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....
Trade rings death knell for Africa’s elephant
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...
Debunking the myth that a legal trade will solve the rhino horn crisis: A system dynamics model for market demand
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...
Trophy hunting stronghold on Africa’s wildlife seeping across to SA
The world's wealthiest hunting organization, Safari Club International (SCI) and professional hunting groups, met behind closed doors with the South African Department of...
How to Save Elephants: Obliterate Ivory Stockpiles Simultaneously
To save African elephants from extinction, “range states should put their ivory stockpiles beyond commercial use immediately and simultaneously,” says South African economist...
World Elephant Day: Study calls for domestic trade bans and projects to cut demand for ivory
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...
Trophy hunting fuels Asian lion bone trade
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...
Professional hunters to reconsider lion hunting policy
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...
Unsavoury practices in canned hunting industry prompt government concern
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...
Rhino horn trade central to draft government policy
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...
EU Bans Importation Of Lion Trophies As The World Bank Funds Sport Hunting In Mozambique In An Effort To Stop Poaching
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...
Wildlife crime should be treated like drug trafficking
“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...
Poaching a political problem
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...
Secret panel will decide on future of South Africa’s rhinos
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...
Rhino Trade Panel: Window dressing by the DEA
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...