South Africa’s Kruger National Park is inviting bids for rhinos under a plan to move 500 of the animals to safety to counter a wave of poaching for their horns, highly prized in some Asian countries as a sign of wealth. In newspaper adverts on Sunday, South African National Parks invited potential buyers to “make […]
Tag: Rhino
Ghostly Duo
A moment of magic in the bush as a Black Rhino cow and her calf approach the nearby waterhole. A storm is brewing and the day is drawing to a close. Every step is weary, and every sound is carefully tuned into with their amazing hearing. We sat very still in our vehicle and watched […]
The Crash of the Rhinos
A group of rhino is called a “Crash”. But this title is about more than that. Rhino numbers are crashing. And crashing terribly fast. Rhino poaching is on a seemingly unstoppable rise on the back of increased demand for their horns in the East (China, Vietnam, etc), where it’s (falsely) believed to have medicinal and […]
Endangered tiger killed in Sumatra
A young Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) was shot and killed by a coffee farmer in Jambi Province. With an estimated 400 individuals left in the wild, the species is Critically Endangered, while habitat loss increasingly forces them into populated areas to search for food. The farmer reported that the tiger, a 4-6 month old […]
POLL: Should animals be trophy hunted to support conservation?
“After a long conversation with the FBI I have decided to temporarily suspend my activity on this page. I want to thank all of you who have commented [on] this important issue of Black Rhino Conservation.” – Corey Knowlton, Feb 3, 2014. This was the last post on Corey Knowlton’s Facebook page. Knowlton is the […]
Gigantic Rats Will Rule the Earth When Other Animals Go Extinct
University of Leicester academic predicts rats will continue to grow and fill a ‘significant chunk’ of Earth’s emptying ecospace. When Reggae band UB40 famously asked, ‘There’s a rat in my kitchen what am I going to do?” in their 1986 hit single, they were looking for a practical solution to rid them of a pesky […]
Elephants Moved Across Africa in Risky Operation
Originally deemed as an impossible task, staff with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) have successfully transported four wild African forest elephants across the Ivory Coast (Cote D’Ivoire). The challenging relocation was conducted to relieve growing conflict between the large animals and villagers in Daloa, a town near the elephants’ home in Marahoue National […]
More than 1,000 rhinos killed in South Africa in 2013
More than 1,000 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year at a record-breaking rate that marked a jump of 50% on the year before. The environment ministry said 1,004 animals were killed in 2013, up from 668 in 2012 and just 13 in 2007, as the poaching crisis escalated. Most of the killing was […]