Jan 21st, 2012 at 2:00PM:
While 2011 has been a bad year for African wildlife, a foundation in Namibia is making a difference.
The N/a'an ku sê Foundation, which runs a wildlife sanctuary in Namibia, announced its best year to date, the Namibian reports. Last year the Foundation rescued, rehabilitated and re-released several animals, including five cheetahs, two leopards, one brown hyena, two caracals and one ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
conservation posts
Rescuing wildlife in Namibia
Jan 21st, 2012 at 2:00PM:
While 2011 has been a bad year for African wildlife, a foundation in Namibia is making a difference.
The N/a'an ku sê Foundation, which runs a wildlife sanctuary in Namibia, announced its best year to date, the Namibian reports. Last year the Foundation rescued, rehabilitated and re-released several animals, including five cheetahs, two leopards, one brown hyena, two caracals and one ...Ivory poaching on the rise thanks to Asian demand and a legal loophole
Jan 2nd, 2012 at 4:00PM: The poaching of elephant tusks is a growing problem due to increased demand from Asian nations, the Kenyan newspaper Business Daily reports.
A loophole in the UN law regulating the ivory trade allows Japan and China to legally purchase some ivory from selected nations under tightly controlled contracts. This has encouraged poachers to smuggle their illegal goods to Asia. Once there, it's much ...Zimbabwe has mixed success stopping rhino poaching
Dec 6th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
Zimbabwe has seen an increase in rhino poaching this year, the government newspaper The Herald reports.
At least 23 of the 700 or so black and white rhinos in the country were poached this year, but authorities managed to arrest 37 poachers and horn dealers. Rhino horns are popular for folk medicine, especially in Asia where they fetch high prices. One tactic of the poachers is to poison ...African governments doing more to stop poaching of endangered species
Sep 30th, 2011 at 2:30PM: This year in Africa, the fight between law enforcement and poachers of endangered species has flared into a war.
In the first two months of 2011, nine poachers were shot dead in South Africa. Despite this, poaching is up. In that nation alone, 333 rhinos were killed in 2010, and there have been 309 rhinos poached so far this year. It looks like the illegal hunters are set to break a grisly ...Ancient city of Mari in Syria under threat
Sep 15th, 2011 at 11:00AM: Last month we reported that the Biblical city of Nineveh is falling apart due to the ongoing war in Iraq. Now it turns out another ancient Mesopotamian city is in danger of being lost.
Mari, in Syria, was one of the great cities of Mesopotamia. It was a trading center on the Euphrates River and was founded some 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists have discovered the giant palace of a Sumerian ...Tanzania Game Reserve at Risk
Aug 26th, 2011 at 11:00AM: First, a highway through the Serengeti, now, a uranium mine in Selous Game Reserve. Tanzania's plans are drawing the ire of environmentalists, conservationists, and zebra-and-wildebeest huggers around the world. The government is eying Tanzanian game and park lands for developments that are in direct conflict with migrating wildlife, potentially risking their only sustainable economic sector: ...National Park Service to help create standards to protect parks globally
Aug 16th, 2011 at 8:00AM: The U.S. National Park Service has joined forces with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to develop a set of standards for park rangers, managers, and other administrative officials working in national parks around the globe. According to a press release from the NPS, the plan is to create a set of guidelines to aid nations in effectively managing their protected areas, ...An Island of luxury in a sea of desert: Al Maha Desert Resort in Dubai
Jul 13th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Every city needs a quick getaway spot, even global centers for tourism. Parisians head for the lakes and beaches of southern France, Hong Kongers ferry to Macau for quick gambling fixes, Bostonians head for the cape to be seen and sun, and the people of Dubai escape the city for...the desert? Yes, the desert.
Indeed, the desert seems an unlikely place in which to unwind and be pampered, ...Confederate submarine set upright for first time since 1864
Jun 26th, 2011 at 3:00PM: The H.L. Hunley made history back in 1864 when it became the first submarine to successfully attack an enemy ship. Launched by the Confederacy as a way to break the Union blockade of Southern ports during the Civil War, it sank the USS Housatonic on 17 February 1864 and itself mysteriously sank shortly thereafter.
Crew members hand cranked the propeller to make the sub move forward and its one ...Conservation victory: Serengeti highway plans cancelled
Jun 26th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Plans to build a paved, two-lane highway through the Serengeti National Park have been canceled.
The road, which was supposed to bring better access to Lake Victoria, will possibly be rerouted further south to avoid having an impact on the Serengeti's rich wildlife.
There's already a gravel road across the park, but paving it would have attracted much more traffic and probably fencing. The ...Bengal Tigers to get special protection
Jun 14th, 2011 at 11:30AM:
The Royal Bengal Tiger and other animals are to get special protection from the government of Bangladesh.
The government is setting up a 300-member force to patrol the areas where the endangered tigers live. This is in reaction to recent poaching incidents targeting the tigers and well as other animals such as turtles and crocodiles. The poaching and smuggling of animals is a major ...Kenya attempts to reconcile wildlife and people
May 27th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
Two recent articles in the Nairobi Star highlight the Kenyan government's efforts to preserve wildlife while keeping the human population happy.
Kenya has always been a top safari destination and tourism is a major source of hard currency. Unfortunately, tensions between people and wildlife are heightening in Kenya and all over Africa due to deforestation and population pressures. Earlier ...Elephants break out of Tsavo West National Park, locals go into hiding
May 6th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
More than 500 elephants strayed out of Tsavo West National Park in Kenya, destroying crops and scaring villagers before being herded back onto park property, the Nairobi Star reports.
The elephants were simply grazing and looking for water, park officials say, but that doesn't reassure villagers who saw their fields trampled. The elephants wandered through five villages and there are reports ...United Kingdom government does U-turn on forest sell-off
Feb 18th, 2011 at 2:00PM: Back on January 27 we reported that the government of the United Kingdom was planning on selling all of England's publicly owned forests. Well, the English love their heritage (at least those English outside the government) and there was a huge public outcry. Half a million people signed a petition in opposition to the plan. Now the Guardian reports the government has backed down.
Environment ...Taj Mahal is getting a facial
Jan 8th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
India's most beautiful monument is going to look even more beautiful after a team of specialists give it a mud facial. The Taj Mahal in Agra is getting treated with multani-mitti , known in English as fuller's earth, an absorbent mud that sucks up dirt and grime and is normally found in beauty parlors. The Archaeological Survey of India is conducting the cleaning.
The site's mosque and some ...Mountain gorillas making a comeback
Dec 9th, 2010 at 3:00PM:
In the latest in a spate of good news about wildlife conservation in Africa, BBC Earth reports that mountain gorillas have increased their numbers on Virunga Massif, their core habitat stretching across Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From a population of only 250 thirty years ago, their population has almost doubled to 480 today. Another 302 live in Uganda's Bwindi ...Yet another wall collapses in Pompeii
Dec 9th, 2010 at 2:30PM: Here we go again.
In the fourth incident in a little more than a month, a wall in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii has collapsed, Discovery News reports.
The garden wall surrounding the House of the Moralist, a popular stop for visitors, has toppled. Site managers say heavy rains caused the terrace around the wall to slide down, pushing over the walls. These walls were completely restored ...UNESCO studies Pompeii troubles
Dec 4th, 2010 at 12:00PM:
A UNESCO team has arrived at Pompeii to investigate the recent collapses of ancient walls and buildings, All Headline News reports.
Two Roman walls collapsed earlier this week, and in November the House of Gladiators fell down. Authorities blame heavy rains but there's a growing controversy over the lack of maintenance at the site.
The Roman city was buried in ash during an eruption of Mt. ...Controversy rages as Pompeii continues to crumble
Dec 2nd, 2010 at 12:00PM: More bad news from Pompeii. The famous Roman city, preserved by volcanic ash from an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, is starting to fall apart.
The BBC reports that two ancient walls have fallen down this week in separate parts of the city.
Officials say the problems are due to heavy rainfall, but the site has been underfunded for years. A recent cash injection was so badly managed that ...One in five vertebrates face extinction
Nov 13th, 2010 at 12:30PM:
The bad news: One in five vertebrates could go extinct within our lifetime, and the number may rise even higher than that.
The good news: It would be a lot worse if it weren't for conservation efforts.
That's the verdict of a global study of 25,000 threatened vertebrate species presented to the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Nagoya, Japan. It ...
