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…
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…
An ancient Egyptian raptor mummy from Iziko Museums of South Africa in Cape Town has yielded a world first when researchers discovered the remains of at least two house mice and a small sparrow in its stomach. The discovery was made possible through digital 3D X-ray imaging at the CT scanner facility at Stellenbosch University….
Last Tuesday two brothers were fined MK2.5 million ($5,500) each for trafficking 2.6 tonnes of ivory by the High Court of Malawi. Patrick and Chancy Kaunda pleaded guilty to charges of ivory trafficking and money laundering and chose to pay the fine instead of serving the 7 year jail term. ‘To say we were disappointed…
Cecil the lion is dead, killed illegally in Zimbabwe by Walter Palmer, an American dentist and recreational big-game hunter who paid about $55,000 for the privilege. The details of Cecil’s killing are disturbing — and they’re important for understanding why this has become such a controversy. The majestic lion was lured out of a national…