HWANGE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s government recently concluded a conference to attempt to rally international support for the sale of its ivory stockpile. It argues that selling some of the 136 metric tons of elephant ivory and rhino horn that it’s holding — mostly from animals that died of natural causes — could fund its conservation […]
Tag: forest elephants
Ivory from at least 150 poached elephants seized in the DRC raid
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have seized 2 metric tons of ivory in the city of Lubumbashi, a hub for ivory trafficking. The May 14 seizure is one of the largest in recent years, according to Adams Cassinga, who heads Conserv Congo, an NGO that fights wildlife trafficking and which took part in […]
Deforestation intensifies in northern DRC protected areas
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) contains the bulk of Africa’s humid rainforest. But forests that were once dense, impenetrable and continuous are increasingly fractured by deforestation. New satellite data from the University of Maryland (UMD) show the country – particularly its northern portion – may be in for another rocky year in 2021. […]
Africa’s forest elephant has been largely overlooked. Now we need to fight for it
Science and conservation politics have finally agreed that Africa is home to two elephant species: the savanna and forest elephant. The debate lasted about two decades, with the politics of elephant conservation and the ivory trade delaying the decision, but the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has finally concluded its evaluation. Africa’s most […]
Elephants, lions and leopards: 13 countries where rich people hunt endangered animals
I ran into some Americans having an issue at customs at the airport in Lusaka, Zambia, last summer. Craig and Amy (last names withheld), from Western Michigan, and two friends were in the country to go hunting and were stuck at customs until the rifles and crossbows they brought from home were cleared. “We won […]
Microsoft founder funds Africa-wide elephant survey to measure ivory poachers’ toll
Beginning next year, light planes and helicopters will undertake the first ever continent-wide aerial survey of Africa’s vanishing elephant populations. The hugely ambitious initiative, which will count elephant herds in 13 countries, is being funded by Microsoft founder, Paul Allen, through his Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The new survey, which is estimated to cost […]
Lord’s Resistance Army funded by elephant poaching, report finds
The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is using lucrative elephant poaching for ivory to fund its activities, according to a report published on Tuesday. Eyewitness accounts from park rangers, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) escapees and recent senior defectors report that the fugitive warlord Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes […]
Emergency: large number of elephants being poached in the Central African Republic (warning: graphic image)
WWF and the Wildlife Conversation Society (WCS) are issuing an immediate call for action as they report that poachers are killing sizable numbers of forest elephants near the Dzanga-Sangha protected areas in the Central African Republic (CAR). The two large conservation groups have evacuated their staff from the area after a government coup, but local […]