News Desk Archives - Page 2 of 3

Massive rhino dehorning operation in Balule, Greater Kruger

The entire rhino population of Balule (Greater Kruger) has been dehorned, in a massive operation.

Video: The unintended victims of a hidden killer

The piece of looped wire doesn’t look like much. But place this wire in the hands of wildlife poachers, and it becomes one of Africa’s most deadly weapons.

Death row “nuisance” elephant Riff Raff gets a reprieve as judge intervenes to prevent shooting

Wildlife groups say Riff Raff is a victim of human-elephant conflict, call for review of decision that would sentence him to death.

Captive lion breeding is here to stay, says DEA

The Department of Environmental Affairs has rejected the Portfolio Committee’s resolution to end the captive breeding of lions.

New research study looks to empower Namibian communities to champion environmental conservation

A new environmental research and education organisation will work with rural communities in Namibia to promote nature and wildlife conservation.

Luxury lodge closes as loggers move in to make way for dam in Selous Game Reserve

Azura Selous, a luxury game lodge situated along the banks of the Great Ruaha River in the remote Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania, has announced its sudden closure due to the unexpected arrival of loggers in the area.

Botswana government questions elephant survey report by Elephants Without Borders

Botswana’s government has questioned a new report by Elephants Without Borders detailing their 2018 elephant aerial survey.

Namibia culls hyenas to save its wild / feral horses

Shooting hyenas to save wild horses raises heated debate about whether conservation authorities should intervene between endemic wildlife and ‘feral’ animals.

Video: Elephant experts condemn Zimbabwe’s inhumane capture of wild baby elephants for Chinese zoos

Elephant experts condemn Zimbabwe’s inhumane capture of wild baby elephants for Chinese zoos as video emerges showing animals in distress.

Hunting ban in Botswana should be lifted says government committee, and elephants culled

Hunting ban should be lifted and elephants culled, says Botswana’s government committee. Other recommendations include growth of the hunting industry, some animal migration routes closed and human-wildlife conflict strategies implemented.

Researchers discover tiny new frog species in Ethiopia

A new species of puddle frog has just been discovered by researchers on the unexplored and isolated Bibita Mountain in southwestern Ethiopia.

Updated rhino poaching stats – what is not being disclosed – comment from award-winning filmmakers

Award-winning filmmakers Susan Scott and Bonné de Bod comment on the latest rhino poaching statistics released by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

Award-winning STROOP now available via download

Acclaimed South African documentary ‘STROOP’ continues award sweep… and releases on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Vimeo.

Parliament attacks Kruger agreement with neighbouring private reserves

The South African Parliament has strongly criticised South African National Parks for signing a formal agreement on 5th December to ratify a long-standing cooperation arrangement between Kruger National Park and several neighbouring private and community game reserves, which together form an area known as “Greater Kruger”.

First new widow spider species discovered in 29 years

Potentially the largest widow spider in the world has been discovered in the critically endangered sand forest of South Africa.

New Tanzanian reserve declared to protect invaluable forest

A rich forest teeming with unique and endangered wildlife in Tanzania has finally been placed under protection, supported by World Land Trust and other partners.

2 Countries want changes to white rhino CITES listings, to permit trade

Proposed changes in CITES have been released, with Namibia proposing to downlist its population of white rhinos to Appendix II, to allow only international commercial trade in live animals and hunting trophies, and Eswatini seeks to allow unrestricted international commercial trade in all specimens of its white rhino population, which is currently included in Appendix II.

Africa is divided over ivory trade ahead of wildlife meeting

Several African countries with some of the world’s largest elephant populations will push this year for looser controls on legal ivory trade, while another group of countries on the continent says more restrictions are the best way to curb the illegal killing of elephants for their tusks.

World’s rarest duck released back into the wild

A duck thought to be extinct for 15 years has been brought back from the brink and given a new home on a remote lake in Madagascar.

Somaliland wildlife medicine and husbandry: new partnership announced

The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has announced a new international partnership between European and African institutions to enhance Somaliland’s ability to treat and care for confiscated wildlife.

4 Elephants die as mercy mission goes wrong during heatwave

Tragedy as four elephant bulls that were causing havoc in the Gravelotte area in Limpopo die during relocation attempt.

West African giraffe return to Gadabedji after 50 years of absence

Eight West African giraffe travelled over 800 kilometres in 48 hours to be safely re-introduced to the Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve in Niger, after an absence of almost 50 years.

Famous super tusker Tim rescued from certain death

Tim, an icon of Amboseli and one of Africa’s largest and most magnificent elephants, has been rescued from certain death.

Lion bone quota now reduced to 800 skeletons from 1,500

The quota for the lion bone trade has been reduced from 1,500 to 800 lion skeletons, according to a media statement from the DEA.

Big news as Kruger National Park 10-year management plan approved by Minister

South Africa’s Acting Minister of Environmental Affairs Derek Hanekom has officially approved the ground-breaking and visionary 10-year Kruger National Park Management Plan.

Balule responds regarding traumatising elephant hunt incident

Balule Nature Reserve responds to the incident regarding a traumatising elephant hunt.

Illegal collared elephant hunt in Greater Kruger – warden convicted

A warden has been convicted in court after a collared elephant was illegally hunted.

Video: Malawi gains new giraffe population in Majete Wildlife Reserve

Thirteen South African giraffe have been translocated over 2,500 km and safely released into Malawi’s Majete Wildlife Reserve, establishing its first population.

Lake Malawi fish species at risk of extinction

The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has revealed that overfishing is causing fish species in parts of the developing world to decline, with 9% of the 458 fish species assessed in Lake Malawi at high risk of extinction.

Rare conservation win: Mountain gorilla population ticks up

The IUCN has updated the status of mountain gorillas, officially changing them from ‘Critically Endangered’ – the highest level of threat – to ‘Endangered’.

Giraffes are in trouble, says IUCN status update

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is once again drawing attention to the plight of giraffes.

Captive lion breeding and bone trade: MPs call for an end to the practice

The Environmental Affairs Committee has called for a policy and legislative review on captive lion breeding for hunting and lion bone trade.

Good news as China now reverses decision to lift ban on trade in tiger and rhino parts

China has postponed the lifting of a ban on the trade of rhino horn and tiger parts for medicine and other uses, the government said on Monday, after a storm of protest from conservation groups over a plan to water down the decades-old prohibition.

Botswana’s president addresses the issue of game farms and hunting in Botswana

Botswana’s president addresses the issue of game farms and hunting in Botswana.

China lifts ban and legalises tiger bone and rhino horn for medical purposes

China has revised a law on the ban of rhino horn and tiger bone products that would now allow domestic trade and use of the products for scientific, medical and cultural purposes.

SA rhino film wins top awards at US film festivals

The South African feature documentary STROOP – Journey into the Rhino Horn War has won the coveted Best Documentary award at the prestigious San Diego International Film Festival held this past weekend.

Social media’s role in advertising illegal wildlife trade, including cheetah trafficking

Cheetah Conservation Fund data analysis confirms social media role in advertising illegal wildlife trade, including trafficking of cheetahs for illegal pet trade.

DEA announces 2018 rhino and elephant poaching stats to date

The South African Department of Environmental Affairs announces 2018 rhino and elephant poaching stats to date.

Elephant hunting: Botswana initiates month-long consultation process

Botswana initiated on Wednesday a month of public hearings to decide whether to lift the 2014 hunting ban, including elephant hunting.

Skye the lion hunting furore: Parliament wants Kruger NP agreement with private reserves revised

Environmental Affairs committee believes agreement between Kruger National Park and private reserves should be revised.

Video: 500 animals journey from Kruger to Zinave

The past two months saw the translocation of zebra, blue wildebeest and impala from Kruger National Park in South Africa to Zinave National Park in Mozambique. The overall goal is to reintroduce 7,500 game animals in Zinave over the next five years and to date over 1,300 animals have been rewilded to the park.

Elephant poaching: Botswana gov provides context, questions irresponsible reporting

The government of Botswana responds to the recent reports alleging that about 90 elephants were killed recently.

Namibian ‘problem’ lion dies during relocation, remaining five are safe in a private reserve

Tragedy as a Namibian desert-adapted lion dies during relocation. This follows two unsuccessful attempts to relocate six ‘problem’ lions to a national park. The five remaining lions are now safe in a private reserve.

Video: 90 African buffalo welcomed into community conservancy in Zambia

Peace Parks Foundation has presented 90 African buffalo to the communities of the Simalaha Community Conservancy, with an additional 110 buffalo still to be brought in over the next month.

Video: Lions return to Malawi’s Liwonde National Park

African Parks has completed a series of lion translocations as part of wider efforts to restore Malawi’s parks; and for the first time in 20 years, a population of the iconic predators has been re-established in Liwonde National Park.

New survey: Lion breeding industry harming South Africa’s reputation

A nationwide survey has revealed that the majority of South Africans believe the captive lion breeding industry is harming the country’s international reputation.

Update on rhino translocation fiasco: WWF-Kenya admits mistakes were made

WWF-Kenya has admitted that grave mistakes were made in the translocation operation in Kenya which saw 10 out of 11 critically endangered black rhinos die.

Update on rhino translocation fiasco: Tenth black rhino dies, remaining survivor attacked by lions

A tenth endangered black rhino has reportedly died after a botched translocation, according to Kenya’s tourism minister.

200 Elephants to be moved from South Africa to Mozambique

De Beers Group, in partnership with Peace Parks Foundation, has begun to transport 200 elephants across 1,500km from the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve in South Africa to Mozambique.

South Africa’s lion bone export quota set at 1,500 skeletons

The DEA has announced that the new lion bone export quota will allow 1,500 lion skeletons from captive-bred lions to be exported annually from South Africa.

8 Endangered black rhinos die after translocation in Kenya

Eight out of 14 critically endangered black rhinos have died after being moved to a reserve in southern Kenya, wildlife officials have revealed.

Elephants with a purpose

Why did 53 elephants travel more than 1,250 km across three different countries this month? Here’s why.

Death of desert-adapted lion: Namibian minister explains policy and requests understanding

The Namibian Minister of Environment and Tourism has responded to the killing of the male desert-adapted lion, Gretsky (XPL 99).

Investigating South Africa’s wildlife cryptotrade

A casual search of some of South Africa’s biggest online marketplaces shows just how easily endangered wildlife species are reduced to their parts – and how simple it is to sell them online while retaining anonymity.

Video: Lions make a comeback

With wild lions under pressure from so many threats, this is a wonderful story of lions being reintroduced to an area that used to have lions.

Will Zambia’s Luangwa River be dammed? Have your say

Zambia’s wildlife paradise and legendary safari mecca of Luangwa Valley may in future partially function as one giant tap for some of Zambia’s growing water needs. Gone will be the seasonal, natural water cycles that sustain and nurture this incredibly fecund river valley. You see, a sizeable chunk of Luangwa Valley may be dammed in the near future, at Ndevu Gorge

Botswana MP proposes lifting elephant hunting ban

Botswana’s parliament has adopted a motion requesting the government to consider lifting the ban on the hunting of elephants in areas that are not designated as game reserves and national parks.

Rhino breeder John Hume says he is on verge of bankruptcy, appeals for cash

The world’s largest private rhino breeder, John Hume, is on the verge of bankruptcy, leaving questions open as to what will happen to his 1,626 southern white rhinos.

Lion killings: Namibian NGOs respond to questions from abroad about lion management

In light of the recent backlash against Namibia for the death of a desert-adapted lion, Dr Chris Brown, CEO of the Namibia Chamber of Environment, responds to a foreign national’s questions regarding Namibia’s management of lions in the wild.

Guarding Limpopo National Park’s carnivores

A new carnivore protection ranger force, the Limpopo Lion Protection Team, has been trained and deployed – specifically assigned to support the Greater Limpopo Carnivore Programme and tasked with securing known lion ranges from targeted lion poaching.

Gretzky, a desert-adapted lion, shot by Namibian authorities after killing livestock

Gretzky, the iconic Huab River male desert-adapted lion, who sired and established the Ugab Pride has been shot and killed by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) at De Rust Farm.

Mountain gorilla numbers surpass 1,000

The population of mountain gorillas, one of the world’s most endangered species,, has increased by a quarter to over 1,000 individuals since 2010, wildlife authorities said.

Zambia hippo cull via trophy hunting not as high as 2,000, says minister

The Zambian government on Tuesday denied reports that it has authorised the culling of 2,000 hippos in the Luangwa Valley.

Zambia reinstates plan to cull 2,000 hippos

Zambian authorities have overturned their 2016 decision to suspend the culling of up to 2,000 hippos in Luangwa Valley.

Elephant cow with calf saved from snare

An elephant cow, with a 2-week-old baby in tow, needed all the help she could get after sustaining a serious injury from a poaching snare.

Ranger forces strengthened in Mozambique

On 16 May 2018, 39 recruits, of which three are women, celebrated their graduation as rangers during a passing out parade held in the Limpopo National Park, Mozambique. This follows the successful completion of a gruelling eight-week ranger training course presented by the Southern African Wildlife College, that prepared the new recruits for their stand against wildlife crime in the various conservation areas to which they will soon be deployed.

Tanzania invites bids for logging in Selous to pave way for huge hydropower plant

The Tanzania Forest Services (TFS) has invited tenders for large-scale logging in the Selous Game Reserve, a world-renowned wildlife area, where it plans to construct a large hydropower plant.

Kenya to fast-track laws to make wildlife killing capital offence

Kenya will fast-track laws to make wildlife poaching a capital offence as part of the country’s bid to conserve flora and fauna.

Attacks by captive carnivores – the stats revealed in open letter to minister

A formal letter to the Minister of Environmental Affairs from some of the top wildlife NGOs in the country about the captive carnivore interactions in South Africa. Records show that at least 37 incidents of captive carnivore attacks have occurred since 1996, affecting no less than 40 victims.

SA hunters expelled over canned lion hunting

Two South African hunting associations that embrace canned lion hunting have lost an appeal to retain their membership to Europe’s top hunting organisation, and have been thrown out of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation for breach of policy.

Wild black rhinos to return to Chad after 50-year absence

An unprecedented collaboration between the South African and Chadian Governments, SANParks and African Parks, is enabling the translocation of critically endangered black rhinos from South Africa to a secure park in Chad on the 3rd May, reintroducing the species to the country after almost fifty years of local extinction.

Lion mass slaughter house

The Blood Lions team and other environmentalists reacted with horror to reports that a lion slaughterhouse was established ‘overnight’ on a farm outside Bloemfontein.

Another collared elephant shot outside Zim national park

Hunters in Zimbabwe have shot dead a bull elephant collared by scientists for research purposes, the second such killing in a month, a conservation group says.

Wild dogs return to Gorongosa after decades of absence

Wild dogs will soon roam free in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique for the first time in decades.

Taiwan to revise laws for complete ban in ivory trade from 2020

Taiwanese officials are working to revise regulations so that a solid ban against trade in ivory can be put into force in 2020.

Britain to ban sale of ivory items, regardless of age

With a prohibition on the sale of nearly all antiques containing ivory, the new legislation will create the toughest ban on ivory in Europe.

Giant elephant killed by hunter – despite research collar

Giant large-tusked elephant (with research collar) removed from the gene pool by a Russian hunter in Zimbabwe.

R.I.P. Sudan – last male northern white rhino

It is with great sadness that Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the Dvůr Králové Zoo announce that Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, age 45, died at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on March 19th, 2018.

Trump administration to allow elephant trophy imports on “case-by-case basis”

The U.S. government will allow hunters to import elephant trophies on a “case-by-case basis”, breaking the president’s pledge.

Mass poisoning incident leaves lions, vultures dead near Ruaha

A mass poisoning incident in the Wildlife Management Area just outside Ruaha National Park has left six lions and over 70 vultures dead.

Largest US safari club slams door shut on SA’s canned lion industry

The world’s largest hunting club, Safari Club International (SCI) has slammed the door shut on South Africa’s canned lion industry, announcing it will no longer allow captive-bred lion operators to advertise or market captive-bred lions (CBL) at its annual convention, and will reject all captive-bred lion entries for its record books.

Trump confirms US elephant trophy ban remains

US President Donald Trump has confirmed in an interview with Piers Morgan that he will not be lifting the ban on elephant trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Rhino poaching update – we look behind the numbers

We look behind the 2017 rhino poaching numbers

Federal Court invalidates decision for trophy imports to US

The US Federal Court of Appeals has invalidated the decision to allow the import of animal parts from trophy hunts from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

China’s ban on domestic ivory sales now in effect

China’s complete ban of the buying and selling of ivory products went into effect on Sunday.

New hunting association formed after outcry over captive-bred lion hunting

A new association representing the interests of professional hunters, opposed to hunting captive-bred lions, has been formed in South Africa.

Snakebite season in Southern Africa

Many bites from deadly snakes are difficult to prevent as people accidentally stand on snakes, especially at night. But the snake that has been biting lots of people recently is the poorly-known stiletto snake, also known as the side-stabbing snake.

Trophy hunting may cause extinction in a changing environment

Trophy hunting and other activities involving the targeting of high-quality male animals could lead to the extinction of certain species faced with changing environmental conditions, according to new research.

PHASA approves canned lion hunting, faces backlash

In a change of policy after earlier turning its back on the breeding and hunting of captive lions, the Professional Hunters’ Association of SA (PHASA) has now approved such practices. During their annual general meeting on 22 November, members voted to approve “the hunting of captive bred lions as a legitimate form of hunting”.