Tag Archives | African wildlife

Gas Group Gives Gorillas Ground

May 20, 2013

(WILDLIFE) French oil and gas company Total reassured shareholders and animals lovers after announcing they will not search for oil in Congo’s Virunga National Park—the home to mountain gorillas and a Unesco World Heritage site. Chairman Christophe de Margerie said they will not prospect for oil out of respect for the heritage and conservation site, which is Africa’s oldest national park. Read on for more information regarding this admirable decision to preserve these species and their habitat. — Global Animal

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Rangers Forsake Endangered Rhinos

May 1, 2013

(POACHING) JOHANNESBURG — Possibly betrayed by the very people sworn to protect them, the last 15 rhinos in Mozambique have met a horrible fate. A group of 30 rangers of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park are due in court this month to face accusations claiming they aided poachers in search of these rhinos, leading to the slaughter of all 15 animals. The world’s rhino population is a major concern, making this a terrible tragedy for an already troubled species. Continue reading to find out more on what might be a heartbreaking betrayal. — Global Animal  

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Rangers Kill Poachers To Save Rhinos In South Africa

March 29, 2013

(POACHING) Given the surging demand for rhino horn in China and Vietnam, an estimated 188 rhinos have been poached in South Africa since the start of the year, with 135 killed in Kruger National Park alone. On Wednesday, when park rangers were on patrol, they encountered a group of suspected poachers from Mozambique. When shooting ensued, three of the poachers were killed. Continue reading to learn more about the grand attempts to protect white rhino populations in South Africa. — Global Animal

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11,000 Gabon Elephants Poached Since 2004

February 16, 2013

(POACHING) Earlier this week, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced that the Gabon’s Minkebe National Park, once home to Africa’s largest forest elephant population, has lost 11,100 individuals to the illegal ivory trade in less than a decade. Surveys suggest that one in every three elephants in what was once a sanctuary for forest elephants has been taken for ivory trinkets. In a statement delivered by Gabon’s presidency, executive secretary of the country’s national parks agency, Lee White, said the future of Africa’s elephants would be compromised if rapid action were not taken. Read more about how this astonishingly sad statistic came to be. — Global Animal

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Elephant Poachers Given Weapons

January 23, 2013

(POACHING) Back in November, The New York Times reported that the army chief of Democratic Republic of Congo was suspended over claims he sold weapons to armed groups and elephant poachers, as the government said they had captured a string of towns in eastern Congo, including Goma, a provincial capital, raising serious questions about the stability of this vast and often-troubled country. While Congo’s Army has been infamously corrupt for decades, the Congolese government suspended the chief of staff of ground control after a UN investigation found that he had been running a criminal network which supplied ammunition to elephant poachers and other violent groups. Top elephant researchers in the Congo have suggested that the “Congolese military are implicated in almost all elephant poaching,” making the military “the main perpetrator of illegal elephant killing” in Congo. Click the link below for more information regarding this ongoing issue. — Global Animal

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$1.2 Million Worth Of Elephant Ivory Seized In Kenya

January 18, 2013

(POACHING) Kenyan customs officials seized 638 pieces of elephant ivory this week in a shipment believed to be worth a whopping $1.2 million. This shocking find comes approximately a week after a family of 11 elephants were shot and killed in a Kenyan park for their ivory tusks. Elephants across Africa have become increasingly threatened by poachers in recent years as the demand for ivory trinkets continues to rise in Asia—particularly China. And despite the East African country’s ban on the ivory trade, illegal practices are more prevalent than ever before. Read on to learn more about the heartbreaking news and sign the petition telling Chinese President Xi Jinping to stop imports of elephant tusks and rhino horns. — Global Animal

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Elephant Mass Shooting In Kenya

January 10, 2013

(WILDLIFE) According to wildlife officials, a family of 11 elephants were recently killed in what is being referred to as the biggest mass shooting of the threatened species on record in Kenya. The killings took place on Saturday in Tsavo East National Park, one of the country’s tourism gems and Kenya’s largest single continuous ecosystem home to approximately 13,000 elephants. Although elephant poaching in Kenya witnessed a sharp decline after 1989 when the government banned the ivory trade, there has been a rise in illegal practice in recent years with tens of thousands of elephants being killed—more than at any other point in decades. Read on to learn more about the horrifying incident and sign the petition to help protect elephants and enforce a total ban on the sale of ivory. — Global Animal

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Kenyans Protect Wildlife From Poachers

January 3, 2013

(WILDLIFE CONSERVATION) Communities in Kenya, and across all of Africa, are mobilizing to protect wildlife from poachers. While poaching and the ivory trade can be profitable, the money brought in from tourism is far more lucrative. Realizing they need to protect local creatures as a renewable and valuable resource, local citizens are arming themselves, forming militias, and patrolling the wilderness. — Global Animal

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