic trade ban “is about stopping illegal poaching and illegal trading in elephant ivory...
Two young elephants were shot in the Komatipoort region close to the Kruger National Park after their herd was reportedly terrorized by poachers across the Mozambican border....
SA master baker has won an international 2017 Cake Master Awards for her life-size elephant and calf cake South African master baker Dot Klerck has won the Best Showpiece award...
If you imagine fish as birds of the ocean, they fly through forests and over fields which grow in the rich soil of the continental shelf. Just as on land, it’s Earth teeming with...
Parliament’s Environment Committee has called for criminal charges against top North West officials following a R183m (€11,1m) donation of rare wildlife species to ‘politically...
When thousands of people donated nearly R20-million to the Oxford University Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) after the killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, their...
The South African government has formed an alliance with organisations which kill wildlife for gain to the exclusion of those who wish to protect it. By JANINE AVERY. In 2005 the...
A report from the Convention in the Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) shows that in 2016, the overall trend of elephant poaching in Africa has declined. However,...
The African lion is the only big cat listed on CITES Appendix II, and the only one for which international commercial trade is legal under CITES. The trade in lion body parts,...
The cruelty of the capture of baby elephants from their families in the wild has been revealed in disturbing photos and videos secretly taken in Zimbabwe last month, writes Adam...
Two of the only five remaining mature desert elephant bulls that occupied the Ugab region of Namibia have recently been hunted and killed. Tsaurab and Tusky, along with another...
We’ve all seen the stories of gorillas and elephants brutally slaughtered by poachers in Africa. Whether it’s Diane Fossey’s beloved Digit, or an elephant calf mourning the death...
A dodgy phosphate operation mining bordering the West Coast National Park and near the environmentally sensitive Langebaan Lagoon has been slapped with an interdict to stop it...
People on the Highveld are dying prematurely and suffering from respiratory and cardiac illnesses because of the government’s controversial non-enforcement of minimum emission...
Key findings from the report: The majority of the ivory items seen for sale were machine-made from ivory mostly obtained via Vietnam and Thailand from recently poached African...
A new report by The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime lifts the lid on state-sanctioned North Korean criminal activity in Africa, exposing...
Cape Town - Three bull elephants were saved from being shot and further damage to mango orchards averted after the bulls broke through the fences of a game reserve bordering the...
With a lack of appropriate enforcement tools at the border and unregulated domestic markets, if you manage to get your ivory or rhino horn into New Zealand or Australia, you are...
Cape Town - Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs has slammed the donation by the North West Province of wild animals worth over R100-million’s to private...
126 captive elephants in 26 facilities. All used for human entertainment of which 14 facilities offer elephant back riding and only a handful of facilities show signs of...
Three of Namibia's iconic desert elephants have become moving targets after the Ministry of Environment & Tourism (MET) earlier this month approved permits to hunt them. The...
While many good people and fine organisations raise public funds to support conservation, there are others who use conservation issues to raise money for themselves. The...
The walls are closing in on animal interaction operators in South Africa as international tourism role-players distance themselves from unethical wildlife experiences....
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is watching with trepidation the brazen online rhino horn auction (www.rhinohornauction.com) that was supposed to open today on Monday, 21...
With the Department of Environmental Affairs stalling the first legal rhino horn auction actually happening remains to be seen. Update August 30th: On August 20th the DEA did...
SATSA President: Mr. Gavin Courtenay SATSA CEO: Mr. David Frost And all SATSA Members Dear Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Frost and all SATSA Members cc: The Honorable Minister of Tourism,...
Are we taking an environmental risk for Japanese sushi? This is a story about a filmmaker, a fisherman, certain government officials and one of the most intelligent animals on...
The death of Cecil’s son, Xanda at the hands of trophy hunters on 7 July is mired in confusion. He was shot just outside Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, near the spot his father...
OPINION: Rhino - a commodity for sale? South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs is increasingly seeing wildlife as a commodity to be marketed rather than protected and...
“Our primary mandate is to protect these animals (leopards) so that we don’t open them up to a situation where they will be hunted and where they will perish,” said Mr P...
Cape Town - Asian demand for tiger wine and other products is creating a crisis for big cats across the world, according to a study just released by the Environmental...
Rhino poaching might be on the decrease, elephant poaching is on the rise, but without up to date poaching figures from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), how do we...
The Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, has permitted an annual sale of 800 skeletons of captive-bred lions. Conservation organisations say the quota has been...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REPORT: Undercover investigations expose global hub of the illegal ivory trade. Surprising many, and putting other countries to shame, China has taken...
Author: Don Pinnock The DEA is concerned that we’re getting it wrong about the legalization of domestic rhino horn trade. But it is they who are getting it wrong about the...
Durban - How did a 27 year-old ANC Youth League official and an army sports instructor - both with limited work skills and experience - end up as nature conservation...
Yesterday (28 June 2017), the Minster of Environmental Affairs, Dr Edna Molewa, announced her decision on the proposed setting of a quota for the export of lion bones from...
The Department of Environmental Affairs has noted with concern misrepresentation of facts on aspects associated with rhino horn trade. The department would thus clarify that the...
Cape Town - The South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has blatantly ignored public opinion by formally approving the export of 800 lion skeletons to Asia this...
What is the purpose of national parks in modern South Africa and where will the money come from to protect and sustain them? asks TONY CARNIE. What will South Africa’s national...
More than 14 elephants, including a mother and her young calf, have been poisoned in and around Zimbabwe’s premier game reserve, Hwange National Park. Most of the poisoned...
Highlights • If ivory speculators in China believe that the domestic ivory trade ban will be finite, they will continue to hoard ivory. • Under a finite ban, speculator...
Permission granted by the Namibian government to a game farm owned by a Swedish national to capture and export to Dubai five wild young elephants has raised a storm among...
The threat posed by illegal bushmeat hunting to the Okavango Delta‘s tourism industry in Botswana has been exposed in a recently published report. Botswana is not normally...
PROLOGUE South Africa is the world’s top ‘canned’ lion hunting destination, the rhino hunting permit system has been repeatedly abused in recent years to launder horn...
First there was a clampdown on rhino poaching statistics. Now the same is happening with information on elephant ivory poaching. SA National Parks has refused to provide...
Namibia’s environmental authorities confirm that they have issued the necessary CITES (Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species) export permit for the sale of...
As South Africa continues to lose rhinos in the poaching war, it seems that the government is failing those fighting it. Although there has been some success in protecting rhinos...
AN orphaned baby elephant has been fully accepted into a semi-wild elephant herd at Camp Jabulani outside Hoedspruit in a rare success story. The baby elephant, Timisa, which...
Cape Town - Two endangered lionesses have been killed after being lured out of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe to a hunting trap set up using meat from a cow...
ABSTRACT Illegal bushmeat hunting is a global threat to wildlife, but its secretive and unregulated nature undermines efforts to mitigate its impacts on wildlife and...
RECOMMENDATIONS SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD APPOINT A SPECIAL COURT TO DEAL WITH ALL RHINO HORN CASES SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD VIGOROUSLY PROSECUTE MIDDLEMEN AND KINGPINS SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD...
KEY FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS KEY REPORT FINDINGS Lack of prosecutions • South Africa’s rhino crisis has been “stimulated by organized crime” and...
Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) has confirmed that it will not issue permits to hunt trophy elephants with unlimited tusk weights. In a surprise development MTPA...
Cape Town - It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago that rhinos would be dehorned for their own protection in a park as large and famous as the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi...
Dear Stakeholder, SANParks has started the review process of the Kruger National Park's Management Plan in compliance with the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas...
RESEARCH ARTICLE Savanna elephant numbers are only a quarter of their expected values Read original report: Robson et al 2017 Savanna elephant numbers are only a quarter of their...
CITES CITES LISTING APPENDIX COUNTRY DATE NOTES I 13/09/2007 Included in Appendix I, except the populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, which are...
Botswana's world acclaimed anti-poaching success story is being threatened by budget cuts that have forced the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) to curtail patrols...
VERY few tourists will have the privilege of seeing a real tusker in Africa’s game reserves today. Historically, a tusker was defined as an elephant with tusks each weighing at...
Photo: Elephants in Timbavati Game Reserve, 2 Jan 2013. Photo by Maureen Barlin via Flickr In response to “insults” from Simon Espley, DON PINNOCK responds that his article on...
With the Sumatran rhino officially extinct in the wild, are South Africa’s rhino doomed to the same fate? With the Sumatran rhino officially extinct in the wild, are South...
Cape Town - Animal welfare organisations are reeling from an unexpected announcement that they will no longer receive funding from by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) - a...
Cape Town - If cats do have nine lives, leopards are on their last. Especially the big, strong males of the species as the DEA seems set on reintroducing leopard trophy hunting...
The Secretariat has received questions from CITES Parties and journalists, as well as messages of concern from the general public, regarding measures proposed by the Republic of...
Confused explanations at a public meeting in Skukuza on Saturday are concerning stakeholders as the Kruger National Park forges ahead with its program of shooting buffalo as part...
Main photo: There are only about 25 to 30 super tuskers in the world and all in Africa. (Don Pinnock) Synecdoce is an interesting but seldom used word of Greek origin which means...
Abstract The Australian Rhino Project (http://www.theaustralianrhinoproject.org) proposes importing 80 rhinos from South Africa to Australia by 2019 at a cost of over $US4...
Photo by Steve Evans via Flickr. The public has until March 10 to respond to draft regulations by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) which seek to...
This statement covers the period January through December 2016, which is inclusive of the period September to December 2016. As you will all know, rhino poaching is a...
File picture Parliament - According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, the time has come to sell rhino horn. Speaking in a Parliamentary portfolio committee on Tuesday,...
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS NOTICE 74 OF 2017 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: BIODIVERSITY ACT 2004 (ACTO NO. 10 OF 2004) DRAFT REGULATIONS FOR THE DOMESTIC TRADE IN...
The fate of South Africa’s rhinos continue to hang in the balance as the South African government dithers over releasing rhino poaching statistics. Three times in as many...
Photo by Don Pinnock. There’s a thin line between the marketing of, and the genuine conservation of, wildlife. In the past few weeks that line was definitively crossed by the...
At the CITES CoP17 held in South Africa during September/October 2016, it was clear that the vast majority of member states were against legalizing trade in rhino horn. The...
There is something extremely bizarre about drinking a lion. But maybe in this world of post-truth it’s a new normal. After all, the cruelty we do to creatures in factory farms...
SA’s top marine scientists are shocked by the Environmental Department’s (DEA) recent decision to allow fishing in the Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (MPA) and have announced...
SUMMARY Pro-hunting group Safari Club International (SCI) recently published material entitled ‘The Conservation Equation’. The claimed ‘equation’ is a simple one – that trophy...
Trophy hunters’ inflated claims debunked; trophy hunting ‘insignificant’ to economy WASHINGTON (1 February 2017)—An economic study released on the first day of Safari Club...
Killing of 280 South African animals to raise more than US$1 million for American hunting group’s anti-wildlife agenda Safari Club International convention in Las Vegas includes...
South Africa is about to permit the export of lion bones to produce fake tiger wine but has given the public almost no time to object. The permit will allow an annual export of...
The Department of Environmental Affairs has emphasised that no exports of lion bones will be authorised in 2017 until the export quota for the trade in these specimens has been...
Cape Town - In a move clearly supporting the canned lion hunting industry, the South African Government plans to permit the annual export of 800 lion skeletons to manufacturers...
The recent announcement by the central government of China to ban all domestic ivory trade and processing by the end of 2017 offers a glimmer of real optimism in the fight...
A new Concourt ruling recognises the intrinsic value of animals and allows NSPCA to prosecute. Melissa Reitz In a land mark move for animal welfare in South Africa the...
Main photo: Jackal cull in Karoo 2012. It may be a story of extreme cruelty in the name of science. It may also be about fraud. You be the judge, writes DON PINNOCK. This story...
A scathing new report shows that key countries affected by wildlife crime have failed to halt poaching and illegal trafficking of endangered animals as a result of widespread...
Outrage at the looting of Africa’s wildlife and environmental destruction by Chinese nationals boiled over in Namibia last month in a strongly worded letter of protest to the...
Dear Ambassador Xin Shunkang, During the past few weeks, several Chinese nationals have been apprehended and charged with wildlife crimes, including illegal possession of rhino...
Wildlife advocates said the animals, which were being readied for shipment on Friday night, were unsuitable for live export Elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park....
Parliament is struggling to get answers out of the North West province’s Department of Rural, Environmental and Agricultural Development about a suspicious “donation” of 130...
Hunters who engage in unethical and illegal practices are largely to blame for the decline in the “overall acceptance” of trophy hunting by the general public and influential...
According to the NGO World Animal Protection, most tourists go on elephant rides because they love elephants. They don’t know about the intense physical and psychological pain...
How could you tell males from females? Were the elephants left-tusked or right-tusked? Who were the matriarchs? Who belonged to which family? How did they communicate? Would she...
A South African, Pieter Jansen van Rensberg, has been arrested on a charge of poaching inside the protected buffer zone of the Mozambique’s Parque Nacional de Limpopo (PNL),...
Circus owner, Brian Boswell, is challenging the legality of elephant protection laws after his attempt to sell African elephants to a zoo in the United Arab Emirates was blocked...
Tracking collars and sophisticated telemetry are a good way to see where wild elephants roam. They can also lead to grisly discoveries about where they die. The world-famous...
Draft legislation proposes cruel and unethical methods for dealing with problem wild animals, including the use of poison, hunting dogs, gin traps as well as extermination in...
People around the world celebrate cheetahs annually on 4 December. These beautiful animals have paced and graced human existence for thousands of years. There are not many of...
The landmark London Conference in February 2014 brought together heads of state and government representatives to discuss the rise in the illicit trade in wildlife and to sign up...
Tshekedi Khama,Botswana Minister of Natural Resources and Environment says his country is under unprecedented pressure from the pro-hunting lobby in the European Union and...
Trophy hunting in Zimbabwe’s Matetsi Safari Area is not sustainable at current levels as trophy sizes are declining, there is little scientific data supporting quota sizes and...
A row is brewing in Parliament over a donation of 150 buffaloes, 50 rhinos and 50 sable antelopes worth R100-million to politically connected private individuals in North West...
Introduction Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev. CoP16) mandates “a comprehensive report to each meeting of the Conference of the Parties” from the Elephant Trade Information System...
Abstract The selective nature of trophy hunting may cause changes in desirable phenotypic traits in harvested species. A decline in trophy size of preferred species may reduce...
ABSTRACT Unprecedented poaching levels triggered by demand for ivory in Far East Asia are threatening the persistence of African elephant Loxodonta africana. Southern African...
Credit: pexels.com New research shows that elephant numbers increase when more ecotourists visit the areas with elephant populations. This is in stark...
Japan has ensured the continued existence of its deeply flawed internal ivory market through sly diplomacy at the CITES conference in Johannesburg. However, reports in the...
Ten hyenas that were seized by customs authorities at the Harare Airport from a Chinese businessman as he tried to smuggle them out have been returned to Hwange National Park. In...
Abstract: Recent surveys suggest tens of thousands of elephants are being poached annually across Africa, putting the two species at risk across much of their range. Although the...
CITES corruption killing Africa's apes Africa's wild apes are being illegally exported to China using fraudulent permits from the Convention in International Trade in Endangered...
The failure to effectively shut down domestic ivory markets at the recent COP17 in Johannesburg leaves the ban on international ivory trade as little more than an ineffective...
Because South Africa was unable to demonstrate the conservation value of canned lion hunting, the United States last week banned the import of all trophies from captive lion...
Some cities have good bicycle lanes, some towns have excellent footpaths, but Kasane in Botswana has well-stomped elephant corridors. Of course they’re also used by warthogs,...
A Major Step Forward For Lion Conservation In Africa Ensuring that healthy, wild lion populations continue to roam Africa’s savannas has become increasingly challenging, as...
Abstract Terrestrial mammals are experiencing a massive collapse in their population sizes and geographical ranges around the world, but many of the drivers, patterns and...
This report is the most authoritative source of knowledge about the numbers and distribution of African elephant populations across their 37 range states in sub-Saharan Africa....
Johannesburg - The ongoing Asian demand for lion bones has led to an horrific wildlife poisoning in the Limpopo National Park, just over the Mozambican border from Kruger Park....
Photo: ©conservationaction.co.za Southern Africa is losing protected wild plants and animals at an alarming rate. Between 2005 and 2014, around 18,000 individual species worth...
Southern Africa is losing protected wild plants and animals at an alarming rate. Between 2005 and 2014, around 18,000 individual species worth US$340-million were legally sold....
The notion of 'sustainability' has become the most overused and consequently meaningless phrase within conservation and wildlife circles. Used in equal measure by those...
September 28th 2016 will be remembered by many delegates attending CITES CoP17 as a bitter-sweet day for pangolins – an ancient species that has earned the unfortunate label of...
Cape Town - New evidence of Japan’s failure to control illegal ivory trading at a time when Africa’s elephants face extinction is revealed in a damning report just released. The...
Photo: Namibian elephants (Eric Bauer via Flickr) The results of the most comprehensive survey of African elephants ever undertaken – the Great Elephant Census (GEC) announced...
JOHANNESBURG – New evidence of Japan’s failure to control illegal ivory trading at a time when Africa’s elephants face extinction is revealed in a damning report released today*....
We first spotted Charlie from about 700 foot up over the arid Mozambique savannah and it was love at fist sight… A majestic African elephant bull, approaching his...
Providing analysis at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) in...
Providing analysis at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) in...
Africa’s overall elephant population has seen the worst declines in 25 years, mainly due to poaching over the past ten years – according to IUCN’s African Elephant Status Report...
The future of Africa’s elephants may be decided in Johannesburg at the end of this month. When delegates from around the globe arrive at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the...
Despite the 1989 ivory trade ban, elephants continue to be killed to harvest their tusks for ivory. Since 2008, this poaching has increased to unprecedented levels driven by...
As the countdown begins to the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) for CITES, which commences in Johannesburg on 24 September, conservationists question the...
WWf and trAffic believe that an ivory trade ban in china is feasible and could be effective in contributing to a reduction in current threats to African elephants. Such an...
This is a story about too much hippo poo in the Kruger National Park, hungry neighbours and rain that just won’t fall. It’s also about culling, but the park doesn’t like the word...
© iafrica.com A motion to terminate the hunting and breeding of captive lions and other predators in South Africa has been approved by the IUCN World Conservation Congress...
The following is a listing of country-by-country findings from the Great Elephant Census (GEC). For each of the 18 countries flown to-date there is a listed GEC elephant count –...
At least 26 elephants, their faces hacked off and their tusks removed, lay in congealing blood on Botswana’s Chobe National Park floodplain. Poachers had killed them within sight...
Abstract African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are imperiled by poaching and habitat loss. Despite global attention to the plight of elephants, their population sizes and trends...
The largest wildlife survey ever taken has delivered alarming data for the ongoing survival of elephants. The results should be taken as a major wake-up call. By DON PINNOCK. To...
SA white sharks numbers dropping A proper review of deterrents is needed to keep the species alive, writes Melissa Reitz Recent results of a population count of great white...
A comprehensive new review of the threats facing global biodiversity indicates that a popular approach to saving the planet’s wild animals from extinction may be fatally flawed....
Hard to image that presently fewer than half a million elephants are left in Africa. This is the reality World Elephant Day, held annually on 12 August, aims to highlight. In...
There is a growing tendency for media reports about threats to biodiversity to focus on climate change. Here we report an analysis of threat information gathered for more than...
The South African government refuses to destroy its ivory stockpile unlike the 25 other countries that have publically destroyed tonnes of ivory to highlight that ivory should...
Abstract This paper examines the economic arguments surrounding the fate of ivory stockpiles. It centres on the polarized debate between their destruction and various schemes of...
Background on MIKE The CITES programme for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants, commonly known as MIKE, was established by the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to CITES at...
Knysna Elephant Park owners will face charges for animal cruelty despite an initial decision to decline prosecution The NSPCA has announced that the National Director of Public...
There have been a number of media articles, social media posts and other communications regarding international trade in elephant ivory under CITES. This has resulted in many...
Executive summary The Vietnamese illegal ivory trade is now one of the largest in the world. Of all the ivory industries in Asia, Vietnamese carvers have multiplied in number and...
Despite the arrests and long-term sentences passed on several Zimbabwean pangolin capturers, dealers and traffickers over the past year, conservationists believe the increased...
It is not hard to spot the successful rhino poachers in Okahao: at a time when everyone else in Namibia was suffering the effects of a crippling, four-year-long drought, they...
After pangolins, elephants are the most poached animals in Africa. But to get to grips with the implications, we need to know how many there are now, were once and will be in the...
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia are seeking to overturn a UN ban on ivory trade. If they succeed, it could spell the end for elephants. A United Nations ban on the...
A social media storm expressing public outrage at recent photos of starving lions and video footage of a disastrous wild dog introduction, taken at a farm owned by Walter...
The fatal breach in South Africa’s defence against rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park is Mozambique – and corrupt diplomats are continually widening it. According to a...
Six thousand rhinos have fallen to poachers’ bullets in Africa over the past decade and only about 25,000 remain – a fraction of the tens of thousands that roamed parts of the...
A working document requesting commercial exports of ivory will be submitted at the next Conference of the Parties (CoP17) of CITES (the Convention on International...
The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, the WWF and the Geneva Environment Platform organised the Geneva launch of “Beyond borders: Crime, conservation and...
Recent surveys in Africa show that elephant populations are falling dramatically across the continent. Data from the CITES-ETIS programme shows that ivory smuggling and seizures...
ABSTRACT African elephants are being poached at a rate that threatens their minimum viable population. Some economists have argued that flooding the market with a legal supply of...
The African Elephant Coalition (AEC), comprising 29 African countries, is calling on the world to join them in saving elephants. The Montreux Manifesto, agreed at a meeting of...
PROPOSAL OF NAMIBIA, SOUTH AFRICA AND ZIMBABWE This document has been submitted by Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.* Background At its 14th meeting of the Conference of...
Abstract While trophy hunting provides revenue for conservation, it must be carefully managed to avoid negative population impacts, particularly for long-lived species with low...
On Heritage Day this year South Africa will be hosting the 17th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP) in Johannesburg which will address the international legal...
A paper published last week by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the U.S.A. holds unequivocally that permitting a legal trade in some wildlife species will be those...
Ivo Vegter passes himself off as an environmental journalist, but consistently backs the right of those with money and power to destroy the environment. I have no other choice...
Black markets are estimated to represent a fifth of global economic activity, but their response to policy is poorly understood because participants systematically hide their...
The result of a comprehensive analysis of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Trade Database, Killing for Trophies...
A report by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources NOTE: This report has not been officially adopted by the Committee on Natural Resources and may not...
South Africa and Kenya will hold talks with other African countries to find a common position on ivory trade ahead of the 17th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on...
Madikwe Game Reserve is becoming congested and a 75-kilometre corridor is the solution – if only bureaucracy can get out of the way. Whenever a reserve finds it has too many...
A growing number of international tour companies refusing to promote elephant riding is putting South Africa’s elephant back safari industry under pressure to pack in the...
When researcher Kristoffer Everatt spotted a movement in the grass while conducting field work in Banhine National Park in Mozambique in July 2015, he wasn’t sure what it was....
Today, UNODC launched its inaugural World Wildlife Crime Report, highlighting how the poaching and illegal trade of thousands of different species across the globe not only...
When it comes to statistics, the devil is always in the detail – or in the spin, when it come to politics. The fight against rhino poaching is no exception. On the 8th of May,...
Terminating the hunting of captive-bred lions (Panthera leo) and other predators and captive breeding for commercial, non-conservation purposes NOTING the prohibition by the...
Trophy hunters legally shoot wild animals that move from Kruger on to some private reserves, but the Game Theft Act has muddied the waters. Who owns South Africa’s wild animals?...
The Committee of Inquiry was tasked with investigating the feasibility of a trade in rhino horn. Minister of Environmental Affairs, Members of the media, Thank you for the...
STATEMENT: Ladies and Gentlemen, You may recall that the Committee of Inquiry was established as South Africa was experiencing continuously increasing levels of poaching despite...
After the international outrage at the cynical killing of Cecil the Lion last year, and the unethical practices exposed in the film Blood Lions - which blew the lid off...
Swaziland conservation authorities have accused South Africa of reneging on an agreement to propose the legalization of rhino horn trade, which draws into question South Africa’s...
Provisional list of proposals for amendment of Appendices I and II Read the full report here: https://cites.org/eng/cop/17/prop/index.php
Kenya will burn 105 tons of ivory on Saturday 30 April – the largest destruction of ivory in Africa’s history and seven times the size of any ivory stockpile destroyed so far....
As the world's largest planned burn of ivory is set to make a massive anti-poaching statementin Kenya on Saturday 30 April, we take a look at a multi-pronged Tanzanian project...
The scale of the elephant poaching problem is immense. The global crisis is now well documented, with an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 African elephants being illegally killed...
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AM Area Manager CA CAMPFIRE Association CE Chief Ecologist DC Conservation Director DG Director...
Recent reports say that one of Zimbabwe’s largest private wildlife areas, Bubye Valley Conservancy, is suffering from an overpopulation of lions. The conservancy has more than...
32 international environmental organisations have appealed to the world’s largest internet ivory seller – Yahoo! Japan, and its major Shareholder SoftBank, to halt all elephant...
Abstract There is considerable debate in the literature over whether or not to legalise the trade in rhino horns. Here a system dynamics model is developed that considers five...
This week, investigative journalist and author Julian Rademeyer revealed that the decision to submit a rhino horn trade proposal to the Convention on International Trade in...
South Africa’s official approach to rhino conservation involves a contradiction. While calling for the protection of rhinos as a species, it promotes their use as a resource to...
The ongoing drought is taking its toll on South Africa’s wildlife. In the Kruger National Park, questions have been raised about the possible impact that a potential re-opening...
The elephants were flown out in defiance of a US court order temporarily freezing the import pending the submission of veterinary statements on the elephants’ physical condition...
Africa’s extraordinary and charismatic wildlife is clearly under siege from the wrecking ball of Chinese demand. Heading the list of critically damaged species are elephants. As...
While poaching in KwaZulu-Natal is in fast forward, the prosecutorial system in some areas appears to have gone into reverse. Many of the worrying poaching cases are linked to a...
Abstract Trophy hunting is widely used in Africa to generate funding for wildlife areas. In 2015, a global media frenzy resulted from the illegal killing of a radio-collared...
It is the opinion of the African Lion Working Group (ALWG) that captive-bred lion hunting, which is defined by ALWG as the sport hunting of lions that are captive bred and reared...
Poachers aren’t the only problem when it comes to wildlife trafficking. Also complicit are the very institutions and rules designed to protect animals, and the people that are...
Elephants Alive received the call at lunchtime on Tuesday, 16 February 2016. An elephant calf had become trapped in a dam at Phalaborwa Copper, Limpopo. The Elephants Alive team...
Two elephants have been rescued instead of put down after breaking out of the Balule Private Reserve, bordering Kruger National Park, on Wednesday, 10 February. The two young...
An 18-month national study on the wildlife ranching sector of South Africa by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), an NGO that protects southern Africa's threatened wildlife...
China’s desire for exotic animals, tastes and products will probably push wild elephants, rhinos, pangolins and many other species to extinction within the next 10 to 15 years....
Wildlife poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade in Africa is not merely a calamity for animal populations, but has become a serious threat to governance in countries in which it...
Community anglers are threatening tourist safety if fishing rights are not granted, spurring the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) on in opening up parts of the...
Does trophy hunting support wildlife conservation in Africa? The world’s most influential hunters’ association would like you to think so. The annual convention of the Safari...
Elite Hunters, Animal Trophies and Safari Club International's Hunting Awards. Read the full report...
Despite worldwide opposition, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has approved permits to import 18 wild elephants from Swaziland to three US zoos. Conservationists, scientists and...
South Africa has announced its first decrease in rhino poaching since 2007: “We are pleased to announce that for the first time in a decade the poaching situation in South Africa...
South Africa opposed a resolution that lauded CITES for supporting the destruction of government stockpiles of ivory seized from poachers and traffickers. It asserted that CITES...
THE EU has recommended that the conservation treaty organisation Cites enforce an immediate suspension of trade for Angola, Laos and Nigeria. This comes after the three countries...
SUMMARY OF THE SIXTY-SIXTH MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA: 11-15 JANUARY 2016 The...
FOREWARD Issues surrounding the conservation, management and welfare of Africa’s elephants are complex. We now know that elephant numbers in some populations have stabilised...
Attempt by marine scientists to reverse SANParks permission to fish in the sensitive MPA has been blocked by a High Court judge An application to halt a pilot period for...
For over 25 years as a nonprofit organization, EIA has pioneered the use of undercover investigations to expose environmental crime around the world. Intelligence reports,...
Tanzania's new president, John Magufuli, won the presidential election on the ticket he would take tough action on corruption. A month after taking office it seems he been making...
In a powerful and poignant edition of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel called Blood Ivory to be aired on Tuesday November 24th, has correspondent David Scott not only...
Chinese business leaders from the region and experts on China-Africa relations pledged their full support on Monday for intensified efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade....
Khristopher Carlson, senior researcher at the Small Arms Survey, presented today on the impact of the illicit transfer of small arms and light weapons on poaching in Africa at an...
In a statement published this week South Africa’s Elephant Specialist Advisory Group (ESAG) says that the export of the elephants, three adult females and fifteen sub-adults to...
ELEPHANT SPECIALIST ADVISORY GROUP Statement re the proposed sale and transfer of 18 elephants from Swaziland to three Zoos in the USA. Swaziland Big Game Parks and three Zoos in...
The world's wealthiest hunting organization, Safari Club International (SCI) and professional hunting groups, met behind closed doors with the South African Department of...
Despite strong opposition and a variety of alternatives, Swaziland’s Big Game Parks appears resolute in its decision to export elephants to US zoos, in what seems to be a...
Cape Town - American hunters and SA’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) are meeting behind closed doors at a resort near Polokwane on Tuesday to plan the future use of...
Sunday 08 November 18:00 Registration – Hotel Foyer Welcome Beverages and Hotel Check-in 19:00 Dinner at the Signature Clubhouse Monday 09 November 9:00 Government meeting:...
While pressure mounts against Swaziland’s Big Game Parks’ (BGP) intended export of 18 elephants to zoos in the U.S.A., US Government documents show that the elephants are fenced...
Humans are almost never the victims of great white sharks, but great whites are always the victims of our mythology about them. And that mythology is doing damage to their...
By: Catherine Doyle, MS, Director of Science, Research & Advocacy, Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), First elephant sanctuary in the United States David Hancocks,...
We, the undersigned scientists, conservationists, elephant care, animal welfare and policy experts, are strongly opposed to the proposed import of 18 elephants from Swaziland by...
The oft asked question is: are trophy hunters protectors of biodiversity or are they heartless killers of defenceless wild animals? To make any headway with this question, we...
Controversial plans are progressing to export 18 elephants from Swaziland to US zoos, apparently without proper consideration of relocating them to other reserves in...
Leopards are in trouble. But how much is hard to tell. For hundreds of years they were classed as vermin. Today we don’t know how many have survived the guns – they’re elusive...
Are trophy hunters protectors of biodiversity, as hunting associations and some conservationists claim, providing funds and a reason to protect wild areas? Or are they heartless...
For Immediate Release Elephant Experts From Around the World Oppose Proposed Import of 18 Elephants from Swaziland to Zoos in Texas, Nebraska and Kansas “The capture and...
With severe drought in Swaziland, US zoos are yet again taking the opportunity to import elephants and 18 wild born elephants have been earmarked for a life of captivity .They...
The report highlights that the economic results of big game hunting is low. Land used for hunting generates much smaller returns than that used for agriculture or...
A CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS OF ELEPHANT POACHING AND IVORY TRAFFICKING IN EAST AFRICA This case study takes data directly from the field collected by Global Eye and Elephant...
The Global March for Elephants and Rhino's is happening in a city near you on October 2nd, 3rd or 4th 2015. We will be marching at Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town at 11am on...
The playgrounds of trigger-happy trophy hunters are far removed from the fertile fruit farms of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. But a recent television expose of driven...
The following is recommended: 1) Guidelines for the allocation of leopard trophy quotas must be developed and provided to all provinces by the end of January 2015. 2) A...
Travel conference organisers have decided not to screen a documentary that raises critical questions about key tourist attractions that their event promotes. Local delegates to...
Zimbabwe has all but let Cecil’s killers off the hook as Mugabe’s wife says hunter did nothing wrong. "I say the dentist who killed the lion must be left alone," said Mrs Mugabe,...
Keeping cheetahs as tourist attractions is widespread in South Africa. But, as a number of attacks have proved, they’re far less tame than ‘cheetah experience’ establishments...
The report by the NSPCA on the welfare status of elephants in captivity at 26 elephant back safari and sanctuary facilities nationwide (14 of which offer elephant back riding)...
Talle jagluiperds word oor die land heen as toeristetrekpleister aangehou. Maar die getal aanvalle wat voorkom, wys hulle is minder mak as wat hierdie ‘cheetah-ervaring’-plekke...
The NSPCAs Wildlife Protection Unit has compiled an in-depth report on the captive Elephant industry in South Africa. All information contained in this factual report has been...
Following attacks on a child and two women by cheetahs at KwaCheetah ‘petting park’ in KwaZulu-Natal, Ezemvelo authorities this week suspended all non-staff access to the...
Given that in Africa wild lions are in catastrophic decline–the latest International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) figures suggest that fewer than 20,000 remain–it...
Throughout history, human beings have killed wild animals to defend, avenge, profit or feed themselves. They still do. But there are a few who kill for another reason: pleasure....
The death of Cecil the Hwange lion and a new documentary film have catalyzed a worldwide rethink on trophy hunting. By Don Pinnock Deep in the ancient part of our brains is a...
To save African elephants from extinction, “range states should put their ivory stockpiles beyond commercial use immediately and simultaneously,” says South African economist...
A new international survey reveals what’s really driving the demand side of the ivory market. The majority of people who buy products made from ivory say they would support...
If you want to save elephants, don’t legalise the international trade in ivory. That’s the message of a major research paper published to coincide with World Elephant Day on...
Download the PDF: Governance of Africa's Resources Programme African elephants face an escalating poaching crisis due to an explosion in demand for ivory, mostly in China. Over...
A child from Cowan House Preparatory School in KwaZulu-Natal was on Thursday bitten on the shoulder by a cheetah at the KwaCheetah Breeding Project in the Nambiti Private Game...
New research suggests things are getting worse for South Africa’s declining wild lion population as the trophy hunting industry is boosting the Asian trade in lion bones. Tiger...
Parks Authority believes that the use of a bow and an arrow “was meant to conceal the illegal hunt by using a means that would not alert the rangers on patrol.” Bow and arrow...
Cape Town - The face of Cecil the lion was projected on the Empire State building over the weekend - just one of the protest action movements sparked by the infamous trophy hunt...
In the past week Southern Africa’s lucrative trophy hunting industry received two devastating blows: the release of an explosive new documentary detailing the unsavoury practices...
In an unprecedented move, the Professional Hunters' Association of South Africa (PHASA) has been told that its "position on lion hunting is no longer tenable". In an email sent...
Johannesburg - An emergency was declared as the first elephant was poached on the western border of Kruger National Park. Each day in Africa around 100 elephants die at the hands...
Durban - Blood Lions, a new documentary film delivers a damning verdict on the rapidly growing South African industry that breeds, hunts and trades lions in captivity. Blood...
Government appears intent on reforming and sanitising the business of breeding and hunting lions. Critics want to see it dismantled altogether Minister Edna Molewa has just met...
A legal trade in rhino horns lies at the heart of a proposed new government policy for the conservation of white rhinos in South Africa, despite the fact that an official...
Wildlife enthusiasts say Cecil, possibly Hwanges’s largest lion, was a favourite among visitors to Zimbabwe’s premier national park as he was extremely relaxed around safari...
The video is shaky having been secretly captured. But the image of the table full of polished ivory artifacts and the merchant sitting behind them is clear. “How much?” asks the...
A new study finds there is little evidence that the Lion bone trade in South Africa is currently adversely impacting wild Lion populations there, but warns the situation needs to...
A hunter recently shot and killed a female elephant whilst trying hunt a bull elephant at Mabalingwe Nature Reserve near Bela Bela in Limpopo. Controversy surrounds both the...
The World Bank has allocated $700,000 bolster trophy hunting of elephants and lions in Mozambique as a way to preserve wildlife. “Hunting, when properly regulated and when...
The recent announcement that Tanzania had lost 60% of its elephants in just five years as well as Zimbabwe’s continued disregard of international opinion on the capture and...
US based bio-engineering firm, Pembient, is one of three companies that plans to flood Chinese and Vietnamese markets with synthetic 3D-printed rhino horn in an effort to stem...
The Cango Caves are caught in the crossfire of political upheaval and corruption, a lack of sound management and financial security which could lead to the permanent closure of...
Environmental destruction across the world is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, which begs the question why the South African government is so complacent in the face of...
One after the other the carcasses were extracted from the crammed vehicle. Burnt, shrunken-back lips exposed grimacing teeth…a gruesome effect. As the pile of animals mounted up...
A group of international experts comprised of over 30 conservationists, academics, journalists, authors and lawyers from Africa, Europe, Asia and America has warned the Committee...
International tourism to Africa reached record levels in 2013, with 56 million tourists bringing in $34.2-billion (about R410-billion). Significantly, 80% of them came to see the...
Virunga National Park is one of Africa’s treasure troves, and one of its most toxic, and intoxicating, killing fields. Under threat from various armed militias as well as...
To: Ms. M.E. Nana Magomola, Chairperson, Committee of Inquiry Cc: Minister Edna Molewa, Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) All rhinoceros species are threatened by...
INTRODUCTION Greetings to the Chair of the Committee of Inquiry and to all the members of the COI. I am Dr. Alejandro Nadal, Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies, El...
Abstract Poaching of elephants in Southern Africa is now dominated by international groups following a model of organized crime. This shift, from poaching conducted by small,...
In an article published in the Sunday Times a week ago [May 31], Edna Molewa, the minister of environmental affairs, admonishes conservationists to “put the lid on” what she...
According to South Africa’s Minister for Environment Affairs, Edna Molewa, there is a big difference between shooting of captive-bred versus shooting of canned lions. In an...
Cape Town – At a conference here at the end of May, experts from around the world gathered to discuss responses and solutions to the poaching crisis facing South Africa’s...
“Please, let’s stop talking about illegal trade in wildlife. It’s not illegal trade – it’s crime,” says John Sellar, an independent anti-smuggling, fraud and organised crime...
John M. Sellar OBE, retired head of law enforcement at CITES for 14 years, speaking at the Wildlife in Crisis conference in Cape Town last week believes the only way to stop the...
Two hundred metres from Pemba’s popular Wimbi Beach towers an opulent mansion. Initially it could be mistaken for the home belonging to one of Mozambique’s burgeoning oil, gas...
Rhino horn trade debate will fuel poaching: By working on a proposal to CITES to legalise trade in rhino horn, South Africa could actually be fuelling rhino poaching. Last month,...
A group of local and international experts converged in Cape Town on Tuesday to discuss the legal and illegal trade in endangered wildlife. Jo Shaw, the manager of WWF-SA’s Rhino...
The draft Biodiversity Management Plan for the Lion (Panthera Leo) in South Africa was published under the National Environmental Management Plan: Biodiversity Act by the...
Introduction: Whilst rhino poaching in many African range states remained a major problem between 1960 and 1995, particularly for the black rhino and northern white rhino, rhino...
Wildlife in Crisis Conference: Cape Town 18, 19, 20 May 2015 Venue: Jules and Kramer Law Building, LECTURE THEATRE 1, UCT , Middle Campus Time: 18.00hrs till 20.00hrs Attendance...
This week rhino owners, conservation NGOS and other stakeholders had a chance to address the Rhino Horn Trade Proposal Committee of Inquiry with their support or concerns for...
South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs has released for public comment its first-ever Biodiversity Management Plan for lions, panthera leo. The main purpose of the...
Zimbabwe’s minister for environment, water and climate, Saviour Kasukuwere, claims Zimbabwe’s elephant population is so large it has reached double the country’s carrying...
A report documenting how the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GT SEZ) in Bokeo Province, Laos, has effectively become a hub for trade in illegal wildlife products and...
The African lion (Panthera leo) is the largest African cat and the only feline that is social living in prides that average twelve individuals, but may reach more than thirty....
In this post, Sarah M. Durant and Roseline C. Beudels-Jamar write about their article ‘Developing fencing policies for dryland ecosystems’, which is the first Policy Direction...
The Southern white rhino C.s. simum was historically found in southern Africa; but again owing to hunting and poaching by the end of the 19th century the population was reduced...
South Africa’s lion hunting industry has little to do with conservation and everything to do with profit but it seems only foreign governments care. Here’s a trick question: Is...
Set against the backdrop of the ongoing poaching crisis driven by a dramatic increase in the illicit trade in wildlife products, this briefing paper intends to support the...
Australia’s Minister for the Environment has banned the importation of lion parts and remains into the country, saying that canned lion hunting’s time has passed. Greg Hunt,...
Once upon a time, a fair prince traveled to a distant land – of Dragons and Emperors but equally, of Ivory – to request that its leaders lend their influence to saving the...
WINDHOEK chiropractor Gerson Kandjii, already facing criminal charges related to the poaching of four critically endangered black rhinos in the Etosha Park since November,...
The view of an economist using economic fundamentals to argue against the legalisation of sale of existing stock of rhinoceros horn, or the law of unintended consequences and...
In April last year South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mozambique covering the thorny issue of rhino poaching. At the time, Minister of Environmental...
More than 53,000 elephants have been massacred in the last decade in Tanzania’s Selous game reserve. In Chad's Zakouma National Park 4,300 elephants counted in 2002 were reduced...
The CITES programme for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants, commonly known as MIKE, was established by the Conference of the Parties (CoP) at its 10th Meeting (Harare,...
Given the alarming pace, level of sophistication, and globalized nature that illegal trade in wildlife has now notoriously achieved, UNEP initiated a Rapid Response Assessment to...
SANParks wish to manage elephant impacts on biological, cultural, human and stakeholder values. Kruger National Park (Kruger) is a large conservation area, almost 2 million...
Farming of animals and plants has recently been considered not merely as a more efficient and plentiful supply of their products but also as a means of protecting wild...
Standing Committee of CITES (SC) met in Geneva from 7 to 11 July 2014, assessed the implementation status of CITES decisions taken at CoP 16, (Bangkok, 2013) on the rhino and...
Zimbabwe recorded a 30% decline in revenue from sport hunting since the United States banned all ivory and elephant trophies from Zimbabwe last April, an official said at the end...
10 FEBRUARY 2015 The Minister of Environmental Affairs, Mrs Edna Molewa this week introduced the Committee of Inquiry tasked with investigating the feasibility of a trade in...
This report illustrates attitudes garnered from nine focus groups in several poaching communities in and around South African and Mozambican game parks, and approximately 15...
When listening to Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa discuss tackling the scourge of rhino poaching, one hears lots of ‘good’ news – but sadly there is little of real...
The Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) has launched an internal investigation after the Board was presented with a letter mid-December outlining possible collusion between some staff...
Conservation officials have been working feverishly with farmers and concerned members of the public to ensure the safety of two wandering bull elephants which have been at large...
Late last year, dozens of baby elephants in the Hwange Elephant Park were forcibly removed from their families and prepared for export. Now, Zimbabwe has confirmed its intention...
Efforts to relocate two elephants which crossed the border from Botswana into Limpopo province have received a blow with the news that Marakele National Park near Thabazimbi is...
Limpopo Nature Conservation officer Gerhard De Beer is working feverishly with concerned conservationists to save two bull elephants from Botswana currently trekking through the...
The Pelly Amendment authorises the President to limit the importation of any products from a country of which the nationals thereof are engaging in trade or taking that...
An analysis of ivory seizure data held in the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) prepared for the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (Bangkok, 2013)...
Dozens of baby elephants and other wild animals are being abducted from Hwange National Park. According to a statement by Zimbabwe’s environment minister last week, the animals...
The air over Sesfontein this time of year is usually a peculiar metallic hue, tinged by the talcum-fine dust whipped by the harsh desert wind blowing from the Skeleton Coast, 250...
Earlier this year horrific photographs and graphic video footage showing baby elephants being abused at an elephant sanctuary in the Eastern Cape and an elephant-back safari...
China is stealing African animals yet again, and covering it up with suspicious paperwork and probably in violation of its own regulations. More than 30 wild baby elephants are...
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), a non-profit wildlife organization , has issued a disturbing report claiming that wildlife in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park is...
While the crisis is complex, with root causes in chronic poverty, the absence of sustainable economic alternatives and a burgeoning demand for wildlife products like ivory and...
In the dead of night a group of men hack the meat from a corpse using rusted machetes and pocket knives. Together they’re like a machine systematically tearing flesh from bone,...
There will be no further culling of elephants in Kruger National park for population control. So says Dr Sam Ferreira, SANParks’ large mammal ecologist. That’s because the new,...
There is much focus by conservationists and institutions on what is happening on the ground in Africa when it comes to elephant poaching however very little attention is being...
A report released this month by The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) called Vanishing Points – Criminality, Corruption and the Devastation of Tanzania’s Elephants has...
A couple of weeks ago a report came out announcing that in 2014 the demand for rhino horn in Vietnam had dropped significantly when compared to 2013 - by 38% to be exact. The...
A report released this month by The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) called Vanishing Points – Criminality, Corruption and the Devastation of Tanzania’s Elephants has...
The Environmental Investigation Agency delivers a damning report on Tanzania's failure to address the mass slaughter of it's elephants. The country, once heralded as a...
International indignation over the canned hunting of lions in SA is growing, writes Martina Polley. Lions are majestic animals, the alpha predators of the African bush. We think...
It looks like South Africa is going to break another record: 2014 is set to exceed 2013’s 1,004 rhino poached. But sadly, it’s not as though the nation is sitting back and doing...
A farmer has shot a leopard, which was collared for research, in the Boesmanland area in the Northern Cape earlier this month. The leopard, which was collared by the Landmark...
Trends in the populations of large herbivores in Niassa Reserve, Mozambique, have been monitored through biennial aerial surveys since 1998. The elephant Loxodonta africana...
Conservationists are concerned at reports in Zimbabwe’s media that the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe (SOAZ), whose membership comprises almost exclusively of hunting...
A permanent ban on the importation of lion parts, including trophies is planned by Australia. This was announced after South African conservationist; Ian Michler met with...
The African elephant population is already facing unprecedented pressure on its survival from poaching, so added pressure from the captive elephant industry is the last thing it...
Edna Molewa, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs joined the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos (GMFER) in Pretoria on Saturday causing conservationists to wonder if...
Poaching of African elephants is threatening the species viability. International non-governmental organizations and media often attribute the basic problem to China’s domestic...
While Africa is losing an elephant every 15 minutes to ivory poachers, trophy hunters are targeting the cross-border population of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier...
The greatest threat to the safety of Africa’s elephants is not the poachers who prey on them for their tusks; rather it’s the governments of many of their homelands who lack the...
In a world where poor governance and corruption is rife, particularly in those countries that are home to the largest remaining elephant populations, legalising the ivory trade...
In the Proposed Amendments to South African Legislation (PALSA) participants urgently request the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to intervene in the rhino...
Conservationist Ian Michler met European lawyers, politicians, NGOs and the media this month to discuss ways of introducing a ban on the importation of canned lion hunting...
International arrivals at South African airports are greeted with an image of happy tourists on the back of an elephant experiencing, according to the wording, “Wild and Free...
The contentious issue of whether South Africa will apply to trade legally in rhino horn remains in the hands of a mystery Panel of Experts (PoE) which South Africa’s Department...
INTRODUCTION: At a recent stakeholder meeting called by the Department of Environmental Affairs to discuss proposed amendments to the Elephant Norms and Standards, it became...
Yes, say conservationists if proposals to change The Elephant Norms and Standards (ENS) law are accepted by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). Conservation groups are...
Conservationists across South Africa have commended the severe penalty meted out in Cape Town last week to Cheng Jie Liang, a Chinese national for the illegal possession of one...
INTRODUCTION: The fin whale is the second largest species on the planet – a giant at more than 20 metres in length but able to swim at speeds in excess of 35km per hour, earning...
White River, Mpumalanga - Approximately 400 people, mainly from rural areas in the Mbombela district attended a public hearing of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs...
In a Parliamentary debate on Tuesday on the rhino poaching crisis, government provided little hope for rhino as speaker after speaker lamented the rhino poaching...
The Department of Environmental Affairs is clearly scratching around for the ‘good story’ in relation to rhinos. In its latest attempt to solve the poaching problem it had to...
This August - on World Elephant Day - the Conservation Action Trust hosted a Mock Ivory Burn in Cape Town to raise awareness with South Africans about the slaughter of elephants...
On Tuesday Minister Edna Molewa announced SA’s intention to implement an integrated management strategy to reducing rhino poaching – but the failure to change legislation related...
INTRODUCTION: Ivory-seeking poachers have killed 100,000 African elephants in just three years, according to a new study published in the August 19 issue of Proceedings of the...
In Cape Town, conservationists, sports stars and celebrities gathered in Blaauwberg Nature Reserve yesterday to celebrate World Elephant Day by igniting a fire of mock ivory...
In the build up to this day, Conservation Action Trust, Wilderness Safaris and Africa Geographic invited readers to submit images celebrating the wonder of African Elephants....
INTRODUCTION: Illegal hunting of African elephants for ivory is causing rapid declines in their populations. Since 2007, illegal ivory trade has more than doubled. African...
The US government has upheld its earlier ban on the importation of elephant trophies from Tanzania and Zimbabwe for the duration of 2014, despite vocal objections from hunting...
The conservation of wild animals is a wrangle that has divided opinion into two diametrically opposed camps, writes Adam Cruise. As today is World Nature Conservation Day, it is...
A second elephant has been butchered for its tusks by poachers in Parfuri, northern Kruger National Park, 10km in from the Mozambican and Zimbabwean borders. SANParks officials...
As a result of shifting wildlife policy, approximately one-sixth of South Africa’s total land has been ‘game-fenced’ and converted for wildlife-based production during the last...
The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has finally issued an invitation to stakeholders to participate in its exploration of Rhino Horn Trade Feasibility. The long-awaited...
The trampling of a Namibian trophy hunter by an elephant has reignited the heated debate around hunting permits issued for the country’s gravely endangered desert elephants. In a...
Two international environmental organisations have called on the US government to implement trade sanctions against Mozambique for its official complicity in the ongoing rampant...
I have recently read the May/June South African Journal of Science report on a Kruger National Park workshop aimed at finding a management solution to counter the escalation of...
Namibia: Concerns have been heightened by the Namibian Ministy of Environment and Tourism’s (MET) decision to issue additional hunting permits for some of the most unique...
The South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has been having a difficult time of late. Over the past five years they have been unable to stem the exponential...
In debates about whether or not to lift the ban on trade in rhino horn, the real puzzle is the curious positions and untested assertions of people who should be providing...
Guardian animals offer far better livestock protection than lethal methods, according to new research. They’re more effective, need less work, and are cheaper. A formal study of...
With the world still reeling from the tragic poaching death of Satao, the iconic Kenyan tusker, news that Namibia has just followed through on killing the first of the Namibian...
A moral dilemma has emerged following an online debate to an article in Forbes Magazine discussing the US ban on all trade in ivory. The main article by Doug Bandow is palpably...
TWO top international economists say those who advocate trade in rhino horn and ivory fail to understand world markets or the economic muscle of multinational poachers....
It was Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance-era mathematician, architect and artist, who said: “He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards a ship...
INTRODUCTION: Illegal trade of wildlife has been recognised as an important driver of biodiversity loss. In many quarters the use of legal markets has been presented as the best...
INTRODUCTION: This video addresses the dire effects the legal rhino horn trade could have on the survival of the species. Some of the key findings include: The premise that...
To see the desert-adapted elephants of Namibia's north-eastern Kunene region, you have to travel far over rough roads, be patient and trust your luck. The sight of these gaunt,...
INTRODUCTION: Ivory stockpiles are being burnt around the globe this year, thick plumes of grey smoke sending a signal across international newsfeeds: Some countries consider the...
INTRODUCTION: In April 2014 economists, conservationists, researchers, consumer state representatives and wildlife law consultants from around the world gathered in Pretoria to...
A community elephant project in Tanzania has reduced elephant poaching numbers by more than half in two years. Martina Polley investigates how working outside of wildlife...
Namibia: Just months ahead of the elections in November, the Namibian government has issued hunting permits for rare desert elephants in the northwestern Kunene region, a unique...
SANparks confirmed on Thursday that an elephant bull was poached in Kruger National Park and its tusks removed and carried off by the perpetrators – the first such incident to...
Every 15 minutes an elephant is butchered for its tusks. That is 100 elephants every day. Nonetheless, the South African Minister of Water and Environment Affairs, Edna Molewa,...
INTRODUCTION: Research conducted in the Caprivi Strip, Namibia investigates the relevance of pathways for movement of elephants and the significant spatial variable explaining...
Is the government really doing all they can to combat rhino poaching? In a report investigating the challenges facing the enforcement of South Africa’s environmental laws,...
INTRODUCTION: A three year study across eleven livestock farms in South Africa has found non lethal predator controls, such as guardian dogs, alpacas and collars to be cheaper...
Addressing a crowd at a ceremony to sign an anti-poaching agreement between South Africa and Mozambique in the Kruger National Park this April, Edna Molewa, South Africa’s...
In recent years significant criminal syndicates and organized terrorist gangs have engaged in elephant poaching to acquire ivory, which they sell for arms to ply their deadly...
There is no denying the debate around trade in rhino horn and elephant ivory has polarised the conservation community in South Africa like never before. And with so many...
On 20 April, approximately 80kg of rhino horn was stolen from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) offices in Nelspruit. Because rhino horn trades in excess of $65,000...
Tourism’s role in combatting the scourge of rhino and elephant poaching was touched on briefly at last week's international conference on the risks of legalizing trade in rhino...
In the scramble to save our rhinos, what generally comes to mind is a mix of camouflage-clad soldiers, high-powered rifles, tracker dogs and deadly force against ruthless...
Ignoring the hard lessons learned by the global conservation community in its battle against ivory poaching will effectively sign a death warrant for Africa’s rhinos. This...
In the wake of France, the USA, China, Philippines, Chad and Ghana, Belgium became the latest country to destroy its stockpile of ivory. On Wednesday at the Palais des...
INTRODUCTION: This report by the Endangered Wildlife Trust represents the summary findings of an investigation to examine the status of compliance monitoring and enforcement of...
Hwange, Zimbabwe – Fresh concerns have been raised over the safety of Zimbabwe’s famous herd of Presidential Elephants after it has emerged that state land bordering on the...
Has a highly suspicious plan to develop an open-cast copper mine in the heart of Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park proved the undoing of the country’s former tourism minister...
INTRODUCTION: In 2010 the Department of Environmental Affairs commissioned a feasibility study to determine the viability of the legalisation of the trade in rhino horn in South...
SUMMARY: Wayne Lotter and Krissie Clark look at how a community in Tanzania have managed to curb elephant poaching in one of the worst impacted areas in Africa. Based in southern...
The enormous donation by US entrepreneur, philanthropist, conservationist and all-round global good-guy Howard G Buffett to help in the battle against rhino poaching has been...
The recently held London Conference on the illegal wildlife trade has made headlines for a number of reasons, not least of which was South Africa’s much criticized decision to...
A report examining international wildlife crime case histories, considering the successes and failures, and highlighting the crucial lessons to be learnt for better future...
The State of the Nation address provided a perfect smokescreen to hide South Africa’s real reasons for not attending last week’s crucial gathering on poaching. The government has...
In London last week, international media scrambled to cover the high-level and much anticipated international conference on illegal wildlife trade. However, there was one notable...
It was Mark Twain who observed that “truth is stranger than fiction”, although some will suggest his shrewd comment on life was lifted directly from the line “Truth is always...
Link to download the report here: http://annamiticus.com/Reports/TroublingTimeline.pdf
London, United Kingdom – Today, heads of state, ministers and officials of around 50 countries convened in London for a summit on illegal wildlife trade. The opening of the...
In a surprise move coinciding with a major conference about elephant poaching in London, the United States government this week announced a total ban on all ivory trade apart...
Dr Jane Goodall travels an average of 300 days a year speaking in venues around the world about the threats facing chimpanzees and other species and biomes. What drives her is...
Paris, France – France is set to crush part of her 17 ton ivory stockpile today, according to the country’s Ecology Ministry. “We are very satisfied that the French state has...
In his rebuttal of my previous story on ivory poaching and some of the hotly debated statistics currently in use by the scientific and academic community when it comes to...
Hoeveel tyd het ons oor voordat Suid-Afrika se goed-bewaarde olifante in die spervuur van ivoorstroping kom? Gerrit Rautenbach kyk na ’n paar kommerwekkende feite. Die feit dat...
In public debates about how to save our rhino, those who advocate ending the ban on trading their horns fail to acknowledge (if you'll excuse the metaphor) the elephant in the...
Geneva, Switzerland – The UN Security Council has just adopted two resolutions that specifically targets illegal wildlife trafficking, especially elephant ivory. The resolutions...
Moet ons weet hoeveel olifante nog in Afrika oor is of moet ons probeer om die vraag na ivoor stop te sit? Gerrit Rautenbach kyk hoe daar met die voortbestaan van Afrika se...
Hong Kong, China – There is some good news in the elephant ivory saga. Following mainland China’s recent destruction of 6 tons of illegal ivory, Hong Kong has announced a...
In March last year, the CITES Standing Committee singled out 8 countries most heavily implicated in the illegal trade of ivory. Vilified by the media as The Gang of Eight, three...
INTRODUCTION Aerial survey was conducted in the Ruaha-Rungwa ecosystem during the dry season of 2013 (October 28th through November 7th, 2013). The census covered an area...
Cape Town, South Africa – Rhino poaching in South Africa has reached record levels in 2013 thanks primarily to an increase in the demand for rhino horn in Asia, especially...
Those that oppose the legalization of trade in rhino horn as the panacea for the continent's rhino poaching crisis have long cautioned against the use of simplistic economic...
Elephants need far greater ranges than any other land animals. But attempts to make space for them in Southern Africa are being thwarted by greed and bullets. By DON PINNOCK. In...
SUMMARY Poaching of rhinos in Southern Africa has increased dramatically in recent years. There is considerable debate within policy circles and the conservation movement as to...
In the wake of the Elephant Summit held in Botswana in early December where urgent measures to halt the rampant illegal ivory trade were adopted, one is left asking if it is...
In 2011 tourism contributed R83,4-billion to South Africa’s GDP and last year more than 9-million tourists splashed out R76,4-billion across the country. As a major economic...
ABSTRACT Trade in ivory is banned under CITES in an effort to protect the African elephant. The trade ban is supported by some range states, most notably Kenya, because they see...
Do we have to know how many elephants there are in Africa to combat the scourge of ivory poaching? It’s a loaded question and one for which there is no easy answer. The future of...
After a relatively stable period, the last three years have seen an unprecedented spate in the illegal trafficking of ivory. It has been argued the threat is so severe that...
Hans Vermaak’s lamentation of the demise of trophy hunting in Botswana (Farmer’s Weekly 22 November 2013) and profound concern for the future of “sustainable utilisation” of...
Gonarezhou_National_Park_Aerial_Survey_report_2013
The growth in the illegal trade in ivory and the involvement of Chinese citizens is a cause of major concern both internationally and in China. In late October 2013, customs...
Gaborone, Botswana – The first ever summit focusing exclusively on the escalating illicit trade of African elephant ivory convened on the 2nd and 3rd December in Gaborone,...
Elephants need far greater ranges than any other land animals. But attempts to make space for them in Southern Africa is being thwarted by greed and bullets. In the dry end of a...
How many elephants are there in Africa? We don't know for sure. But, in the way that murder is always a more reliable statistic because there's a body to count, we can arrive at...
Toe die wêreld hier nog jonk was en die horison wyd en oop, sing Johannes Kerkorrel in Halala Afrika en wat ’n mens met sekerheid oor daardie tyd kan sê is dat Afrika se wye...
Introduction The IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) works with the two CITES-mandated elephant monitoring systems: the programme for Monitoring the Illegal...
In the piece recently published in The Ngami Times titled ‘A missed opportunity on elephants’ it’s patently clear that the author has completely missed the point on every level....
South African National Parks (SANParks) has been warned that the scourge of ivory poaching currently affecting the rest of Africa is likely to hit South Africa in 2014 according...
Die oneindige slagting van olifante het nou te ver gegaan. ’n Noodberaad van al 11 Afrika se olifantlande gaan op 2 Desember grootkoppe bymekaar...
Hwange is one of Africa's finest national parks where, at the right time of year, elephants stream into waterholes in their hundreds. But the recent mass poisoning of elephants...
Against the backdrop of an ever-escalating attack on Africa's wildlife and the particularly alarming increase in ivory poaching, the International Union of Nature Conservation...
The African elephant is the world’s biggest land mammal; walking the earth at a dignified pace, the elephant has earned its place in the folklore and legend of many cultures....
Several African Heads of State will be among delegates at a three-day African Elephant Summit in Botswana next month. They will be asked to agree on and commit to a set of urgent...
Illegal poaching has caused populations of African elephants to plummet. Earth's largest land mammal is doomed to extinction in the wild unless demand for ivory is reduced and...
Ceratotherium simum simum (Reference Number: Cer_sim_Aug2012) Summary of findings The South African population of Ceratotherium simum simum (white rhinoceros) is included in...
An emergency summit on the illegal ivory trade will take place in Botswana from December 2 in an urgent attempt to halt the slaughter of Africa's elephants. On average, an...
There is no doubt that Sub-Saharan Africa faces great challenges in the conservation of wild animals, especially in relation to big game such as elephant and rhinoceros. One...
Key decision-making abilities [of large brained mammal species] that are fundamental to living in complex societies could be significantly altered in the long-term through...
Background IUCN is seriously concerned by the escalating rise over the last three years in poaching of elephants for ivory, which is increasing across the range of the African...
In China the penalty for poaching an elephant is death. In Africa, it is considerably less. The irony in this is that the global trade in illegal ivory is driven, for the most...
In 2006, the Minister for Environment Affairs and Tourism convened a Science Round Table to advise on the different approaches to elephant management in South Africa....
The Elephant Management Plan for 2013-2022 describes the elephant management objectives to be implemented in Kruger National Park. Compiled by Scientific Services and the Kruger...
Do the arguments in favor of a legalized trade in rhino horn stand up to basic scrutiny? Let’s take a look at the nine most common myths perpetuated by rhino horn trade...
We have been incorporating elephants into our lives since humans first became…well…humans. The earliest known San rock paintings depict elephants, so do the cave paintings...
Five tonnes of illicit trinkets to go under the crusher, but legal muddles still allow US citizens to trade in ivory. Behind the worldwide outcry about rhino poaching is another...
Despite the CITES Treaty of 1989, which banned the global trade in ivory and rhino horn, the illegal business of killing elephants and maiming rhinos continues. Following a three...
A recent report on Transnational Organized Crime in East Africa confirms the shocking statistics pertaining to the elephant poaching crisis in Tanzania and Kenya. Produced by...
Simply put, habitat destruction occurs when functioning natural habitats or ecosystems are degraded to the extent that they can no longer support the biodiversity present. And as...
Research published by the pro-‐hunting International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, supported by other authors, finds...
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) remains concerned that any more ‘legal’ sales or discussion of ‘legal’ sales of ivory will further stimulate the ivory market,...
Regoor die wereld vier mense wat omgee op 12 Augustus die vader van die aarde se diere, die olifant. ‘n Eeu terug was daar vier miljoen in Afrika en Asie. Hierdie syfer is nou...
The African elephant is facing its gravest crisis since the 1980s when between 600 000 and 800 000 animals were killed in a poaching spree. Surveys and data gathered by...
The current plight of Africa's rhino population, as disturbing as it is, pales in comparison to a much less widely reported massacre of more staggering proportions. In 1980 there...
In 1989, after two decades in which the world’s elephant population was halved, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned...
On World Elephant Day we are reminded that poaching is a growing concern across much of Africa. Though attempts at working together to end poaching are being made, Don Pinnock...
Today marks the beginning of a new struggle. A large section of South Africans are in grave and mortal danger. Our elephants are staring down thousands of high velocity,...
The trophy hunting industry’s dismissal of its opponents as ‘animal rightists’ is just one of several misconceptions that do it no favours, says Ian Michler. It should perhaps be...
China giving elephants a one-way ticket to extinction “Unless Western and African nations can turn things around fast, to protect the 400,000 or so left, then the elephants of...
Two legal sales of ivory stockpiles have failed to stem the flow of illegal ivory to East Asia, especially to China. In fact, the opposite has occurred, with the sales...
This is the fifth update on the status of the African elephant produced under the aegis of the African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission...
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM No. 251 29 February 2008 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: BIODIVERSITY ACT, 2004 (ACT NO. 10 OF 2004) NATIONAL NORMS AND...
Personal opinion, hearsay, anecdotes and individual interpretations of research findings all too often dominate heated debates on elephant management. General statements such as...
The African elephant, the largest remaining land mammal on the planet, is facing the greatest crisis in decades. Reports of mass elephant killings in the media vividly illustrate...
An unprecedented surge in ivory seizures occurred in 2011. Media reported that 5,259 elephant tusks were seized worldwide in that year alone, representing the lives of at least...
This document constructs a summary of information needs that the application of the Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa (DEAT 2008) generated. The...
The roads to environmental infamy are not easy to follow. On a bumpy dirt track among rickety stilted houses near the Mekong River in Laos there’s a compound surrounded by...
The birth of an elephant is a spectacular occasion. Grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and cousins crowd around the new arrival and its dazed mother, trumpeting and stamping and...
It may come as something of a shock to those of us who’ve visited the penguin colonies just outside Cape Town to learn that these endearing birds face a daily battle for...
The world’s largest land animal – with a brain bigger than ours and similar family values – has been worshipped as a god, hunted for its ivory, feared for its bravery and has...
In Zambia’s newest national park, on the outskirts of its capital Lusaka, live more than 200 sable antelope. Coralled in condi- tions that are far from ideal, the animals have...
