More than 70% of Africa’s national parks have been affected by war in recent decades, and wildlife has suffered as a result. That’s according to a new study by researchers from Yale and Princeton universities, which looked at data on 253 populations of large herbivores from 126 protected areas in 19 countries across the continent….
Why is the illicit rhino horn trade escalating? In South Africa, domestic trade of rhinoceros horn, forbidden since 2008, is about to become legal again. On April 7 2017, a court effectively overturned the national ban. This controversial move was welcomed by commercial rhino breeders, who argue that legalising safe, sustainable horn removal from living…
Hunting is a major driver of biodiversity loss, but a systematic large-scale estimate of hunting-induced defaunation was lacking until now. In a new study published in Science, an international team of ecologists and environmental scientists warns that bird and mammal populations decline sharply in zones of 7 to 40 kilometers around villages and roads where…
I’m a Japanese woman married to a British diplomat. We keep moving places every 3 to 4 years and currently live in Malawi after staying four years in Kenya. Since our Kenya days, we’ve visited a number of national parks and game reserves in Kenya, Zambia and South Africa to appreciate rich African wildlife. The…
HONOLULU, Aug. 31, 2016 – The alarming results of the Great Elephant Census (GEC), the first-ever Africa-wide survey of savanna elephants, were announced on Wednesday at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress by Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc.. The census shows a decline of 30 percent in African savanna elephant…
A heinous crime: cowardly, from start to finish. Capt. Roger Gower, 37, a British pilot, was shot dead as he flew a helicopter during a co-ordinated effort with Tanzanian conservationists tracking elephant poachers on 29th January this year. He was flying low whilst investigating the slaughter of three elephants when he was hit. It was…
Dedicating 56 years of his life to animal welfare and conservation, South African vet Hymie Ebedes became world-renowned for his expertise and pioneering work across not only the African continent, but also in countries such as China, Israel, Australia and Spain. Therefore, the 24th November 2015 will not just be the day a family unite…
I’ll never forget the first time I saw an elephant in the wild. It was in Kruger National Park, north east of Johannesburg, in 2006. On a tour bus of 14, I was by far the loudest as we trundled round a corner, on sandy terrain and almost ran into it. A magnificent beast, its…
Bill Laurance, James Cook University Africa’s natural environments and spectacular wildlife are about to face their biggest challenge ever. In a paper published today in Current Biology, my colleagues and I assess the dramatic environmental changes that will be driven by an infrastructure-expansion scheme so sweeping in scope, it is dwarfing anything the Earth’s biggest…
The planned destruction of 2.6 tonnes of ivory was blocked yesterday by Tanzanian authorities who argued that the tusks were needed as evidence for prosecution of suspected poachers. The ivory in question had been seized by Malawi Revenue Authority in 2013 from two wildlife traffickers, Patrick and Chauncy Kaunda, and the High Court of…