Time is fast running out for the rhinoceros. In their final stronghold of South Africa, rampant poaching for horn threatens to wipe out the last 20,000 southern white rhinos in less than two decades. Among conservation scientists, there is deep uncertainty over how best to respond to the poaching crisis. Many express reserved support for the […]
Tag: endangered
POLL: Could a referendum to ban ivory sales be a model for other countries?
Voters in Washington state sent a strong message to the world on November 3 when they passed the country’s first ever comprehensive state ban on commerce in endangered animal species. The Washington Animal Trafficking Initiative 1401 (I-1401) prohibits the purchase, sale, and distribution of ten endangered species groups and their parts. It includes not only […]
POLL: Should the EU ban the import of lion hunt trophies?
France has banned the import of lion heads, paws and skins as hunters’ trophies, nearly four months after the killing of Zimbabwe’s most famous lion by an American trophy hunter sparked international outrage. In a letter to the actor and animals rights activist Brigitte Bardot, France’s environment minister, Ségolène Royal, said that she had instructed […]
POLL: Is Trophy Hunting Helping Save African Elephants?
African elephants are in trouble. Their numbers have fallen from as many as ten million a hundred years ago to as few as 400,000 today. Recent losses are largely from poaching for the illegal ivory trade (some 30,000 elephants a year), but also because of the shrinking habitat for elephants, as people open up land […]
Chinese Giant Salamander: millions farmed, nearly extinct in the wild
The world’s largest amphibian sounds like a work of fiction: virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs, and reportedly growing as long as a man, the Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus) is clinging to survival in the wild in a few fast-flowing rivers scattered across the highlands of China. Meanwhile, the aquaculture industry is […]
POLL: Should the trade in endangered wildlife species be banned?
Wildlife traffickers are exploiting a legal grey area to trade in highly lucrative protected lizard species at the world’s biggest reptile fair, a Guardian investigation has discovered. Endangered animals from Latin America, New Zealand and south-east Asia are being offered for sale at prices of up to €5,000 (£3,200) a pair on the sidelines of […]
Video: Meet the Dog Trained to Take Down Poachers
Diego is an anti-poaching dog working for the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, a critical sanctuary for endangered rhinos in Africa and the home of the last male northern white rhino. In this striking short film by Tom Aveling, we get a dog’s-eye view of the obstacles Diego tackles in his training: scaling cliffs, leaping […]
Puffins and turtle doves now as endangered as African Elephant
Puffins and turtle doves are now as endangered as the African Elephant and have been added to a list of animals most at risk of extinction. The much loved British birds have seen numbers plummet in recent years because of harsh winters, and are now under greater threat than even creatures like the humpback whale. […]