All About the African Big Five

According to tourist brochures a modern day African safari is not complete without having spotted each member of the Big Five. Some companies even go so far as to award certificates to those guests who have experienced the big five on their safari.

Hunting and photographic safaris

The big 5 is a collective term used to describe lion, leopard, buffalo, black rhino and elephant Although seemingly patented by the photographic tourism market the big five is a term that originated during the early days of trophy hunting and indicated the five most dangerous animals to hunt and hence the most sought after trophies.

The part that constitutes the trophy differs with each animal. The lion is sought for its mane, the elephant its tusks, the buffalo and rhino the horns and the leopard the general body size and size of the head.

Private reserves and the Big 5

With the advent of luxury photographic safari travel in the 1970’s in South Africa’s private game reserves the big 5 became the largest selling point of a safari and despite attempts by many individuals and organizations at ridiculing the concept aggressive marketing ensures the popularity continues to grow.

The black rhino was the original member of the Big five but with the scarcity of the species today the more common white rhino has taken its place in many areas as many forget the original ideal.

Facts about the Big 5

The buffalo is responsible for the most human deaths annually. The leopard is hunted by setting out baits. Despite the ban on ivory trading, elephants are still legally hunted in some countries. Although many countries have banned trophy hunting it is still big business in Africa.

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.

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.

Namibia set to kill a third of remaining desert bull elephants

There are growing fears that Namibia is about to sell off hunting rights to a third of the remaining adult bull desert elephants in the country. With an estimated population of just over 100 elephants and just 18 of those being adult males the loss of a third of the breeding males would be devastating for the long-term viability of the famous desert elephants of Namibia.

Living in harsh conditions such as the desert has forced this population of elephants to learn new techniques to survive and this has been passed down through the generations. As the population grows smaller and the mature adults are killed the ability for the herd to maintain it’s knowledge in living in these highly stressful conditions diminishes.

While the Namibian government claims that the population is strong at over 500 elephants local conservationists believe the actual numbers are around 100 elephants. Of far more concern is the ratio between males and females. Previous hunting and poaching has reduced the breeding bull elephants to such an extent that there is now 13 females for every male elephant. This ration will grow even larger if 6 more mature bull elephants are killed in the prosed hunt later this year.

Desert living elephants are a rare group of elephants. While they are not genetically distinct from other African plains elephants they have a special herd knowledge that allows them to survive I the harsh conditions of the desert. Apart from the Namibian population the only other group of elephants with this specialist knowledge and skills can be found in Mali.

With so few elephants now with the skills and knowledge to survive in these conditions the loss of any adult elephants takes away essential skills and the ability to pass that knowledge down through the generations. The unnatural ratio of males and females also breaks down the social connections within the herd that allows the herd to survive the hard conditions.

The life of the desert elephant is harsh and the herd knowledge allows the herd to continually migrate from one watering hole to another using memory to deal with differing climate conditions.

Maintaining a viable population of mature adult bull elephants is important as juvenile male elephants leave the family group at about 12 years of age and many will attach themselves to a mature male in order to learn both practical and social skills that they will need as they come into breeding adulthood.

Namibia’s desert elephants live in the arid region of Kunene in north west Namibia. In the earlier 1900′s there were as many as 3,000 elephants in the desert herds.

Prior to the 1980′s one population of Namibian desert elephants would regularly undertake a long-distance migration between Kunene River on the Angolan border, to the Hoarusib River. It was a migration of 100′s kilometres mainly undertaken at night when temperatures were cool. Sadly this population became extinct following the Angolan war and heavy poaching.

The hunt is expected to take place in the Namibian election campaigns in November and the meat from the elephants is expected to be distributed to local rural communities in an attempt by the current government to win their votes.

7 Rangers Killed in Ghana Last Year

Dr Samuel Afari Dartey, Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission of Ghana announced yesterday that since 2011 his service had lost 69 wildlife rangers and forest guards. This is an increase of 7 since the announcement last year at the launch of the new re-vamped forest service. While the number of rangers killed has fallen on previous years the killings means the rangers in Ghana are still facing high risks every time they go out on patrol.

Last years speech by Dartey gave a commitment to boost the equipment and training given to rangers to help them operate more effectively. He also promised that the rangers would also work more closely with the military to help provide more security and better protection.

At yesterday’s event, the Third Forestry Week and Greening Ghana Day celebration, he promised to boost the rapid reaction force still further to help protect and conserve the remaining forests.

He also announced plans that will see Ghana start to replant lost forests with the use of specially bred fast-growing saplings. He pointed out that 100 years ago the forests of Ghana covered over 8 million hectares, today the forest cover is just 1.8 million hectares.

Dartey also highlighted that the government viewed that forests as being an integral part of the sustainable development of the country and that protection of the forests is essential if the benefits of good forest cover are to be seen by the people.

There will also be a movement towards making the forests an integral part of the tourism industry and some of the established forests will be managed for predominantly recreational use rather than resource exploitation. New plantations will be used as a timber supply source to reduce pressure on wild forests.

Referring to the attacks on forest staff and wildlife rangers, Darley said that the number of people assigned to the Forest Commission Rapid Response Force would be increased to hep support investigations in to ranger murders and attacks. He also said the rangers will be supplied with better equipment to help them combat the criminal gangs who are plundering the forests. The commission has also trained specialist wildlife and environmental law staff to work with prosecutors to increase the conviction rates of those caught.

Photo credit: Ghana Forestry Commission remember their murdered colleagues in 2013. Ghana News Service.