Howick, SOUTH AFRICA – The first of at least five new “vulture safe zones” in Southern Africa are about to take off as private landowners and other partners join the battle to save Africa’s imperilled carrion clean-up birds. Africa’s vulture populations have declined by an average of 62 percent over the last three decades– with […]
Author: Supertrooper
Founder and Executive Editor
Country diary: farmed pheasants are little more than free-range livestock
Out of breath and panting heavily, I breasted the summit of the Lion’s Haunch, paused, then turned, slowly. A stiff pull up a frozen path through low gorse had brought me to the lesser peak of Arthur’s Seat, the extinct volcano that looms above Edinburgh. I stopped to feast on the view, my gaze sweeping […]
WWF’s first jaguar collaring mission reveals flourishing population on Amazonian island
WWF has collaborated with partners to successfully tag three wild jaguars with special collars, allowing scientists to better monitor and understand the behaviour of this iconic species. The mission, part-funded by WWF-UK and undertaken by WWF-Brazil, theInstituto Onça-PintadaandInstituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, took place on a protected Amazonian island off the coast of […]
Results of the Best Photo of the Month November 2019
We are delighted to announce the results of our latest photo competition. Alan de Witt wins First Prize for his outstanding image ‘What a Catch’. Wim Moons wins Second Prize with ‘Malachite Kingfishers’. Third Prize goes to Diane Stuckey for her image ‘The Rare Occasion of Twin Elephants’. Please give kudos to the photographers by leaving […]
Poachers butcher a third lion pride this month in South Africa, as a male and four lionesses are poisoned then hacked into pieces so their parts can be used in black magic potions
A third lion pride has been brutally butchered in a month in South Africa by evil poachers who hacked off their heads and paws and stole them to be used to make black magic potions. Distraught owner Menno Parsons, 46, broke the news that his male lion Tau, 10, and four lionesses had been fed […]
Heat stress is causing desert bird populations to collapse
As the Mojave Desert in California and Nevada becomes hotter and drier, birds need more water to stay cool. Species that can’t get enough water are rapidly declining in this iconic desert ecosystem, ecologists reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Some birds may die solely from overheating, but a more […]
Botswana to Start Issuing Trophy Hunting Licenses in December
GABORONE – Botswana’s president announced on Monday the government will by December start issuing trophy hunting licences after it controversially scrapped a five-year ban on the practice, and angered international conservationists. President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s government in May removed the moratorium, just a year after he succeeded Ian Khama, an avid environmentalist, who had introduced a […]
Great auk extinction: Humans wiped out giant seabird
“The great auk will always hold a place in my heart,” Dr Jessica Thomas says.The Swansea-based scientist spent years piecing together an ancient DNA puzzle that suggests hunting by humans caused this giant seabird’s demise. Dr Thomas studied bone and tissue samples from 41 museum specimens during a PhD at both Bangor and Copenhagen University.The […]