MANILA — Knowledge of the Philippine pangolin, the only pangolin species in the country, is scant. Sightings of the animal are rarer still. But unlike other pangolin species around the world that teeter on the brink of extinction, a new study suggests that with the appropriate conservation measures, the Philippines’ endemic pangolin still has a […]
Tag: critically endangered species
Pollution, water cuts strengthen calls for environmental law reform in Malaysia
In September 2020, more than a million households in Malaysia’s densely populated Klang Valley suffered extended water cuts after illegal chemical dumping debilitated the region’s aging water purification systems. In the midst of the pandemic, residents donned masks and lined up to fill buckets with water. A month later, before courts could identify and charge […]
Two new Javan rhino calves are spotted in the species’ last holdout
JAKARTA — Conservationists in Indonesia have reported the presence of two newborn Javan rhinoceros calves in the only place on Earth where the critically endangered species is still found, bringing its total population to 74. The calves — a female and a male that conservation officials have named Helen and Luther — were spotted with […]
French couple paid $7,000 for tiger cub they thought was Savannah cat
No wonder they were purr-plexed. A couple in France thought they bought a special kitty — only to discover they had taken a tiger cub home, according to a report. The unidentified couple from Le Havre told police they stumbled across an online ad two years ago for a Savannah cat, which is a cross between […]
Taxidermist is jailed for 56 weeks for illegally trading rhino horns and tiger teeth after photos of him posing next to his animal trophy collection at his parents’ home sparked probe
A ‘brazen’ taxidermist has been locked up for the second time after admitting illegally trading black rhino horns and tiger skulls. Aaron Halstead, from Burnley, Lancashire, was handed a 56 week jail term after using false documents to sell rhino horns to ‘rich’ buyers in China for £63,000. The 29-year-old had also illegally acquired tiger […]
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 […]
For tool-wielding chimps of Ebo Forest, logging plan is a ‘death sentence’
Fifteen years ago, Ekwoge Abwe was trekking through Ebo Forest in Cameroon when he heard something cracking in the distance. He scanned the forest, searching for the source of the sound. “One of my local assistants said, ‘Those are chimpanzees cracking nuts,’” Abwe, a biologist, postdoctoral fellow at San Diego Zoo Global and manager of […]
Watchdog Accuses Trump’s NOAA of ‘Choosing Extinction’ for Right Whales by Hiding Scientific Evidence
As the North Atlantic right whale was placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of critically endangered species Thursday, environmental protection groups accusing the U.S. government of bowing to fishing and fossil fuel industry pressure to downplay the threat and failing to enact common-sense restrictions to protect the animals. Only 400 right […]