Nineteen Rhino Killed In South Africa's Kruger National Park Last Week

 

 

The Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa announced that last week nineteen rhino were killed in Kruger National park. This brings the total for the first months of this year to 313 in South Africa. At this rate, it is expected the death toll from poaching in South Africa alone could surpass 1,000 this year alone. This would be up almost 40% over last year's total.

Kruger has been particularly hard hit with 229 rhino's killed. Just two weeks ago it was announced that the very last rhino was killed in Limpopo National Park in Mozambique which adjoins Kruger.

In other poaching news, over two dozen elephants were massacred at a world heritage park in Central Africa. It is the first time that the poacher syndicate has hit this park. Last year over 25,000 elephants were killed by poachers.

At the current pace, it is estimated that elephants and rhino will no longer exist in the wild within 15 years.

Central Africa's Forest Elephant Population Had Dropped 62% In Ten Years

 

 

 

 

"Nearly 5,000 elephants have been lost in the northern zone of Congo between 2009 and 2011," said Mokoko.

 

 A shocking report has emerged from Africa. AFP is reporting that the population of the Forest Elephants of Central Africa has dropped by an astounding 62% from poachers. The crisis deepens on a daily basis for African wildlife. The report says 

Poaching on an "industrial" scale has slashed the elephant population in the countries of central Africa by nearly two-thirds, a group of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said on Friday.

"A recent study shows that the population of forest elephants has dropped by almost two-thirds or 62 percent in the past 10 years, victims of large-scale ivory poaching," the group of eight NGOs said in a statement.

"The situation is dramatic and worrying. It's very dangerous," Jerome Mokoko, assistant director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, told reporters at a news conference in Brazzaville.

"Nearly 5,000 elephants have been lost in the northern zone of Congo between 2009 and 2011," said Mokoko.

He added there were 80,000 elephants in the Central African Republic just 30 years ago but their number has been reduced to just a few thousand. "The Democratic Republic of Congo alone is home to 70 percent of the elephant population of central Africa. But now there are only between 7,000 and 10,000 elephants in the DRC," Mokoko said.

Jules Caron, head of communications for the World Wildlife Fund in central Africa, said the elephant poaching situation had changed "dramatically." "We are no longer talking about small-scale poaching but poaching on an industrial scale, all run by highly organised and well-armed gangs of international criminals," added Caron.

The NGOs said poachers were seizing on weapons, especially Kalashnikov rifles that have become widespread due to several civil wars flaring in the region.

"The ivory trade begins and ends in south-east Asia, notably China and Thailand, respectively the world's biggest consumer and the world's biggest legal ivory market," Caron told AFP.

He called on heads of state to "take on the fight against poaching, criminal activity surrounding animal parts and illegal trade in wild species."

VIDEO: The Extraordinary Story Of African Heroine Kuki Gallmann Efforts To Save African Wildlife

 

 

 

Without question one of the great heroines of current day Africa is Kuki Gallmann. She has such an amazing story that there was a major Hollywood motion picture made from her autobiography. The film, I Dream of Africa, starred Kim Basinger and was released in 2000.

Gallmann has been a pioneer in the effort to save the wildlife of Africa and known for her bravery, innovative solutions and passionate commitment to that cause.

She traveled to Africa with her husband and son in 1972 from Italy to settle in the Northern Rift Valley. Her husband was killed in an automobile accident and her teenage son died from a snake bite. She stayed in Africa and became a citizen of Kenya.

She continues to fight for the survival for her precious wildlife. She was badly beaten by poachers last year. Over forty elephants have been killed on her property alone.

You can support of her foundation by clicking here. 

Wildlife: Tanzania's Elephants Being Killed At Record Pace

 

 

The news about Elephants in Tanzania is not good and continues the increasingly depressing news coming out of Africa. Stuff.co.za reports that an epidemic of poaching in Tanzania is putting the huge animal in jeopardy. This is especially disturbing since the nation is one of the most enlighten in Africa when it comes to conservation policies.

The nation has one of the largest populations of elephants in the world with somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000. The site reports:

Pratik Patel gazed glumly as the herder's scrawny brown dogs moved between piles of bones to eat the rotting elephant flesh. He pointed to the nearby road and wondered aloud: How could poachers kill an elephant just five kilometres from Tanzania's main safari highway?

Conservationists have long warned of the existential danger that poachers pose to Africa's elephants. And it's in Tanzania, home of the Serengeti game reserve and one of the world's two largest elephant populations, that the scale of the killings and the involvement of government employees may be the most chilling.

The three elephant corpses seen by an Associated Press reporter eight weeks ago lay in a game park just a few miles from a busy junction outside Arusha, a city of 500,000 people.

"Twenty-four elephants were shot within 10 square miles over the last three months. Thirty miles from here there are another 26 carcasses," said Patel, a safari tour operator trying to raise the alarm about the country's dying elephants. "And this is just a teaser. If we go to southern Tanzania I can show you 70 carcasses in one day," he said, referring to the Selous, the world's largest game reserve.

The man tasked with saving Tanzania's elephants is Khamis Suedi Kagasheki, minister for natural resources and tourism. Patel believes Kagasheki, a former intelligence officer, is trying hard to beat the poachers, but is up against a government cabal unwilling to give up illegal profits.

Much of the demand for ivory is in Asia, especially China, luring poachers across Africa to slay the giants and cut out their tusks for rewards far beyond the daily wage. According to CITES, the international body that monitors endangered species, the illegal ivory trade has more than doubled since 2007.

Every week brings new reports of elephant deaths and the government workers alleged to have killed them - soldiers, game wardens, police, customs officials, all complicit in the killings of the top tourism treasure for this poor East African nation of 50 million people.

Botswana, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo and Kenya are also suffering from elephant poaching. But Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of the London-based nonprofit Save The Elephants, says he is most worried about Tanzania's because of its huge population - somewhere between 40,000 and 70,000.

Poaching here "is far bigger than is happening anywhere else in Africa," he said.

READ MORE BY CLICKING HERE...

Florida Fights The 'Invasion Of The Giant African Snails'

 

 

 

As the world becomes smaller and smaller, species are being transported from one country to another. National Geographic in an article by Ker Than is reporting an invasion in Florida of Giant Africans Snails that originate most likely in Nigeria. This snail is very dangerous in that it can cause meningitis, eat plants and even eat the stucco on homes in Florida.

The monster snails can lay a hundred eggs a month and live up to eight years. In eighteen months, Florida has collected 120,000 of these critters.

Here is an excerpt from Than's report:  

A new outbreak of giant, disease-carrying snails is threatening Florida's crops, experts say.

The giant African land snail is finding itself right at home in the Sunshine State, whose hot and humid climate resembles the species' tropical Nigerian habitat. (Related: "Giant Snails, Once a Delicacy, Overrun Brazil.")

Now found throughout the world, including the contiguous United States and Hawaii, these invasive plant-eaters pose a particular danger in Florida because of its vibrant agricultural industry.

"We're producing food that the nation depends on ... [and this snail] eats 500 different plants, including pretty much everything that grows in Florida," said Mark Fagan, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Agriculture.

"This is not something we can walk away from. These snails are a major threat to Florida's agriculture."

Some snails are smuggled into the U.S. as pets or for religious practices and, once here, get transported around the country in plants or cargo by unwitting people, experts say. (Read more about invasive species.)

"These snails have been intercepted by customs and border patrols at airports. There was one woman who was flying back from Nigeria [who] was intercepted, and she had hidden some snails under her skirt," Fagan said.

The exact reasons for smuggling the snails is unknown, he added, "but we are aware that these snails are used in certain religious practices. Some people also like to keep these snails as pets because they're exotic."

Hardy Pest

There have been outbreaks of the snails in Florida and other parts of the country before, but Florida's latest boom began a year and a half ago in Miami-Dade County. "They're very prolific," said Awinash Bhatkar, a snail expert with the Texas Department of Agriculture.

After reaching adulthood at about six months of age, the snails can produce up to a hundred eggs per month and live more than eight years.

Whereas most snails feed on decaying organic material or on leaf molds, the giant African land snail is one of the few snails that actually feed on plant parts themselves, Bhatkar said.

In addition to plants, young snails are known to munch on house stucco and even cement as they seek out calcium to strengthen their growing shells.

The snails also pose a human and animal health threat because they can eat rat feces and contract rat lungworm, which can cause a rare form of meningitis. (See pictures of infectious animals.)

"The parasitic nematode that causes rat lungworm can be present in the slime of the snail," Fagan explained. "So if a person comes in contact with the snail, the nematode present can then enter the person's body, eventually making its way into the brain."

He added, "We have confirmation from the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] that rat lungworm disease is present in some snail samples that we sent up to them."

Wild Dogs Commuting To Work Via Subway

 

 

 

In Moscow, there are a group of amazing wild but gentle dogs who commute to the center of Moscow each day via subway. Once they arrive they forage for food. After a long day's work, they climb back on the subway and head home in the suburbs.

The London Sun reports:

Experts studying the dogs say they even work together to make sure they get off at the right stop — after learning to judge the length of time they need to spend on the train.

The mutts choose the quietest carriages at the front and back of the train.

They have also developed tactics to hustle humans into giving them more food on the streets of Moscow.

Scientists believe the phenomenon began after the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, and Russia’s new capitalists moved industrial complexes from the city centre to the suburbs.

Dr Andrei Poiarkov, of the Moscow Ecology and Evolution Institute, said: “These complexes were used by homeless dogs as shelters, so the dogs had to move together with their houses. Because the best scavenging for food is in the city centre, the dogs had to learn how to travel on the subway — to get to the centre in the morning, then back home in the evening, just like people.”

Dr Poiarkov told how the dogs like to play during their daily commute. He said: “They jump on the train seconds before the doors shut, risking their tails getting jammed. They do it for fun. And sometimes they fall asleep and get off at the wrong stop.”

Central Africa Elephant Population Drops 62% In Ten Years!

 

 

 

 

 

AFP is reporting that plight of Central Africa's Forest Elephants has reached the critical stage. Because of the influx of arms into the civil wars in Mali and Central African Republic the poachers now have new weapons.

BRAZZAVILLE — Poaching on an "industrial" scale has slashed the elephant population in the countries of central Africa by nearly two-thirds, a group of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said on Friday.

"A recent study shows that the population of forest elephants has dropped by almost two-thirds or 62 percent in the past 10 years, victims of large-scale ivory poaching," the group of eight NGOs said in a statement.

"The situation is dramatic and worrying. It's very dangerous," Jerome Mokoko, assistant director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, told reporters at a news conference in Brazzaville.

"Nearly 5,000 elephants have been lost in the northern zone of Congo between 2009 and 2011," said Mokoko.

He added there were 80,000 elephants in the Central African Republic just 30 years ago but their number has been reduced to just a few thousand.

"The Democratic Republic of Congo alone is home to 70 percent of the elephant population of central Africa. But now there are only between 7,000 and 10,000 elephants in the DRC," Mokoko said.

Jules Caron, head of communications for the World Wildlife Fund in central Africa, said the elephant poaching situation had changed "dramatically."

"We are no longer talking about small-scale poaching but poaching on an industrial scale, all run by highly organised and well-armed gangs of international criminals," added Caron.

The NGOs said poachers were seizing on weapons, especially Kalashnikov rifles that have become widespread due to several civil wars flaring in the region.

"The ivory trade begins and ends in south-east Asia, notably China and Thailand, respectively the world's biggest consumer and the world's biggest legal ivory market," Caron told AFP.

He called on heads of state to "take on the fight against poaching, criminal activity surrounding animal parts and illegal trade in wild species."

Hell's Kitchen Journal: My Love For Animals

 

 

 

From my earliest memory, I loved animals. Growing up in the country we had cats, dogs, chickens, deer, rabbits, squirrels, pheasants and many birds that have long since disappeared. The kids in the family were taught to take care of our animals and be responsible for their well-being. As you know from my writings over the years, that I am in love with wildlife.

If I hadn't followed my current path, I most likely would have been a veterinarian for endangered species and be living in Africa. Either that or the Willard Scott on the "Today Show" dressed as Carmen Miranda!

Very early on I was assigned the task of getting the eggs from the chickens. Taking the task very seriously I would collect the eggs, put them in my pockets and then weary from the hard work sit down with the eggs still in my pants. What a mess! Besides I loved to watch them and their habits. Fell in love with baby chicks and was so excited watching them crack through the egg shells.

My brother Melvin had two beagles named Betty and Benny who he trained to be hunting dogs. He loved to go hunting with my grandfather and father. When I as ten my dad gave me a shotgun for my birthday so I could join them on their hunting trips. Terrified at the thought of killing wildlife, my mother caught me crying and convinced a not happy father to excuse me from hunting.

God, they should have known I was gay then!

My great love has been cats. My Grandmother Grove loved cats and taught me the love of them. My first one was named Igor and he as followed by Gigi. They were devoutly loyal and followed me everywhere and snuggled into my bed every night. If my brother and I would wrestle, Gigi would tear across the lawn and attack my brother.

My sister had a mutt of a dog named Judy and it was not allowed in the house. My sister demanded equality for Judy with the cats but failed in one of Patsy's first human rights ventures.

We even had a parakeet named "Mr. Peepers" (after the Wally Cox character on television) who would nose dive my sisters boyfriends. Mr. Peepers hated her boyfriends and really go after them. The parakeet never had a cage and loved to fly around the house. It would sit on my mothers shoulders as she worked in the kitchen.

Often at night we would go 'spotlighting' in the Pine Barrens to see the deer at night. We literally would see close to a hundred in a night. The back dirt roads of the Pine Barrens were desolate and foreboding and I loved every minute of it.

The wild birds were magnificent with Red-wing Black Birds, Goldfinch, Ducks, Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Blue Jays, yellow warblers, pigeons, doves, owls,etc. The colors were vivid and there were thousands of them. In South Jersey now, the marshlands have become a huge stop on migrating birds and it is a sea of birds at peak season.

Of course, there will always be my beloved Turkey Hollow years with my friends Attila and Kate the deer, Benny and Betty the bear and Franklin the Bald Eagle. 

Over the years I have graduated to Africa and take well over a dozen safari's in a number of nations in Eastern and Southern Africa. The elephants, rhino, lions and others are on the verge of disappearing in a less than a dozen years. The thought that my great nephews and nieces might not ever be able to see them in the wild is devastating to me.

We all have to act now to save them before it is too late and it is almost too late.

WILDLIFE: Lion Population Has Dropped 75% In Two Decades! Extinct In 15 Years?

 

 

Lions could become extinct in many areas of Africa within five to ten years. The King of the Jungle joins the Rhino and Elephants on the list of magnificent animals that our children will never see within a dozen years. According to News24, the population of lions has dropped an astounding 75% in the last two decades.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has them as 'threaten' but in West and Central Africa they are listed as 'endangered'.

There are several reasons that they are rapidly disappearing including:

-trophy hunting

-human encroachment

-lion poisoning by farmers

-Lion Bones demand in Asia (lion soup/ Lion wine)

The statistics just become more and more appalling:

-In South Africa about 1,500 lions are killed each year by trophy hunters.

-In Botswana over 100 lions are killed each year by poison from farmers protecting their livestock.

-According to the site Panthera 80% of lions have become extinct in their historic range and have now totally disappeared from 26 countries.

-Only seven countries are now believed to have more than 1,000 lions and they are Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Afrcia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

-there are only 34 wild lions left in all of Nigeria.

-Experts believe they will be no more lines in Kenya in just over 15 years.

-Some experts believe there are only 25,000 plus lions living in all of Africa now.

-In the 1940's there were near a half a million lions. In the 1990's there were 100,000.

HUMOR: The Animals Are Coming! The Animals Are Coming!

 

 

BuzzFeed.com has run a series of photographs filled with cute critters. In some cases, it appears there has been a full fledged invasion of animals. Enjoy these photographs on a Friday afternoon!