The trophy hunting industry is on the wrong side of history, serves the macabre leisure pursuits of a handful of the wealthy elite and yet, bizarrely, we environment writers are...
The massacre of nature’s ‘architects’
This encyclopaedic book sends out a powerful message to give elephants the highest protection status, writes Elise Tempelhoff. The LAST ELEPHANTS Compiled by Don Pinnock &...
Big cats worldwide threatened by SA lion bone trade
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...
Ivory sales: Fast-track to elephant extinction?
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...
Calling out Ivo Vegter’s fractious fulminations
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...
Markets of Death, Part Three: How China’s taste for wildlife feeds a killing frenzy
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...
Markets of Death, Part Two: Blood Permits – how cheating officials undermine wildlife regulations
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...
Markets of Death, Part One: The Asian end of a grisly business
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....
‘Rhino poaching is a crisis of governance,’ says wildlife expert
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...
‘Mak’ jagluiperd is g’n troetel-cheetah
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...
Onthou die olifante
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...
We could live in a world that has only the Big Three
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...
Elephanticide
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...