Elephant deaths trigger Kenyan call for Tanzania to curb hunts
Amboseli, Kenya Reuters In the rolling grasslands of the Amboseli wildlife park, conservationists fret about an emerging threat to Kenyan elephants that are crucial to its tourism business: licensed hunters across the border in Tanzania. The two East African neighbours manage elephant herds differently. Tanzania issues some trophy hunting licences to wealthy sport hunters every […]
Snapshot: Elephants in Botswana
See BIRGER STRAHL’s image… Via Unsplash Elephants in Botswana
StrangeSights: A Christmas (tree) present for elephants; so cold in Finland even boiling water freezes, and, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un turns 40. Maybe…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Rhino, elephant numbers rising in Uganda after years of poaching – agency
Kampala, Uganda Reuters The number of endangered elephants, rhinos and other animals in Uganda’s reserves is steadily improving, reversing years of declines caused by poachers, traffickers and conflict, a state-run wildlife agency said on Thursday. The population of northern white and eastern black rhinos, that was wiped out in the early 1980s by people hunting […]
Streaming to survive: Thailand’s out-of-work elephants in crisis
Surin, ThailandReuters In the north-eastern village of Ban Ta Klang in Thailand, Siriporn Sapmak starts her day by doing a livestream of her two elephants on social media to raise money to survive. The 23-year old, who has been taking care of elephants since she was in school, points her phone to the animals as she feeds them […]
“Occupied and empowered”: Zimbabwe’s women-only rangers fight poachers and poverty
FARAI SHAWN MATIASHE, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports that the Akashinga unit offers a rare chance for poor and marginalised women, like school drop outs and abuse survivors, to build a career and protect nature…
China’s wild elephants head to safety after long trek
Shanghai, ChinaReuters Fourteen wild elephants are heading south towards their protected habitat in south-west China’s Yunnan province following a 1,300-kilometre trek that captured the public’s imagination, provincial officials said late on Monday. Wildlife protection officials told a press briefing the elephants safely crossed a bridge over the Yuan River, returning south towards a nature reserve […]
Essay: Africa’s two elephant species are both endangered, due to poaching and habitat loss
In an article first published on The Conversation, GEORGE WITTEMYER, a member of a team that recently reviewed the status of African elephants for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, looks at what they found…
POSTCARDS: HOW A ‘BEEHIVE FENCE’ IS HELPING INDIANS SLEEP BETTER AT NIGHT
K RAJENDRAN reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation on how a problem with elephants has been overcome through the innovative use of bees…