In one of the largest scale translocations ever, some 500 African elephants are currently being moved to what is believed to be a safer habitat in Malawi. Elephants are being shot by tranquilizer darts, then retrieved by cranes and recovery trucks. The elephants are then awoken in special “wake-up crates” and then transported 450 kilometers […]
Tag: Elephant
POLL: Should the EU support a total ban on the ivory trade?
Wildlife officials in nearly 30 African states say they are appalled by an EU decision to oppose a comprehensive global ban on the ivory trade. In a position paper released on 1 July, the European commission said that rather than an all-encompassing ban it would be better to encourage countries with growing elephant numbers to […]
How Chili Condoms and Firecrackers Can Help Save Elephants
Fill a condom with chili powder. Mix in small rocks and sand for weight. Add a firecracker for a bang. Launch condom at elephant. Save elephant’s life. All it takes is one elephant rumbling through a field to destroy a family’s food supply for an entire year, so it’s no surprise that a farmer might […]
One Expert’s Better Way to Save Elephants
Accompanying Kenya’s widely-publicized ivory bonfire last April were announcements that the country’s wildlife service was moving toward “intelligence-based conservation,” with more emphasis on the pursuit of traffickers and smugglers rather than on the poachers who actually do the killing. “We know there is limitless supply of poor guys on the ground who are willing to […]
POLL: Should Zimbabwe and Namibia be allowed to sell their ivory stockpiles?
A huge legal sale of ivory intended to cut elephant poaching instead catastrophically backfired by dramatically increasing elephant deaths, according to new research. The revelation comes just months before a decision on whether to permit another legal sale and against a backdrop of more African elephants being killed for ivory than are being born. In […]
Elephants could vanish from one of Africa’s key reserves within six years
Elephants could disappear from one of Africa’s most important wildlife reserves within six years unless industrial scale poaching is stopped and mining is brought under control, the WWF has said. Selous national park, a world heritage site in southern Tanzania, has lost an average of almost 2,500 elephants a year since the 1970s. But it […]
African Elephants On Their Way to U.S. Zoos, Despite Protests
It’s a done deal. Seventeen elephants from Swaziland are today en route to three U.S. zoos despite an attempt by an animal welfare group to stop the controversial move. The elephants are bound for the Dallas Zoo, the Sedgwick County Zoo, in Wichita, Kansas, and the Henry Doorly Zoo, in Omaha, Nebraska. And the nonprofit […]
POLL: Should US zoos be allowed to import wild elephants from Africa?
Under intense criticism from animal welfare groups and others—and now facing a lawsuit—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently approved a permit allowing three U.S. zoos to import 18 wild elephants from Swaziland. The elephants—3 males and 15 females ranging from 6 to 25 years old—will go to the Dallas Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, […]