Category — Conservation

Environmentalists are concerned that increased helicopter flights to Victoria Falls will have a negative impact on elephants in Zimbabwe. South Africa hopes that there will be a tourism boom next year when they host the World Cup and more flights to the falls are expected. – BBC NEWS

Lawrence Anthony, head of conservation at Thula Thula reserve in South Africa, discusses how he dealt with an extremely difficult group elephants when he first came to the reserve 10 years ago. He won them over with trust and love. – The Sydney Morning Herald

Lawrence Anthony’s website is available here.

Video of Lawrence Anthony’s Rehabilitation of Elephants.

An opinion piece that discusses behavioral issues in captive animals. The article mentions Jenny, who lives in the Dallas Zoo. The article also mentions Maggie, who was the elephant that a treadmill was built for when she lived in Alaska. Maggie has since gone to live at PAWS, the Performing Animal Welfare Society.

Jenny at The Dallas Zoo

Taiwan News Online

This is a wonderful interview with the conservationist John Frederick Walker about ivory and protecting African elephants. He also has a new book out called Ivory’s Ghosts: The White Gold of History and the Fate of Elephants

MEDILL Reports

Personally, I get tired of the argument that “most people will never be able to see an elephant except in a zoo”. Is it a right to see an elephant in person? I don’t think so.

– Los Angeles Times

“The population of wild elephants in Manipur was 12 in 2002 as against 30 in 1997.Sources from the Ministry of Environment and Forest said today that Manipur had 50 elephants in 1993 census.” – E-Pao!

“Some of the world’s most threatened animals were afforded greater protection this week at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) taking place in Rome.” – politics.co.uk

“The elephant population in Northern Kenya has increased by five per cent since the last count in 2002.” – DAILY NATION

“The elephant population in the expansive Northern Kenya has increased by 5 per cent since the last count in 2002, according to the latest census report released Saturday.” – Africa Science News Service

“Over the years WWF in collaboration with the North Carolina Zoo has been deploying satellite collars on elephants in the Southeast and other parts of Cameroon. The collars provide information via satellite on the movement pattern of elephants essential for the conservation of this charismatic mega vertebrate.” – AfricaNews

“Ivory went on sale legally yesterday for the first time in almost a decade when the southern African state of Namibia auctioned seven tonnes of elephant tusks exclusively to Chinese and Japanese buyers. ” – Times Online

“Ivory auctions that will take place in Namibia on October 28, Botswana on October 31, Zimbabwe on November 3, and South Africa on November 6 2008 have raised the concerns of international conservationists from Born Free Foundations (BFF), a member of the Species Survival Network, who said that the ivory auction was approved by members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), despite an international outcry from scientists and conservationists.” – Sofia Echo

“Kenya’s world famous Amboseli Elephant researchers led by Nairobi based Elephant conservationist Dr. Joyce Poole of 26 years elephant experience will team up with local expertise like Manori Gunawardena to start a long standing study of Asian Elephants along the lines of the African project focusing on the Minneriya-kaudulla Wewa elephant population.” – Asian Tribune

“Sumatra’s endangered elephants and tigers should get a boost from an Indonesian government move to expand one of their last havens, a four-year-old national park on the island, conservation body WWF said on Thursday.” – Reuters

“Zimbabwe’s wildlife is being decimated by the impact of its economic crisis, conservationists claimed on Thursday.” – Gulfnews

“Elephant House is a makeshift place where the children get an opportunity to explore the Asian elephant through the artistic lens of film, video, painting, photography, music, dance, storytelling and creative writing.” – Newindpress.com

“A baby elephant made her big debut at the Pittsburgh Zoo Saturday in front of adoring crowds Saturday.
” – NECN

“Sri Lanka’s wild elephant population has shown a marked increase over the last 10 years. ” – Daily News