In a remote slice of Triunfo do Xingu, deep in Brazil’s northern Pará state, swaths of lush forest have been engulfed by flames in recent days. In another stretch to the north, a patch of untouched jungle has been almost entirely cleared this year. In countless other parts of this vast protected region, the Amazon […]
Tag: coronavirus
Fires in the Pantanal: ‘We are facing a scenario now that is catastrophic’
A canopy of thick smoke blanketed a vast patch of Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands, stretching as far as the eye could see. Underneath, flames were engulfing the yellowed grasslands of the Pantanal Matogrossense National Park, parched by weeks of drought. Fed by gusty winds, the fire had already been burning for days and showed no signs […]
Killer of Rafiki, Uganda’s rare silverback mountain gorilla, jailed
The killer of one of Uganda’s best known mountain gorillas, Rafiki, has been jailed for 11 years. Felix Byamukama pleaded guilty to illegally entering a protected area and killing a gorilla. Byamukama had said the gorilla attacked him and he killed Rafiki in self defence, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). Mountain gorillas are […]
Brazilian Amazon drained of millions of wild animals by criminal networks: Report
The Brazilian Amazon is hemorrhaging illegally traded wildlife according to a new report released Monday. Each year, thousands of silver-voiced saffron finches and other songbirds, along with rare macaws and parrots, are captured, trafficked and sold as pets. Some are auctioned as future contestants in songbird contests. Others are exported around the globe. Fish bound […]
British birds’ long-distance feats and longevity are revealed
Flying around the world may have become an unappealing prospect or a distant dream for most people during the coronavirus crisis. If you are a Manx shearwater, however, there is no limit to your long-distance travel, and one of these small seabirds from the Hebridean isle of Rùm was last year clocked journeying more than […]
A million mink culled in Netherlands and Spain amid Covid-19 fur farming havoc
Spain has ordered the culling of nearly 100,000 mink on a farm and an estimated one million mink have already been culled on Dutch fur farms, as coronavirus wreaks havoc in the European fur farming industry. Joaquin Olona, agriculture minister for the north-eastern Aragon region, said the cull would involve the slaughter of 92,700 mink […]
Team Lioness: the Kenyan women rangers risking their lives for wildlife
Her black boots brushing through swathes of yellow-brown bush, 24-year-old Purity Amleset is feeling tense. But fear is just part of the job, she says, as she patrols her section of the 147,000-hectare (363,000-acre) community land around Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, a Unesco-designated biosphere reserve. Amleset, pictured, is one of eight rangers in the all-female […]
Rhinos Are Also Coronavirus Victims
As Africa’s national parks and game reserves have emptied of tourists and reduced ranger patrols amid the coronavirus pandemic, conservationists say a troubling trend has taken root. Opportunistic poachers, taking advantage of the lull, are maiming and killing rhinos and other endangered creatures in areas usually considered safe from such attacks ― and there are […]