Apart from poaching and habitat loss, climate change-induced droughts have been threatening the rhino population in Africa, pointed out a new report. On the other hand, climate disruptions in Asia can lead to the deaths of rhinos. Increased precipitation, longer monsoons and seasonal floods are already resulting in stranding, drowning …
A senior State Department official said on Tuesday the US has no evidence that violent extremist groups such as Al-Shabaab are financing their operations through elephant poaching. The comments by Mr Richard Glenn, the department's top monitor of wildlife trafficking and transnational crime in Africa, contradict an earlier assertion by …
There’s a new strategy to combat the illegal wildlife trade in Africa, and it relies on local communities and their role in curbing elephant, rhino and other wildlife trafficking. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, in partnership with the International Institute for International Development (IIED), rolled out a toolkit …
Maputo — The Mozambican government plans to invest, over the next five years, 100 million US dollars in building infrastructures and stimulating conservation agriculture in those districts where national parks and reserves are located. The Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, announced this intention on Wednesday at …
International conservationists in Madagascar have been treating more than 10 000 critically endangered radiated tortoises that were seized from traffickers who had crammed them into a home with no access to food or water. The Turtle Survival Alliance and other groups are caring for the tortoises at a wildlife facility …
The incident happened at around 6.30pm, where security at the sanctuary heard gunshots and rushed towards the direction of the sounds but failed to see the suspected poachers. “A thorough search, both aerial and ground was conducted on first light where carcasses of two adult rhinos and a calf were …
While poaching and wildlife crime are on the rise with high-tech criminals posing new threats online, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), a Central wildlife crime investigation agency, is grappling with lack of staff. Of 109 sanctioned posts, at least 38 are lying vacant. Shockingly, the Bureau, an arm of …
We present a range-wide assessment of sympatric western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla and central chimpanzees Pan troglodytes troglodytes using the largest survey data set ever assembled for these taxa: 59 sites in five countries surveyed between 2003 and 2013, totaling 61,000 person-days of fieldwork. We used spatial modeling to …
Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and conservationist Jane Goodall have joined a list of famous names who have signed an open letter to South Africa's government calling for an end to rhino poaching. More than 1,000 rhinos were killed across the country in 2017 for the fifth year running. The international …
Anti-trafficking authorities have seized 513 kilograms (1,131 pounds) of pangolin scales at Cotonou airport in the West African country of Benin, the Beninese newspaper La Nouvelle Tribune reports. The paper reported that three people were arrested on March 19 on their way to Vietnam with 23 bags of scales, likely …
The elephant staggered and keeled over in the tall grass in southern Tanzania, where some of the world's worst poaching has happened. It wasn't a killer who targeted her but a conservation official, immobilising her with a dart containing drugs. Soon she was snoring loudly, and they propped open her …
Law enforcement officials in Cameroon say investigations continue following a large discovery of illegal wildlife products hidden in shipping containers bound for China. At least 1,000 kilograms of pangolin scales and several hundred elephant tusks were found April 6, in containers of cocoa that were to be transported to China …
A new TRAFFIC report identifies Uganda as one of the common transit points for the trafficking of wildlife and wildlife products in the Central and East Africa region. Criminal organizations in Uganda are mainly associated with the smuggling of ivory, but in recent years have also been heavily linked to …
Dar es Salaam — In Tanzania, the government, with support from WWF, has launched the country's largest ever elephant collaring effort to protect its dwindling elephant population. With almost 90 per cent of the elephants lost over the last 40 years in the Selous Game Reserve, a World Heritage site, …
The former first lady of Zimbabwe, Grace Mugabe, is suspected by wildlife officials of having smuggled ivory worth millions of dollars. The wife of ex-President Robert Mugabe was once tipped to lead the country. Grace Mugabe, the wife of former Zimbabwean ruler Robert Mugabe, faced accusations on Sunday that she …
The Minister of Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, says the Nigerian Customs Service has intercepted elephant tusks and pangolin, worth about N1.2 billion, between February 15 and March 22. The minister, represented by Shehu Ahmed, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, said this on Thursday in Abuja at a one-day workshop on how to …
The world’s leading e-commerce, technology and social media companies are joining forces in a global effort to stop wildlife traffickers from trading endangered species, a wildlife protection organization said Thursday. The first-ever Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online said it is bringing together companies worldwide in partnership with wildlife …
Populations of forests elephants, which play key roles in maintaining forest habitat, have declined 63 percent in Central Africa since 2001. Without intervention to prevent further losses, 96 percent of the region's forests could undergo major change. Credit: John Poulsen, Duke University Poaching and habitat loss have reduced forest elephant …
Poaching and habitat loss have reduced forest elephant populations in Central Africa by 63 percent since 2001. This widespread killing poses dire consequences not only for the species itself but also for the region’s forests, a new Duke University study finds. “Without intervention to stop poaching, as much as 96 …
An initiative designed to protect environmental defenders around the world from threats, intimidation, harassment and murder was launched Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program. The UN Environmental Rights Initiative was introduced in Geneva with guests on hand including John Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment; …
Three Francophone countries have joined the Elephant Protection Initiative, an Africa-led conservation initiative to eradicate ivory trade and stop the slaughter of the continent’s elephants by poachers. Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Guinea joined the initiative in the course of 2017 — raising the number of signatories to 18. The three …
