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First Lady: Conserve our Heritage for Posterity

12/13/2013

Source: Kbc.co.ke

First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta is calling on Kenyans to conserve our natural heritage for posterity.

She urged Kenyans of all walks of life to take a keen interest in the surroundings which have a lot of bearing to their well being.

She asked parents and guardians to take some time off this festive season and take their children to various animal sanctuaries to enable them appreciate God’s given heritage.

The First Lady was speaking when she conducted the Sri Lankan First Lady, Shiranthi Rajapaska on a tour of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi National Park Friday.

The First Lady has spearheaded a successful “hands-off our elephant campaign” which is aimed at saving wild elephants for posterity in Kenya.

The Sri Lankan First lady is accompanying her husband President Mahinda Rajapaska who is in the country on a five day State visit to mark Kenya’s 50 years of independence.

The Sri Lankan First Lady commended conservation efforts in Kenya to save the endangered wildlife, saying Kenya and Sri Lanka are blessed to have such a unique flora and fauna within their borders. The Sri Lankan First Lady said every effort should be made to conserve and protect this natural heritage.

“The Elephant has been so closely associated with Sri Lanka’s history, culture, religions, mythology and even politics that it would be difficult to imagine the island without it,” said First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaska.

She further said, “If wildlife is permitted to contribute meaningfully to their life, people will not be able to afford to lose it in their battle for survival, however, if wildlife does not contribute significantly to their well-being, people will not be able to afford to preserve it, except as a tourist curiosity in a few protected areas.”

Currently the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has 30 orphaned elephants aged between 3 months and 5 years.

Since its inception in 1977, the Trust has successfully hand-raised over 160 infant elephants which have been effectively reintegrated back into the wild.

Cash Crunch Hits KWS Game Rangers Recruitment amid Rise in Poaching

11/8/2013

Source: Standardmedia.co.ke

Those interdicted are a senior warden, company commanders, platoon commanders and several rangers. Two months ago gunmen shot dead a white rhino in Nairobi’s national park, one of the best guarded. Sources at KWS pointed fingers at the dismissed officers.

Intimidation to security

“This was actually an intimidation to KWS security. It was not a case of poaching but a way of telling them we can do it (poach) right at your door,” said a security officer based at the headquarters. The poachers hacked out the horn from its head and escaped.

The whereabouts of the officers are unclear, with claims they could be the ones behind the spate of soaring poaching.

Most of the affected officers were from Tsavo National Park where at least 55 elephants have been killed since January.

The last time KWS recruited rangers was two years ago when 500 were enlisted nationally but sources say only about 430 completed the nine month paramilitary training in Manyani.

“Some (recruits) were returned back on medical grounds. Only 450 were trained,” said an officer based in Manyani training camp.

This is bad news to the wildlife sector, especially after the many elephants and the rhinos poached in the recent months.

Still, rangers attached to the rhino squad who are on a 24-hour service could be fatigued as some are yet to take their annul leave. They include officers based in Lake Nakuru and Tsavo National parks. More....

Fight to save Kenya’s Wildlife Uses The tools of the Drug War

10/27/2013

Source: Miamiherald.com

By Jacqueline Charles

Kenya Every day, 96 elephants are gunned down in Africa. Every 11 hours, a rhino is slaughtered. And every few years, Kenya loses a wildlife park ranger at the hands of a poacher.

“Encounters between the poachers and the rangers almost always turn fatal on one side,” said Paul Mbugua, a spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, which has lost 13 rangers to poachers in the last three years — four this year alone. “It’s like fighting a guerrilla war.”

As a resurgence of illicit ivory and rhino-horn trafficking leaves a trail of blood across Africa, this East African nation is borrowing a page from America’s war on drugs. Sniffer dogs, normally used to ferret out cocaine shipments, are being put to work in Kenya to track down hidden tusks and horns passing through Kenya’s seaport and airports.

“They are very good,” said Cpl. David Sang, head of the Kenya Wildlife Service’s K-9 unit based in Mombasa, a leading transit route for smugglers. “A dog’s sense of smell is very high.”

Indeed, even ivory, referred to as “white gold” in China, carries its own scent. So do rhino horns, which sell for close to $30,000 a pound — as much as $390,000 for the horns of a single white rhino — on the black market, according to the African Wildlife Foundation.

The dogs have become a key tool in Kenya where rangers are being outgunned and outwitted by ruthless, well-armed and well-financed poachers trying to meet the growing demand for ivory and rhino horns in Asia.

But the unprecedented demand is presenting an economic and security challenge for Kenya, which attracts about $1 billion a year in wildlife tourism revenue. More....

Nairobi Terrorist Strike Alerts the World to New Threat to Elephants

10/24/2013

Source: Animalpeoplenews.org

Four days of shooting at the Westgate Mall in Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya introduced the world to yet another poaching threat to elephants.

Claiming credit for the September 21, 2013 mall invasion, which brought the deaths of at least 61 civilians, six Kenyan soldiers, and five terrorists, the Somali-based Islamist militia Al Shabaab was already well known from previous incidents that began with the 2006 murders of four western aid workers and the Somalis who worked with them.

Outside of the intelligence community, however, that Al Shabaab had muscled into the elephant ivory and rhino horn traffic was little recognized. Al Shabaab was previously more closely associated with extortion, hijacking food aid, and “taxing” transportation of agricultural commodities and the ransoms collected by coastal pirates.

That changed in early 2011 after a coalition of Somali, Kenyan, Ethiopian, and African Union forces began pushing Al Shabaab back from the Somali coast and overland trade routes. In August 2011 Al Shabaab lost Mogadishu, the Somali capital city.

Seeking reinforcements, Al Shabaab allied itself with Al Qaeda, the international Islamist militia. Al Qaeda has reputedly raised funds in part through elephant ivory and rhino horn poaching and trafficking for close to 25 years. The alliance with Al Qaeda brought U.S. drone strikes on Al Shabaab leadership in early 2012, followed by a renewed coalition offensive that included the capture of Kismayo, the Al Shabaab economic stronghold. Suddenly Al Shabaab had to find new sources of support.

“Following the fall of Kismayu,” reported the Nairobi electronic newspaper Mwakilishi, “Kenya has seen an exponential increase in ivory-related poaching.” Poachers killed 283 elephants in Kenya in 2011; 385 elephants plus 29 rhinos in 2012; and had killed 235 elephants plus 35 rhinos in 2013 when the Westgate Mall siege began. Poachers have also killed six Kenya Wildlife Service rangers since December 2011, including two on July 18, 2013 in separate firefights against suspected elephant poachers in the Kipini Conservancy. In early August 2013 someone even poached a pregnant white rhino in Nairobi National Park, almost within sight of the Kenyan national capital.

New tactics

The current situation is more complicated than past history with other Somalian poaching militias, explained Maisha Consulting founder Nir Kalron and Elephant Action League cofounder Andrea Crosta, both of South Africa. More....

Kenyans Rally to Save their Wildlife

10/18/2013

Source: Mg.co.za

By Daniel Howden

The bonfire of 11 tonnes of ivory in the Nairobi National Park in 1989 remains the most powerful symbol of Kenya's role in curbing the slaughter of African wildlife.

It was the prelude to an international ban on the ivory trade and a gradual recovery in herds across the continent. Since 2008 many of these gains have been eroded by a resurgent trade in rhino horn and elephant tusks.

Now, nearly a quarter of a century later, facing an equivalent threat, East African conservationists believe that Kenya may come to the rescue again.

A grass-roots movement has flourished in the region's biggest economy that has put pressure on Kenya's judiciary and its previously reluctant politicians who are now backing tougher legislation and a crackdown on poachers and smugglers.

A new wildlife and conservation Bill before the Kenyan Parliament calls for a minimum 15-year sentence and $12 000 fines for those caught taking part in the illegal trade.

A custodial sentence handed down to a Chinese citizen in August is being fêted as a turning point in what had seemed to be a losing battle.

Biemei Chen was jailed for three years after she was caught by a sharp-eyed customs officer at Nairobi airport while attempting to smuggle some 15kg of ivory hidden in the packaging of a well-known brand of macadamia nuts.

Similar offenders have received fines, which usually amount to a fraction of the commercial value of the ivory or rhino horns being smuggled. More....

Kenya to Microchip All Rhinos’ Horns to Beat Poachers

10/17/2013

Source: Themalaysianinsider.com

Kenya will place microchips in the horn of every rhino in the country in a bid to stamp out a surge in poaching the threatened animals, wildlife officials said yesterday.

"Poachers are getting more sophisticated in their approach," Paul Udoto, spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), said.

"So it is vital that conservation efforts also follow and embrace the use of more sophisticated technology to counter the killing of wildlife."

Kenya has just over 1,000 rhino, and the tiny chips will be inserted and hidden in the horn, which is made of keratin, the same material as fingernails or hardened hair.

The World Wildlife Fund donated the chips as well as five scanners at a cost of US$15,000 (RM47,530), although tracking the rhino to dart them and fit the device will cost considerably more.

However, it will boost the ability of police to prosecute poachers or traffickers, allowing for all animals to be traced and providing potential vital information on poaching and smuggling chains.

"Investigators will be able to link any poaching case to a recovered or confiscated horn, and this forms crucial evidence in court, contributing towards the prosecution's ability to push for sentencing of a suspected rhino criminal," KWS said in a statement.

Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years. Rhinos are not the only animals targeted; whole elephant herds have been massacred for their ivory. More....

Kenya to Microchip every Rhino's Horn

10/16/2013

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

By Chris Irvine

Microchips will be placed in the horn of every rhinoceros in Kenya in an ambitious bid to tackle the scourge of poaching, wildlife officials have announced.

The World Wildlife Fund donated the chips as well as five scanners at a cost of $15,000 (£9,400). Tracking the rhinos – there are more than 1,000 in Kenya – to dart them and fit the device will cost considerably more.

Officials believe however that it will boost the ability to prosecute poachers or traffickers, allowing for all the horns to be traced, providing potential vital information on poaching and smuggling chains.

The chips will be inserted into the horn, which is made of keratin, the same composition as fingernails.

“Poachers are getting more sophisticated in their approach,” Paul Udoto, spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service said

“So it is vital that conservation efforts also follow and embrace the use of more sophisticated technology to counter the killing of wildlife.”

The KWS said in a statement: “Investigators will be able to link any poaching case to a recovered or confiscated horn, and this forms crucial evidence in court, contributing towards the prosecution’s ability to push for sentencing of a suspected rhino criminal.”

Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years, with the wildlife trafficking industry thought to be worth around £6.6 billion. More....

In Battle to End Poaching, God gets Urgent SOS Call

10/15/2013

Source: Nation.co.ke

The sun was setting in a cloudless Kenya sky as the prayer ceremony ended.

The religious leaders, an eclectic mix of the world’s great faiths: Jew, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian as well as Africa’s immortal traditional religious elders from across the continent, were fittingly bathed in golden light as they strolled away from the site and got back into their vehicles.

The prayers were part of last year’s ground-breaking Many Heavens, One Earth our Continent Conference that was held in Nairobi, organised by the Alliance of Religion and Conservation to honour the tens of thousands of wildlife, mainly African elephants and rhinos, that have been senselessly exterminated and trafficked to the Far East in recent years.

The religious leaders, at the request of the Kenya Wildlife Service, also gave a moving tribute to the scores of slain Kenyan park rangers and their families.

At the time more than 60 Kenyan rangers had lost their lives protecting the country’s wildlife and hundreds others in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Africa and elsewhere across the continent who died trying to protect wildlife.

In the process, these unsung guardians of Africa’s natural heritage have left behind countless widows and orphans.

Solemn place

The prayer site itself was highly symbolic. More....

Rangers in Kenya are Outgunned in the New Poaching Arms Race

10/8/2013

Source: Pri.org

By Valerie Hamilton

Outside of Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters in Nairobi, there's a stone monument that is paved in long brass plaques. The plaques list the names of park rangers killed on the job.

Ranger Florence Abae, shot by poachers on March 2, 2012, along with Ranger Francis Ochieng. Sergeant Bake Adan, ambushed three weeks before.

There are more than 60 names listed.

The "conservation heroes monument" looks like a war memorial. In many ways, it is.

As poaching decimates Africa's elephant and rhino populations – thousands killed in the past year alone - it's increasingly taken human casualties, on both sides of the fight.

“Sometimes we lose our rangers,” says Paul Mbugua, a spokesman for Kenya’s Wildlife Service. “This year we have already lost two of them - and sometimes poachers also lose their life.”

A 21-year veteran in military fatigues, Mbugua says in the past three years, poachers have shot hundreds of park rangers. Thirteen have died.

In the old days, small-time poachers carried pistols and came on foot. But a boom market in banned wildlife products has attracted major players, and better-equipped, more violent hit men. More....

Ivory Destruction: Beyond Burning

10/3/2013

Source: Annamiticus.com

By Sal Amato

On October 8, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to crush its stockpile of elephant ivory consisting of 5.4 tons of whole tusks and small carvings — items that have been seized or abandoned to the US government over the last 20 years.

This planned event marks the first time that the United States has moved to destroy its ivory stockpile, and only the second time that a nation outside of Africa has done so. As we count down towards this historic event, I recall the first time I became aware of the inherent difficulties in trying to destroy elephant ivory.

In March of 2008, my son Michael, then a junior in high school, completed an informal, week long internship at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon. Michael was contemplating a career as a scientist, particularly in the field of wildlife and environmental science. He had numerous discussions with teachers and advisors regarding the different types of work being done by scientists, i.e. field work, laboratory work etc. and we felt this would be an excellent opportunity to expose him to the work being done at a real laboratory by real scientists.

Upon arrival Michael was given a tour of the lab, and introduced to employees working in the different units. At the Morphology unit, Michael was shown how to identify ivory from different species using specific physical characteristics found in each. He was shown the distinctive cross-hatching, known as Schreger lines after the scientist who first described them, that is present in both elephant and mammoth ivory. The angle of the intersection of these lines, however, differs in elephants and mammoths and can be used to identify one form the other. He was also shown how to physically identify hippo ivory and walrus ivory from the shape of their cross section and the presence of secondary dentine respectively.

He was then asked to ponder the question, how would one go about identifying a sample of ivory that was devoid of any of these physical characteristics, such as is the case with a sample of ivory shavings (probably leftover residue from the carving process). More....

Al Shabaab now Turns to Poaching to Fund Terror Activities

9/28/2013

Source: Standardmedia.co.ke

By Daniel Wesangula

In May 2007, three Kenya Wildlife Service rangers died at the hands of Somali bandits in a pre-dawn shoot-out. The gang of poachers was crossing the Tana River on their way to Tsavo East National Park. The incursion was halted, but the eventual cost in human life from this emerging deadly trend was to be massive.

Six years later, an 18-month investigation by South African environmental groups Maisha Consulting and Elephant Action League in the involvement of Al Shabaab on trafficking ivory through Kenya established that this trade could be supplying up to 40 per cent of the funds needed to keep the merchants of terror in business.

“The deadly path of conflict ivory starts with the slaughter of innocent animals and ends in the slaughter of innocent people. It is a source of funding for terrorist organisations that transcends cruelty. It is the ‘white gold’ for African jihad; white for its colour and gold for its value,” Andrea Crosta the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the South African independent conservation organisation Elephant Action League (EAL) told The Standard on Sunday.

A parallel can be drawn between Kenya’s incursion into Somalia and increased poaching incidents within the country. With every inch of ground gained by the Kenya Defence Forces, a mile is lost back home in the never-ending war of protecting the country’s wildlife.

“Surrounded by porous borders, Kenya has long been a transit point for illegal ivory. The KWS is doing a commendable job but in an attempt to crack down on this trade, dealers looking for fast money and an easier market have turned to a new player in the game – Al Shabaab,” Crosta said.

“This reality is too close to home to pass as a mere coincidence,” Crosta said. Although poaching has been ongoing for decades, the cutting off of Al Shabaab’s income streams has forced them to look elsewhere for funding. More....

China’s Basketball Giant Again Presses Case for Elephant Conservation

9/25/2013

Source: Dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com

By Andrew C. Revkin

Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6-inch N.B.A. veteran, is on the road again pressing the case for curbing the ivory trade and the relentless poaching of elephants. With the help of the conservation group WildAid, he paid a fresh visit to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage abutting Nairobi National Park in Kenya. On his blog (translated to English) he describes how a particularly tiny elephant that he walked with in 2012 had died:

[S\adly she was just too small and traumatized to survive without her mother and passed away shortly after my last trip. I learned that it is all too common for the very young to lose their will to live after their mother and sometimes whole herd have been brutally taken from them. The caretakers have to sleep in the small elephants’ enclosures at night so they feel safe.

Here’s his closing message:

As we leave the orphanage I am happy to have seen Julius again but troubled that the flow of baby orphans has not slowed. The Yao Ming Foundation, WildAid, and our partners Save the Elephants and African Wildlife Foundation will redouble our efforts to get the word out in China. Jiang Wen, Li Bing Bing, and some of China’s top CEOs are involved, too. In the US we have partnered with NBA Cares and Tyson Chandler has recorded a message as well as actorEdward Norton. He helps wildlife through the Maasai Wildlife Conservation Trust, too. And in England, Prince William and David Beckham.

We hope you can join us all and together we can help to ensure an end to the illegal ivory trade and that the only orphans here are from natural causes.

Read the rest here.

The Early History of Kenya’s National Parks by Dame Daphne Sheldrick

9/3/2013

Source: Dswtwildernessjournal.com

By Stella Deane

Over 60 years ago Kenya’s first generation of pioneer wardens, Bill Woodley, Peter Jenkins and David Sheldrick, travelled the main Nairobi-Mombasa road to Mtito Andei, then just a dusty dirt road, to begin the daunting task of transforming untouched and largely unexplored and inhospitable arid semi-desert wasteland into the famous National Park that Tsavo is today. It was in those times an unattractive tangle of dense thicket, which was home to thousands of black rhino, un-friendly elephants, which had suffered years of hunting and poaching by humans, and lions that had always had man-eating tendencies, whilst the buffalo were extremely dangerous when encountered at close quarters. Added to this Tsavo was home to a multitude of poisonous snakes, scorpions and other stinging insects, bird eating spiders that leapt up at one if disturbed, not to mention the ever present threat of deadly malaria.

A few early European explorers had ventured through Tsavo and the Taru Desert on their quest to reach the hinterland – men such as the German missionaries, Krapf and Rebmann, who were the first white men to see the snows of Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya in the early l800’s, Lord Lugard who walked up the Sabaki/Galana river (and had his finger bitten by a crocodile at what is now Lugards Falls), Joseph Thompson who arrived some years later, and so graphically described the wilderness to the world and who befriended the Masai, Colonel Patterson who oversaw the laying of the railway line, and who shot the two notorious man-eating lions which devoured almost l00 Indian railway workers.

When Tsavo was first gazetted as a Park in l948, the wildlife of the area remained all but invisible until one stumbled upon them at close quarters, following narrow elephant trails that wound through dense Commiphora dominated thicket, sweltering in the intense heat that seemed bent on sucking every morsel of moisture from tired torn human bodies. There were no roads for Tsavo’s pioneer wardens to follow, no aircraft from which to take a look at the challenges that faced them, no hand-held radios to keep in touch with one another and base camp, no telephones or other mod-cons at their disposal – just one vehicle, some old fashioned ex-army tents that did not zip shut, and a haversack to carry their few personal items. Their work-force consisted of a handful of raw labourers armed with only pangas (machetes), jembes (spades) and shovels to carve out the very first tracks leading to who knows where. More....

Kenya: Nairobi Park - Extinction Is Forever

8/24/2013

Source: AllAfrica.com

By Gareth Jones (Opinion)

In the last few weeks, the shock waves following the terrible loss of a pregnant white rhino in the park have gone global.

Many concerned people have now sprung into action, KWS is on high alert, with a dramatic increase in security on many levels. Conservation organisations are appealing to the government to accelerate the passing of new laws with much higher fines and longer prison sentences.

Others are saying that the time has come to completely fence the Nairobi park. Any form of improvement that will protect the rhinos is naturally most welcome. However, in order to have long term success in this ongoing battle against rhino and elephant poaching, we need to look outside of Kenya and away from Africa to markets like China and Vietnam where the demand for illegally-poached animal parts like horns and tusks is high.

Unless there is a parallel strategy to do double warfare, then we face a losing battle. In South Africa, the number of rhinos slaughtered annually is now extremely high.

Kenya is now facing a major poaching onslaught as well. Action now needs to be taken to shut down the demand for rhino horn and ivory. The governments of key African nations need to pressurise the governments of countries that buy the illegal products to ban them and if they do not comply, they should stop trade relations. Consumers too need to stop buying products from countries like China and Vietnam .

There needs to be a major education drive to inform people globally that rhino horn is just the same as human fingernails and has no miracle cure. While efforts are being made to shut down the demand markets, it is still critical that the countries that still have rhino and elephants do everything possible to secure the remaining populations and hold the fort until the global demand has been minimised.

Simply speaking, this is a fight of good against evil and as it has been said before for evil to succeed, then good people just need to do nothing.

Leatherhead Charity Leading Fight against Ivory Trade

8/21/2013

Source: ThisisSurreytoday.co.uk

By Alexander Robertson

More than 38,000 elephants are killed every year by ivory poaching, a trend which has led conservationists to estimate the extinction of the African elephant by 2025.

However, a charity based in Leatherhead is leading the fight against poaching in Kenya through its Nairobi nursery, which looks after orphaned elephants whose parents have been killed for their tusks.

The David Sheldrick Wildife Trust (DSWT) was founded in 1977 by Dame Daphne Sheldrick in memory of her husband David, who was the founding warden of Kenya's Tsavo National Park.

Although much of the hands-on work is carried out by the charity's army of rangers and keepers in Africa, it is kept ticking over behind the scenes by staff at its headquarters in Leatherhead.

Speaking from their offices in Bridge Street, director Rob Brandford told the Advertiser: "Kenya's wildlife is being pushed to the brink of extinction thanks to the lucrative illegal ivory trade.

"Human-wildlife conflict is leaving behind injured and orphaned wild animals that would not survive without intervention, and habitat destruction is endangering important biodiversity areas.

"Our teams work at a field level every day to put an end to poaching, preserve endangered habitats and rescue and care for injured animals so they can return to the wild."

Orphaned elephants rescued by the charity are hand-reared and rehabilitated before being released back into the wild when they come of age. More....

Chinese Woman Nabbed at JKIA with 6.9kg of Ivory Worth Sh1.2Million

8/15/2013

Source: Standardmedia.co.ke

By Cyrus Ombati

A Chinese woman was on Wednesday night arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with 6.9 kilos of ivory disguised as macadamia nuts valued at Sh1.2 million.

The middle-aged woman was scheduled to travel to Hong Kong when police and other security officials stumbled on the ivory.

Airport CID boss Joseph Ngisa said the woman is expected in court Wednesday.

“We are trying to establish where she stayed and if there are more ivory,” said Ngisa.

There is growing concern in Kenya over rising levels of poaching.

So far, 190 elephants and 35 rhinos have been lost to poachers since the beginning of this year.

The latest incident of poaching was reported last Friday at the Nairobi National Park a day after the government formed a special unit of security officers to boost the fight against wildlife poaching.

White Rhino Shot As Poaching Increases In Kenya

8/14/2013

Source: Gadling.com

By Sean McLachlan

A white rhino has been killed by poachers in Nairobi National Park in Kenya, the BBC reports. While it's the first time in six years that a rhino has been killed in the park, unfortunately the poaching of rhinos in Kenya has been on the rise in recent years.

Kenyan authorities say that 35 rhinos have been killed in their country this year. What makes this incident unusual is that the park is only four miles from downtown Nairobi. Most poachers prefer more remote locations, but the high prices international buyers will pay for rhino horn are making criminals increasingly bold. One group of robbers even stole four rhino heads from an Irish museum.

Police in many African countries are getting tough on poachers. There have been firefights and even a plan to use unmanned drones to search for poachers.

While policing can be effective (over in Asia, Nepal's rhino population is rebounding) the only thing that will stop the poaching of rhinos is to stop the demand. Rhino horns are valued in East Asian folk medicine, as are body parts from various other animals. Until these countries get serious about changing attitudes in their human population, Africa's wildlife population will continue to be threatened.

Poachers Kill Rhino in Nairobi National Park

8/13/2013

Source: Whig.com

By Jason Straziuso

Chris Donohue was driving his wife and kids through the world's only safari park that borders a major city last weekend when they found a prized sighting: three male lions close together. Then the Donohues saw why. Nearby a rhino lay dead, its horn sliced off and stomach opened up. Donohue, an American who lives in Nairobi, said Tuesday that the sight made him nauseous.

"The kids were like, 'Daddy, was that rhino sick?' And we were like, no, we're pretty sure it was poached," said Donohue, who takes his kids to Nairobi National Park several times a year. "For me it was pretty traumatic to see it."

Gun-wielding poachers slaughtered the pregnant rhinoceros while it stood near a watering hole Friday. It was the first killing of a rhino in Nairobi National Park in six years, the Kenya Wildlife Service said.

"It shows the great heights these criminals are willing to go," said Paul Udoto, the wildlife service's spokesman. "It's something we are taking very seriously because it's a new level of poaching for us. And it is indeed very daring."

The killing is the latest case in a worrying poaching trend, as demand in China and other Asian countries for elephant ivory and rhino horn increases. Kenya saw 29 rhinos killed by poachers last year. This year 35 have already been killed.

One reason poachers may not fear carrying out the illegal killings is that Kenya's anti-poaching laws are antiquated and weak. When four Chinese men pleaded guilty in January to charges of smuggling ivory, they received no jail time and were fined less than $400 each, money that pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of dollars smuggled ivory will sell for in Asia. More....

Poachers Shoot Dead Rhino in Kenyan Capital Park

8/13/2013

Source: Capitalfm.co.ke

Gunmen have shot dead a white rhino in Nairobi’s national park, a brazen raid in one of the best guarded sites in Kenya, wildlife officials said Tuesday.

Amid a surge of rhino and elephant killings across the country, the shooting of the rhino in the heavily guarded Nairobi national park – the headquarters of the government’s Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)- illustrates how easily poachers are decimating the country’s large animals.

Poachers, who killed the rhino late Friday, hacked out the horn from its head and escaped, said KWS spokesman Paul Udoto.

“It is the first such poaching incident in the park in the last six years,” Udoto said, adding it brings the total number of rhino killed this year to 35, already more than the 29 killed in Kenya in the whole of 2012.

Nairobi’s national park, which lies just seven kilometres (four miles) from the tower blocks of the bustling centre, is described by KWS as “a unique ecosystem by being the only protected area in the world close to a capital city”.

African Elephant Extinction: One Slaughtered Every 15 Minutes to Meet Asia's Ivory Demand

8/12/2013

Source: Ibtimes.co.uk

By Hannah Osborne

One elephant in Africa is slaughtered every 15 minutes to supply the demand for ivory, a rate that will result in the species becoming extinct in 12 years.

Dame Daphne Sheldrick, a conservationist from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust based in the Nairobi National Park, said Kenyan authorities seized four-and-a-half tonnes of ivory in the last two raids, showing the extent of the illegal trade in Africa.

Speaking on World Elephant Day, she said elephants becoming extinct in just over a decade is a "real possibility" if action is not taken to curb the number of animals being killed.

"Today is World Elephant Day but in 12 years' time there may not be any elephants left in Africa to celebrate," She said, according to the Metro.

"A world without elephants is hard to comprehend, but it is a real possibility. Against a submachine gun or poacher armed with a spear, they stand little chance."

Demand for ivory is being spurred by demand in East Asian countries. It is estimated that 36,000 African elephants were slaughtered last year to feed the illegal trade.

"Don't buy ivory," Sheldrick said. "That means all ivory, be it antique or pre-ban, in the UK or on holiday.

"Buying ivory only serves to fuel a trade which results in more senseless deaths of these beautiful animals. We can't let man-made extinction be the end of this iconic species. More....

Elephants ‘Extinct Within 12 Years’

8/12/2013

Source: Express.co.uk

By: John Ingham

Elephants have thrived for 50 million years in the forests and grasslands of Africa.

But these iconic creatures could be lost in little more than a decade due to a poaching bloodbath, an expert claims.

Conservationist Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick revealed an elephant is being killed every 15 minutes in Africa to supply an insatiable and unsustain-able demand for ivory.

From her charity’s base in Nairobi National Park, she said: “Today is World Elephant Day but in 12 years’ time there may not be any elephants left in Africa to celebrate.

“A world without elephants is hard to comprehend, but it is a real possibility. Against a submachine gun or poacher armed with a spear, they stand little chance.”

About 36,000 elephants in Africa were slaughtered last year despite a ban on ivory.

They fall victim to highly organised and well-armed gangs. In Kenya, 162 elephants out of a population of 35,000 were killed by poachers between January and July.

Ivory is in soaring demand in the Far East for trinkets.

Dame Daphne, 79, said that in just two raids last month Kenyan authorities seized 4.5 tons of ivory.

In Hong Kong at the same time, Customs obtained more than 1,100 tusks.

Dame Daphne, who heads the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust named after her late husband, said captured contra-band is thought to equate to just 10 per cent of actual smuggling. She picks up the pieces of this grisly trade by helping orphaned elephants. More....

Poaching Problem: Number of Elephant Orphans Rises

6/5/2013

Source: Kcautv.com

By Jason Straziuso

An elephant orphanage in Kenya is seeing an upsurge in orphaned elephants brought there because of the poaching crisis occurring across Africa, the founder said Wednesday. Dame Daphne Sheldrick, who runs the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi National Park, said Kenya must pass stricter laws to punish those who poach elephants for their ivory tusks. Sheldrick said it would be economic sabotage if Kenya doesn't prevent poaching deaths, because of the tourism it will lose.

"Unfortunately the demand for ivory in the Far East, particularly China, has pushed the price of ivory up too far," Sheldrick said as a dozen orphaned elephants bathed in dry mud nearby. For village residents who have little earning potential, the lure of a poaching payday can be tough to resist, she said.

That's why Kenya must enact "very draconian sentencing" for poaching crimes, so that it's not worth it for villagers to kill elephants or rhinos, she said. The Kenya Wildlife Service has long urged Kenyan lawmakers to increase the penalty for poaching, but so far the penalties have remained low. Will parliament pass stricter laws? Even Sheldrick is not sure.

"One has to hope. If they don't Kenya is going to lose their elephants and rhinos," she said, adding later: "Everyone is pleading with the Kenyan government to enact strict punishments against poachers."

Thousands of elephants are being killed across Africa every year by poachers who sell ivory tusks to buyers in Asia, where an increasing demand is buying ivory trinkets as a sign of prestige. Conservationists warn that unless the demand is curtailed, poachers will wipe out Africa's elephants and rhinos, who are killed for their horns. More....

God and Mammals: In Kenya, Religious Leaders Pray to Thwart Poaching

9/23/2012

Source: CSMonitor.com

By Mike Pflanz

Just before sunset on a low hill in Nairobi’s safari park, some 50 religious leaders stood in a solemn circle around a pit containing the charred remains of 13 tons of elephant ivory burned to keep it out of poachers’ hands.

Led first by an Anglican Christian, then by a Muslim imam, a trio of Hindu devotees, and a Buddhist, prayers were offered, each asking for forgiveness for the damage that humans are inflicting on wildlife and the environment.

The quiet moment under the reddening sky followed a three-day gathering of African religious leaders, organized by conservationists keen to explain to these community trendsetters the reality of the current crisis in wildlife protection on the continent. The hope is that they then return home and pass the message on to their congregations.

Together, the 50 men and women here for the meeting reach more than 180 million followers, according to the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, a Britain-based group that helped arrange the event.

“Protection of the environment and its creatures is I think one of the major points of convergence between all religions,” says Dekila Chungyalpa, a Buddhist and director of Sacred Earth, a new World Wildlife Fund program to forge closer connections between religions and conservationists. “We as conservationists can frame the discussion on stopping poaching, for example, in legal and ecological terms. But these religious leaders can frame it in a moral context, and talk about the religious duty to act to protect the environment. As an individual in a congregation, it then becomes unavoidable that you must act.”

The illegal wildlife trade is now the world’s fifth-largest illicit transnational activity, after counterfeiting and the illegal trafficking of drugs, people, and oil, according to Global Financial Integrity in Washington. More....

Africa Changes Tack in Fight Against Poachers

8/10/2012

Source: Africareview.com

By Janet Otieno

Alarmed by the surging demand from Asian markets for rhino and elephant horns and tusks, most African countries are working out a formula to curb the trade that drives poaching.

Countries like Kenya have placed sniffer dogs in most ports of entry, and game rangers have also been deployed into ‘danger zones’.
But even as they do this, poachers are devising new methods to beat the conservationists at their own game.

The trade does not endanger rhinos and elephants alone.

Malagasy tortoises have also enjoyed a ‘safe flight’ before landing into cooking pots in some Asian restaurants and slaughter houses where their body parts are believed to have medicinal qualities.

In 2010, about 415 endangered Madagascar tortoises that had been trafficked to Malaysia were flown back to the country’s capital Antananarivo.

They are now safe in the Mangily breeding centre in the country. Customs authorities at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia seized the ‘tortoise cargo’ from an Air Mauritius flight.

Reports have it that in 1950, the African elephant population numbered five million; by the 1989 their numbers had steadily dipped due to poaching, leaving fewer than 450,000 in the continent.

Elephants and rhinos are now being pushed to extinction.

Reacting to this alarming trend, conservationist bodies like Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) placed the African Elephant at Appendix 1, as a most endangered species in 1989, and as a result in 1990 slapped a global ban on the international trade in ivory.

However, even with the ban, illegal trade in ivory has soared and to prove that it may get worse, on May 15 the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) confirmed the seizure of three containers with ivory, which was being shipped from the Mombasa port to Sri Lanka. More....