Local researchers and wildlife guards say 17 armed elephant poachers have gained access to Dzanga Bai, a famous large clearing and waterfole where up to 200 forest elephants visit daily in the Central African Republic (CAR)’s Dzanga-Ndoki National Park. WWF, which works in the region but has recently evacuated due to rising violence, is calling […]
Tag: wildlife trade
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 […]
Lions for sale: big game hunting combines with lion bone trade to threaten endangered cats
Koos Hermanus would rather not give names to the lions he breeds. So here, behind a 2.4-meter high electric fence, is 1R, a three-and-a-half-year-old male, who consumes 5kg of meat a day and weighs almost 200kg. It will only leave its enclosure once it has been “booked”‘ by a hunter, most of whom are from […]
Bizarre, little-known carnivore sold as illegal pet in Indonesian markets (photo)
Few people have ever heard of the Javan ferret-badger, but that hasn’t stopped this animal – little-known even to scientists – from being sold in open markets in Jakarta according to a new paper in Small Carnivore Conservation. The Javan ferret-badger (Melogale orientalis) is one of five species in the ferret-badger family, which are smaller […]
Civet poop coffee may be threatening wild species
Popularization of the world’s strangest coffee may be imperiling a a suite of small mammals in Indonesia, according to a new study in Small Carnivore Conservation. The coffee, known as kopi luwak (kopi for coffee and luwak for the civet), is made from whole coffee beans that have passed through the guts of the animal […]
Rhino horn madness: over two rhinos killed a day in South Africa
Rhino poachers have killed 232 rhinos during 2013 so far in South Africa, reports Annamiticus, which averages out to 2.1 a day. The country has become a flashpoint for rhino poaching as it holds more rhinos than any other country on Earth. Rhinos are being slaughter for their horns, which are believed to be a […]
Market figures out that geckos don’t cure AIDS, but killing continues
Millions of tokay geckos continue to be traded for traditional medicine, despite waning belief that the colorful lizards are a cure for AIDS, reports a new study from TRAFFIC. The study found that a spike in tokay gecko demand due to rumors that it could cure HIV/AIDS was relatively short-lived, lasting from 2009 and early […]
The Thai ‘honeypots’ used to traffic wild animals out of South Africa: Women pose as hunters with licences to slaughter rhinos
This photograph of a Thai woman sitting on top of a dead rhino with a rifle in hand is a ‘fake hunt’ photo allowing poachers to get away with their illegal wildlife trade, authorities believe. Authorities say that she is one of the women allegedly hired by a Laotian wildlife trafficking gang to pose as […]