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.

Government Says Tanzanian Elephants Will Be Extinct In Seven Years

 

 

THIRTY ELEPHANTS A DAY ARE BEING KILLED IN THE COUNTRY.

Experts say that 25% of all African Elephants live in Tanzania which in the past had one of the most progressive wildlife policies of any African nation. That is not the case anymore. This week new figures emerged which sent shock waves across the wildlife community. The Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Environment, James Lembeli, told the National Assembly that it is possible that elephants would disappear in just seven years given the current rate of poaching.

The population of elephants in Tanzania has dropped from about 110,000 in 2009 to less than 70,000 in just three and a half years. An estimated 10,000 elephants a year are being killed in that nation by poachers. This month over four tons of Ivory Tanzania was discovered in Hong Kong in containers. Lembeli stated in the speech to Parliament:

"If this poaching trend is left unchecked, obviously the elephant population will disappear in the next seven years, This is a national disaster. The government and its agencies should take serious measures to address the problem."

If a poacher is found in Tanzania, he most often is given a $13 fine! The same poacher can make more off an ounce of ivory than he can gold. Long time Wildlife advocate Iain Douglas-Hamilton says of the slaughter:

There's an enormous slaughter of elephants going on in Tanzania right now. Things are out of hand. There's no protection in numbers for elephants any more than there was for bison in last century when they were all wiped out in America.

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."

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.

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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."

TRAVEL: The Zambezi Queen Introduces Luxury River Travel To Africa

 

 

 

In one of the most exciting developments in years for African travel, the Zambezi Queen has started luxury 'river safari' trips down the Chobe River. Located between Namibia and Botswana, the boat enables you to see wildlife while floating down the river with shore excursions.

The Chobe River area is home to the one of the largest populations of elephants in the world. Estimates put the number at near 100,000.

You can chose between a two or three night cruise.

Elephant Massacre Over Two Days in Chad and Cameroon!

 

 

 

The slaughter of elephants and rhinos in Africa continues abated. News has come out of Chad and Cameroon that on March 14 and March 15 near 90 elephants were killed for their tusks. Among those brutally slaughtered were thirty females pregnant females! This continues the trend of a massacre of African wildlife.

Just the previous week in Cameroon and the Central African Republic a total of 43 elephants were killed.

This follows in February the killing of nearly two dozen rhino in one week in South Africa.

International emergency measures must be taken or we will lose these precious animals. We have lost 33% of the population of elephants in Africa in just thirty years and it is escalating by the day! 

Does the United States Have The Political Will To Stop The Slaughter Of Wildlife?

 

 

 

Every couple of days there is a new story of senseless, bloody slaughter of wildlife. In one week, over a dozen rhino were killed for their horns in South Africa alone. Now a report in the New York Times that in just nine years 60% of the forest elephants of Central Africa have been killed because of poachers. There are more tigers in captivity in the United States than in the entire wild. Over 100 MILLION sharks have been killed in one year so people can have soup.

You have to wonder if the President's daughters will ever get to see an entire elephant herd in the wild. Rhinos, Lions and Tigers could all wiped out in the wild in a dozen years (2025).

Four nations are at the heart of the survival of the world's land bound wildlife. Indonesia is critical to a number of species and rainforests that are disappearing at a rapid rate. China, Thailand and Vietnam are the main reasons we are losing the elephants and rhino. As long as people in those nations are allowed to pay top dollar for the Ivory and Rhino horn, the poachers will continue their slaughter.

The ability to save the world's wildlife goes far beyond the means and power of environmental organizations and foundations. The wildlife environmental community has done heroic work in attempting to stem the killing but poachers are using now the most sophisticated weapons.

Now it is time for our President and other world leaders to create the political will, laws and support systems to save species on the verge of extinction. New treaties are urgently needed and the countries of Southeast Asia must be brought in a serious way to the table. Whales were saved through this type of effort and so can other species.

This requires our President to:

-create a wildlife czar to manage a singular effort in the government

-mobilize other world leaders

-get China, Vietnam and Thailand to stop the trade

-mobilize the Departments of State, Interior and Defense to provide valuable resources and planning to save earth's wildlife.

-provide aid and staff to those nations who neither have the resources, staff and sophisticated equipment to stop poachers.

-work with nations in moving animals to more favorable locations and breeding programs.

-create incentives for indigenous people to support the wildlife instead of poaching.

-bring violators of international law before the International Court in the Hague.

-make available radar, helicopters, weapons and drones to take on the poachers.

Time is running out. Soon we will pass the point where the ability to save the elephant, rhino and tiger can be saved from extinction.

What have you done to help?