Elephants Face Extinction If Beijing Does Not Ban Ivory Trade

China needs to act now on the country’s illegal ivory trade to stop elephants becoming extinct, according to one conservationist.

China accounts for 40 per cent of the world’s trade in elephant tusks, with many bound for the country intercepted by customs officials in Hong Kong
Joyce Poole, co-director of Elephant Voices, said the creatures had experienced their worst year in history, with more than 7 per cent killed for their tusks in only a year.

She called for China to tackle the country’s appetite for ivory to save the remaining 400,000 elephants from extinction, and said the species would be extinct within a decade if poaching continued at the current rate.

Nearly 40,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year, Poole told the South China Morning Post.

‘It’s either China does something, or we lose the elephants. It’s that big,’ she said.

‘If we can’t even save the elephants – such an iconic keystone animal, important to the African habitat – then what hope do we have?’

Ivory is known as ‘white gold’ in China, she said, and is symbol of wealth and status.

A worldwide ban on ivory was imposed in 1989, with two sanctioned sales of stock to China and Japan in 1999 and 2007.

Hong Kong customs officials have seized at least 16 tonnes of ivory worth HK$87million (more than £7million) bound for China in the past five years – which would require the tusks of 1,800 elephants, the paper reported.

About 93 per cent of elephant carcasses have been found to have been killed by poachers, said Poole, who has researched elephants for 40 years.

One elephant would earn an African poacher the same as a typical annual salary, she told the newspaper.

‘I think many people don’t know that you can’t get the tusks [for ivory] without killing the elephants,’ Poole said.

‘[Beijing is] still in denial that they have any part to play. Ivory isn’t worth much to the [Chinese] economy, but losing the elephants will make a huge difference to African countries.’ – Daily Mail

EU to Back Kenya at CITES next month

With just a few weeks to go to the next meeting of CITES in Bangkok, the Dutch ambassador to Kenya has announced that the EU will be voting as a bloc in favour of Kenya’s proposal to ban all trade in ivory for the next 9 years and to prevent any proposals for auctions being presented to CITES in that time period. The Dutch ambassador,  H.E Mr. Joost Reintjes, was paying a visit to the Kenya Wildlife Service when he announced  that the Netherlands will be joining the other EU member states to vote en bloc in support of Kenya’s proposals when the international community meets in Bangkok for the 16th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties (CoP). The CoP meeting takes place between 3rd March and 14th March at the  Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. Kenya has submitted a number of proposals to the CITES meeting including:

• Amendment of the annotation for Ceratotherium    simum simum as follows:  (added text underlined):    “Ceratotherium simum simum (Only the populations of South Africa    and Swaziland;    all other populations are included in Appendix I. For the exclusive purpose    of allowing international trade in live animals to appropriate and acceptable    destinations and hunting trophies. Hunting trophies from South Africa and    Swaziland shall be subject to a zero export quota until at least CoP18. All other specimens shall be deemed to be specimens of species included in    Appendix I and the trade in them shall be regulated accordingly.)” Proposed by: Kenya.
• Amend the annotation for Loxodonta africana as follows: (additional text underlined, deleted text struckthrough):       h) no further proposals to allow trade in    elephant ivory from any populations already in Appendix II    shall be submitted to the Conference of the Parties for the period from CoP14    and ending nine years from the date of the single sale of ivory that is to    take place in accordance with provisions in paragraphs g) i), g) ii), g) iii),    g) vi) and g) vii). In addition, such further proposals shall be dealt with    in accordance with Decisions 14.77 and 14.78 (Rev. CoP15). Proposed by: Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Kenya,  Mali and Togo
• Inclusion in    Appendix II: Osyris lanceolata – East African Sandlewood. Proposed by: Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania.
• Illegal trade in Cheetahs: Actions on enforcement and trade in cheetahs. Proposed by Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

At the meeting between the ambassador and Dr Kiprono, Director of Kenya Wildlife Service, the Director announced that funding was being made available for an additional 500 rangers to be recruited to help combat the current surge in poaching activity.

Bushmeat Crisis Task Force Members Celebrate Ten Years of Achievement

On 19 February 1999, 34 experts, representing 28 different organizations and agencies, assembled at the offices of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) in Silver Spring, Maryland to discuss the commercial bushmeat crisis in tropical African countries and its impact on threatened and endangered species. Together with a growing worldwide network of concerned conservationists, zoo biologists, animal welfare advocates and medical researchers, these experts agreed to pool their talents and information resources to focus on the growing threat posed by the unsustainable, illegal, commercial trade in wildlife as food. The Bushmeat Crisis Task Force (BCTF) was formed as a center for action and information on the bushmeat crisis in Africa and around the world.

Ten years later, BCTF members join together to celebrate its many accomplishments and to highlight the urgent needs that remain. The bushmeat issue is now recognized as one of the most important threats facing wildlife and local communities in Africa today. Dozens of on-the-ground programs, new policies and increased capacity have been developed as a result of BCTF and member efforts. BCTF’s work reveals the threats to wildlife and human populations posed by the bushmeat crisis and the priority solutions needed to resolve it. Resources for implementation, however, remain scarce. The critically important funding for the Congo Basin Forest Partnership has supported governments and NGOs working together on conservation and economic issues in Central Africa, but a significant threat to wildlife and local community livelihoods still remains. In East Africa, alarming new information about the growing trade in bushmeat shows the vital need for additional financial and human capacity.

BCTF has played a crucial role in educating and engaging policy makers, scientists, development officials, donors, and the public about wildlife and the bushmeat trade. Bushmeat policy efforts have been adopted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the African Forestry Law Enforcement and Governance (AFLEG) agreement, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) with BCTF support. BCTF has been consulted and supported efforts by all three branches of the U.S. Government to address the bushmeat issue. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Agency for International Development support for on-the-ground bushmeat projects in Africa, House and Senate committee hearings related to bushmeat and wildlife trade, and a current Federal prosecution for importation of commercial levels of bushmeat over U.S. borders are examples of BCTF’s engagement. Media attention on the bushmeat issue has mushroomed in the last decade from a few dozen articles prior to 1999 to well over a thousand articles today – many of which BCTF has provided direct input.

As well as raising awareness about bushmeat as a top priority conservation issue, a primary role of BCTF has been to create an information sharing mechanism. In addition to BCTF’s world-class website, BCTF’s Information Management and Analysis Project (IMAP) provides a central repository of information on the causes and solutions of bushmeat hunting and trade in Africa and around the world. The Bushmeat IMAP combines technical expertise in mapping forest use in Central Africa with BCTF’s worldwide databases and professional networks to provide the most current, site-specific information available on the bushmeat trade. An exhaustive digital library is paired with an online, customizable mapmaker to permit users to quickly find and map information on key elements that impact the bushmeat trade in Central Africa.

Building the capacity of professionals and educators to address the bushmeat crisis is critically important work, and BCTF has been at the forefront of these efforts. From a collaboration with the École de Faune de Garoua (Garoua Wildlife School) in Cameroon to develop and implement a bushmeat curriculum for mid-career wildlife managers to the current MENTOR (Mentoring for Environmental Training in outreach and Resource Conservation) program that is providing a wealth of bushmeat management capacity-building opportunities for conservationists in East Africa, BCTF has led important collaborative efforts in this regard. Our free, online Bushmeat Education Resource Guide (BERG) provides tools and resources to benefit students of all ages and backgrounds. Many of BCTF’s zoo members contributed important tools to the BERG and even more have benefited from it in their exhibits, programs and events.

The bushmeat issue is widely recognized as one of the highest priority conservation threats facing global biodiversity today. BCTF is recognized as a leading collaborative organization that has facilitated this critical awareness and programs to address the crisis. The members of BCTF are committed to supporting current and future generations of people and wildlife, recognizing that our children and grandchildren need us to effectively manage wildlife resources today.

Each BCTF Member organization has worked in their own way to solve this crisis on the ground, in the halls of Congress, in international policy arenas and with the public. Please visit their websites to learn more about their actions.

BCTF members and staff have worked tirelessly to raise awareness and implement solutions to the bushmeat crisis, as well as invite additional efforts from development organizations and agencies, scientists, policy makers and the public. Wildlife gives so much to so many: it is an important source of protein, a key component to local and national economies, a critical biodiversity resource providing essential ecological services for our world, and a source of wonder to us all. The bushmeat crisis threatens all of this.

Cameroon: 15 Arrested for Poaching

About 15 people have been detained following a huge anti-poaching operation involving the military, gendarmes and game guards in southeast Cameroon. During the operations, guns, elephant, chimpanzee and gorilla meat were confiscated. 22 people were initially caught during the operations, while 15 were arrested and taken to Yokadouma. Out of the 15, 11 have been detained in the gendarmerie cell while 4 have been charged to appear in court.

They are now in the Yokadouma Prison awaiting trial. The Divisional Delegate for Wildlife and Forestry in the region, Colonel Pandong Eitel, said they will press charges against the suspects and ensure that concomitant sanctions are meted out on them.

Several war arms including two AK 47 rifles (Kalashnikov), one 458-caliber rifle, three 375-caliber rifles and a cartridge containing 36 Kalashnikov bullets were amongst 30 guns confiscated during the operation that took place in Southeast Cameroon from April 25 to May 1. 15 people were also arrested and 1000 kg of bush meat seized.

Top Five National Parks in Kenya

Ask most Africa travel enthusiasts, and they’ll easily tell you that Kenya is the real home of the African safari. To this day, the country’s diverse wildlife and magnificent landscapes continue to attract hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. This is despite the rising competition from countries like Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, and Zambia.

Of course wildlife safaris are Kenya’s biggest attraction, which is why in today’s post, I write about what, in my opinion, are the five of the top national parks and game reserves in Kenya.

1. Masai Mara Game Reserve

Certainly, no other Kenyan game reserve or national park can rival the Maasai Mara in terms of fame and popularity. I can attribute a huge chunk of this fame to the annual wildebeest migration between the Mara and the neighboring Serengeti national park in Tanzania. This great migration takes place between June and September, and remains the top draw for tourists into the Mara.

But that does not mean the migration is all that the Mara has to offer. In fact, you can travel to the reserve almost anytime of the year, and still have a great safari experience. The reserve has a great concentration of animals including all the big five. It may sometimes be hard to spot rhinos and leopards in the Mara, but you can be sure you will see plenty of elephants, lions, and buffaloes all year round.

When is a trip to the Mara not for you?

If you do not like tourist crowds, you may not enjoy the Mara during the wildebeest migration season. Usually, there is little regulation on the numbers of people allowed in the reserve at any time. The only limiting factor is the available accommodation and bed space in the Masai Mara lodges. While on game drives during the migration, you will often have to share the best game watching spots with scores of other tour vans. Unfortunately, the migration season is also the best season for wildlife spotting.

2. Amboseli National Reserve

For a long time, Amboseli national reserve has remained the second most popular national park in Kenya, after the Masai Mara. The ever present backdrop of Mt Kilimanjaro in the background makes Amboseli the ideal destination for wildlife photography. All the big five are present in the reserve. However, the large herds of huge roaming elephants are what define Amboseli most.

In the year 2009, Amboseli experienced one of its worst droughts. Many animals died in the process, especially the herbivores, greatly affecting the balance between predators and their prey. So much that the Kenya wildlife service had to translocate some zebras and wildebeest from other parks in an attempt to correct the imbalance.

3. Lake Nakuru National Park

As its name suggests, this national park is centered around the Lake Nakuru in the Rift valley. The lake hosts hundreds of bird species, the most popular being the flamingos. These water birds cover the surface of the lake, giving it a pink-carpet like appearance when viewed from a distance. If there is a birdwatchers’ paradise in Kenya, then it is Lake Nakuru national park.

In addition to being a haven for birdwatching, Lake Nakuru national park is also a sanctuary for the endangered black and white rhinos. At Lake Nakuru, you also stand your best chance of spotting leopards, which are usually very elusive animals. Other animals you are guaranteed to see include several gazelle species, hyrax, lions, warthogs, monkeys and babboons among others.

4. Samburu Game Reserve

Samburu game reserve and the adjoining Buffalo springs and Shaba game reserves are most renowned for unique animals that you will not find in any other Kenyan game park. These include the grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffes, kudu, somali ostriches, and the gerenuk. This is in addition to the many lions, elephants, beisa oryx, cheetahs, and leopards.

If you want to enjoy exclusive calmness while on a Kenya safari, Samburu game reserve is a good choice. Perhaps because of its dramatic arid terrain, Samburu does not have as many visitors as the Mara, Amboseli, and Lake Nakuru. Yet it is a true wildlife and birdwatching haven. Occasionally, the game reserve remains closed to tourists because of insecurity in the neighboring regions. Most recently, tourists had to be evacuated from the lodges in Samburu game reserve because of floods. But all in all, Samburu remains an ideal destination especially if you want to avoid crowds.

5. Tsavo National Park

I have included Tsavo in this list because, first, it is the biggest national park in Kenya, and second, it is the best destination when you when you want to enjoy a brief wildlife safari while on a beach holiday at the Kenyan coast. Because of its size, Tsavo is divided into two units: Tsavo East and Tsavo West.Tsavo is perhaps most popular for its fierce maneless lions, those of the “Man eaters of tsavo” fame. Tsavo is also home to large red-skinned elephant herds, black rhinos, leopards, giraffes, hippos and hundreds of other animal species.

Sometime back, the population of elephants and black rhinos in Tsavo was highly threatened by poachers. The Kenyan government however fought back through the Kenya wildlife service, and today, the poaching threat is not as bad as it was in the 1980s.

Choosing the best safari in Kenya

There are several reputable tour companies and tour operators in Kenya providing safaris to all the destinations I have mentioned. If you are interested in going on safari in Kenya, the Africa guide website has a number of great Kenya safari packages. Click here for safaris in Kenya from the Active African Vacations.

Interview With Douglas Groves ‘The Elephant Man’

When elephants are your best friends….

Douglas Groves

Q: Doug, I have met you a couple of times in Botswana and from the way you live and handle your elephants I would say you have more with animals than with humans. Is that statement correct and how did you develop your deep love for nature in general and your elephants in particular?

A: Hello Johan! Thanks for this opportunity to share our story with your readers.

Johan, I believe that every child is born with an affinity for the natural world, and my deep love for nature was heightened due to a developmental and speech impediment which I was born with.
For most of my elementary education my peers and teachers were unable to understand the bulk of my speech, so for comfort and companionship, I developed non-verbal skills and gravitated towards animals. Through a series of verbal shaping progressions, I eventually learned to speak so that others could understand me, and in the process, I also learned a lot about communicating with animals.

When I first met Jabu and Thembi in October of 1988, they had been orphaned from a Kruger National Park culling operation and were very traumatized. They were in serious need of nurturing and also needed some specialized care which I was in a position to provide. The bonds grew very quickly, as they typically do with young mammals, and before long we were inseparable.

Q: Unlike other close encounters with wildlife projects do you not allow tourists to ride your elephants, although you could make a handsome living out of that. What is your reasoning behind the very protective way you deal with your elephants?

Answer: We don’t offer commercial riding with our elephants for a variety of reasons.

First of all we feel that people learn much more about elephant life by observing natural behavior. Secondly, we believe that it is psychologically more difficult to create an atmosphere of respect and reverence for these magnificent animals if people are sitting on top of them.
Lastly, we also feel that it would generally detract from their quality of life.

Q: For many years now you have been living with your three elephants and surely you got to know them very well. How would you describe and characterize each single one of them?

A: Jabu is handsome,bold, clever, independent, generous, patient and calm.

Thembi is smart, quick, cute, resourceful, focused and sometimes flighty.

Morula is thoughtful, warm, wise, particular, social, intelligent and funny.

Jabu, Morula and Thembi

Q: Dealing with elephants on a daily basis surely has its ups and downs. What are your biggest ups and what are your most pressing downs?

A: Ups include an incredible feeling of oneness with the herd and their habitat. Being immersed in this mesmerizing wilderness gives us an opportunity to interactively connect with and learn about the diversity of flora and fauna surrounding us. There are always new surprises and challenges and I often enjoy the Adrenalin surge of an unexpected encounter. Some of the trade offs include more limited social interaction with our own species, and I miss festivals, concerts, book stores and museums. The most dreaded drawback, however, is the horrendous hairy caterpillars! They come out during the rainy season and have a toxic irritant on their hairs that can cause an itching insanity.

Q: Since your elephants have a ‘will of their own’ I am sure you had some interesting adventures with your three elephants. Tell us a short story that you will never forget:

A: As many of your readers will know, young bull elephants normally leave the herd that they were born in to prior to puberty. There is a lot of variation with the timing and we are often surprised at how young they leave. When Jabu was about 9 years old , he decided it was time for a walkabout. One morning while I was out in the bush watching the herd feed, I remembered that I had left some eye drops back at camp. We were not very far away from camp and the elephants seemed very content with their crunching, so I quickly headed back to get the eye drops. When I returned, Jabu was gone. The girls didn’t seem to even notice or care that he was gone! At first I was pretty calm, looking all around the immediate area behind bushes and in clumps of trees. Eventually I decided that I would need to take the girls back to camp and solicit some help to track Jabu down. We had an excellent bushman tracker on staff and fortunately we found Jabu’s tracks and followed them for hours, but eventually they got mixed in with other recent tracks and we started loosing light so we had to call the search off. He was gone five weeks! When he finally wandered back to camp, and we saw that he was well, we were overcome with joy!

Q: I see that you are quite active with social media and you worry a lot about our environment in general. What is your biggest fear for the future of our planet and what advice would you like to give the readers of this article?

A: My biggest fear would be widespread ecological collapse due to changing life support parameters. Large scale topographical and biochemical changes in our oceans and atmosphere are well underway and this will impact all life forms. By becoming ecologically literate, re-localizing our economies and trying to tread as lightly as possible on this precious planet, we might save a few species and slow the rate of change.

Q: If you could make three wishes, what would those wishes be?

A: That we could live in understanding and harmony with all life forms.

That we could keep human populations at a sustainable level.

and that we would find fulfillment in activities that promote the well being of the whole planet.

Q: Last but not least, what do your elephants mean to you? Are they more important than your lady partner? I understand if you lie in your answer…..

My wife, Sandi, the elephants and I are family. We have formed these warm bonds of kinship over the past two decades and we will go down this road together.

KWS Ranger Killed by Poachers

A Kenya Wildlife Service ranger was killed on Monday after being caught in an ambush by poachers. The ranger was part of a team protecting rhinos at the Ol Jorgi Ranch in Laikipia North  The ranger team was involved in a gun fight with a poaching gang outside the park when they were also attacked by a poaching gang that was already inside the park.

25-year-old Paul Harrison Lelesepei was shot during the gunfight and died while on the way to Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital.

The poaching gangs managed to escape but officials say that there are leads which are currently being followed by investigators.

Senior Ranger Aggrey Maumo described that “One gang was inside the ranch already while another was outside. Our rangers had no information about the other gang that was inside and were caught unawares during the shootout with the other that was outside”

The Ol Jorgi Ranch has been hit a number of times by rhino poachers in recent months with 5 rhinos killed in just 6 months.

Ranger Lelesepei’s murder comes just days after the Kenyan government turned down permission for the KWS to use aerial drones in the fight against poachers.