May 14th, 2013 at 8:00AM: Two poachers illegally hunting inside Zimbabwe's Charara National Park had the tables unexpectedly turned on them recently. The two men slipped into the reserve unnoticed where they had hoped to kill an elephant and harvest its ivory tusks for sale on the black market in Asia. But their excursion ended up going horribly wrong leaving one of the men in the hands of the authorities and the other ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
elephant posts
Alleged Poacher Trampled To Death By Elephant In Zimbabwe
May 14th, 2013 at 8:00AM: Two poachers illegally hunting inside Zimbabwe's Charara National Park had the tables unexpectedly turned on them recently. The two men slipped into the reserve unnoticed where they had hoped to kill an elephant and harvest its ivory tusks for sale on the black market in Asia. But their excursion ended up going horribly wrong leaving one of the men in the hands of the authorities and the other ...Elephants May Be Extinct In Tanzania In A Few Years
May 4th, 2013 at 1:00PM: Jumbo Elephants may disappear from Tanzania within seven years if current poaching trends continue, Sabahi news service reports.
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute counted 109,000 elephants in 2009. In 2012, the number had sunk below 70,000. This is due to a surge in poaching. Elephant ivory commands high prices on the international black market. If current trends continue, the elephants ...Rhinos Now Extinct In Mozambique's Limpopo National Park
May 1st, 2013 at 8:00AM: An official from the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique made a sobering announcement this week when it was revealed that rhinos are now extinct inside the park. António Abacar, the park's director, indicated that no rhinos have been spotted in Limpopo since January, which leads him to believe that poachers have killed the few animals that had remained. With rhinos now gone, he believes ...Elephant Attacks Car In South Africa's Kruger National Park
Apr 17th, 2013 at 8:00AM: Most visitors to South Africa's Kruger National Park hope that they'll have a memorable wildlife encounter while exploring the popular game reserve. Earlier this week one couple certainly got their encounter when they were attacked by an elephant, leaving their vehicle completely demolished and landing both of them in the hospital.
The unnamed travelers were said to be of "Chinese origin" with ...Better Know A Holiday: Songkran
Apr 15th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
AKA: Thai New Year, Water Festival, Pi Mai (Laos), Chaul Chnam Thmey (Cambodia), Thingyan (Myanmar), Water-Splashing Festival (Chinese Dai minority)
When? April 13 to 15 officially, though celebrations may last longer
Public holiday in: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar
Who died? Nobody.
Reason for celebration, then? The sun has begun its northward journey into the constellation of ...Thailand Announces End Of Ivory Trade
Mar 5th, 2013 at 8:00AM: It's no secret that the demand for ivory in Asia has led to the slaughter of countless elephants in Africa. Whole herds have been decimated over the past decade and many African countries have watched their elephant populations dwindle to historically low levels. But on Sunday, the fight against the illegal ivory trade got a much needed boost when the Prime Minister of Thailand announced that her ...More Than 11,000 Elephants Poached In Gabon In Past Decade, Officials Estimate
Feb 7th, 2013 at 3:00PM: The West African nation of Gabon has one of the largest populations of elephants in the world, yet now they're in danger of being wiped out for their ivory.
The World Wildlife Fund reports that a study done by itself in cooperation with the Gabonese National Parks Agency and the Wildlife Conservation Society found that up to 11,000 elephants were killed by poachers in Gabon since 2004. That may ...Illegal Ivory Trade Surged To Highest Level Ever In 2011
Jan 6th, 2013 at 9:00AM: A new report from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) indicates that the illegal ivory trade has risen to its highest point in two decades following a sharp upturn in seizure of large shipments of the elephant tusks in recent years. The same report says that 2011 was the worst year on record with a "major surge" in the illegal trafficking of ivory.
The full ...Google To Fund Unmanned Drones To Hunt Poachers In Africa
Dec 12th, 2012 at 8:00AM: As part of their new Global Impact Awards, Internet search giant Google has pledged $5 million to the World Wildlife Fund in an effort to help fight illegal poaching in Africa and Asia. The funds will be used to create a sophisticated data network for tracking the movement of animals and will employ unmanned surveillance drones to hunt poachers in the field.
In their announcement of the grant, ...Is Illegal Poaching In Africa And Asia A Threat To US Security?
Nov 13th, 2012 at 8:00AM: The U.S. intelligence community has been issued a new charge from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Organizations such as the CIA and NSA are being asked to assess the impact that illegal poaching across Africa and Asia is having on U.S. security interests abroad. This shift in policy indicates that the administration may be preparing to get tough on the underground ...Tanzania Planning To Sell 100 Tons Of Ivory
Oct 11th, 2012 at 8:00AM: Tanzania has formally applied to the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species requesting permission to sell off its massive stockpile of ivory. The East African country has more than 100 tons of ivory in storage and wants to conduct a one-time sale to China and Japan. Proceeds from the sale would help fund elephant conservation efforts throughout the country, but the plan has drawn ...Photo Of The Day: Elephant Bath
Sep 30th, 2012 at 7:30PM:
Humans aren't the only ones that need to clean up. As we see in today's shot by Flickr user ladyexpat, even elephants like to have a scrub now and then. It's a great candid shot of not just the elephants in action, but also the handlers, as they casually chat while standing on the animals' backs.
Taken any great elephant photos during your own travels? Or any other animal for that matter? ...Central African Ivory Wars Ravage Elephant Population
Sep 6th, 2012 at 8:00AM: An ever-increasing demand for ivory on Asia's black market is creating conflicts across Africa and having a devastating effect on the elephant population there. According to a somber and in depth report published by the New York Times on Monday, the high price of ivory has now made elephant tusks akin to blood diamonds, a natural resource to be plundered at all costs. As a result, elephants are ...Video: Lucky Driver Barely Escapes Charging Elephant
Jul 13th, 2012 at 4:00PM: Elephants are beautiful, intelligent animals that are simply amazing to watch – provided it's from a safe distance. The driver in the video below would probably be happy if he never encountered another pachyderm as long as he lives, however, and after watching the video you'll understand why.
The YouTube description says that this video was shot in southern India, although the animal in ...
Poachers may now be setting fires in Kenya
Mar 22nd, 2012 at 8:00AM: Poachers in Kenya may have added a new weapon to their arsenal as they continue to look for ways to illegally harvest ivory in the African country. Earlier this week a series of wildfires ignited on and around Mt. Kenya and officials believe that they were started by poachers looking to draw attention away from their nefarious activities.
Officials at Mt. Kenya National Park scrambled more than ...Largest international conservation area formed in southern Africa
Mar 18th, 2012 at 11:00AM: On Thursday of this week five nations in southern Africa announced plans to form a new international conservation area that will be the largest of its kind once it is complete. This unprecedented move was made to allow the participating nations to combine their conservation efforts and combat illegal poaching in a more efficient manner.
Under the agreement, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola and ...Poachers kill 200 elephants in Cameroon already this year
Feb 19th, 2012 at 8:00AM: Government officials in Cameroon have announced that poachers have already killed more than 200 elephants in 2012, which is a startling number considering we're only about six weeks into the year. A growing demand for ivory in Asia is blamed for the massive rise in poaching, which is having devastating effects on the pachyderm population in central Africa.
On Friday, Gambo Haman, the governor ...Ivory poaching leads to steep decline in elephant populations
Jan 4th, 2012 at 8:00AM: A growing demand for ivory, particularly in Asia, has led to a substantial rise in the number of large-scale seizures of the banned material, and a steep increase in the poaching of elephants. So much so, that the populations of the animals in parts of Africa are now in serious decline.
According to a new report from wildlife-watchdog organization TRAFFIC, 2011 was a record year for ivory ...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 ...10 unique modes of transportation around the world
Nov 11th, 2011 at 4:00PM: Cars, trains, buses, and planes aren't the only way to get around a country. From the Bamboo Train in Cambodia to the Rail Cart in the the Philippines to the Couch Bike in Canada, here are ten unique modes of transportation from around the world.
Chicken Bus
Guatemala, Central America
While variations of the chicken bus can be found in many different countries (this reminds me a lot of ...
