Poaching Onslaught from all sides in Garamba National Park DRC

African Parks has intensified its anti-poaching efforts in eastern DRC to counter the poaching onslaught that has beset Garamba National Park in the past two months. A total of 68 elephants have been poached since mid-April, representing about 4% of the total population.

In mid-May, African Parks reported that 33 elephants had been killed in the five weeks prior, indicating a concerted attack on the park’s elephant population.

Despite intensified anti-poaching efforts since then, the total has risen to 68 elephants in the past two months, at least nine of them shot from a helicopter. On one occasion hand grenades were used against the Park’s rangers by Sudanese poachers. For the first time the brains of elephants have also been removed, together with tusks and genitals.

African Parks’ investigations have revealed that the poaching is emanating from four different sources: Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgents, armed groups from South Sudan, poachers operating from a helicopter, and renegade members of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC).

Ol Jorgi Ranch Ranger Killed in Laikipia (Kenya) Raid

A Kenya Wildlife Service Ranger attached to Ol Jorgi Ranch in Laikipia North Sub-county was shot dead by suspected poachers on Monday night. Paul Harrison Lelesepei, 25 was with other rangers  guarding the sanctuary when they were attacked by suspected rhino poachers.
According to the KWS senior warden in charge of Mountain region Aggrey Maumo, the rangers were patrolling the ranch at the border with Loldaiga hill ranch when they were apprehended by the poachers. Maumo said there was a gun battle and the ranger was shot and died while being taken to Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital. The Director said there were two gangs of poachers in and around the ranch that night.
"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" Maumo said. The poachers managed to flee without any arrest made so far, with Maumo saying that they have leads. He said that all rhino sanctuaries in Laikipia have become a target for poachers with Ol Jorgi experiencing several attacks where five rhinos have been killed in the past six months.

These rangers are absolute Heroes. They have my deepest admiration.

One ton of pangolin scales from South Africa seized in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Customs authorities have seized just over one ton of pangolin scales from a shipping container which arrived from South Africa.

This is the second interception in Hong Kong of a shipment of pangolin scales from the African continent in just eight months, following the seizure of 320 kilograms of pangolin scales in October 2013. In this case, 40 bags totaling 1 000 kilograms of pangolin scales were detected in a container (declared as “plastic pet”) at the Kwai Chung cargo examination compound. While the scales are presumably those of African pangolins, the precise species is not known at this time.

In 2013, an estimated 8125 pangolins were confiscated in 49 instances of illegal trade across 13 countries.

Poaching tops Agenda at First UN Environment Meeting in Nairobi

Poaching and other types of illegal trade in wildlife are set to top the agenda at the first ever United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) to be held in Nairobi in June.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said they are planning to table a report on the growing trade and the threat it poses at the meeting.

"This is not a small thing. The threat it poses is not to be underestimated," he reiterated, "because we are confronted with a battle that we're not winning."

And while Steiner admitted that there remains an absence of empirical evidence directly linking poaching to terrorism, he maintained that it did not negate the very real possibility that one fed the other.
Kenya's Permanent Representative to UNEP Martin Kimani said "Elephant and rhino poaching are something the government is fighting day and night to eradicate so we're happy to put our heads together with the rest of the world and host this very important conversation,"

Steiner said that the meeting would inject some much needed impetus into the fight. The subject will be raised at the highest levels with over 100 government representatives expected at the UNEA meeting between June 23 and 27.

"We need to address the consumer end because there will be no point to poaching if there is no market for the trophies. And with China being one of the biggest consumers of ivory we're already holding exhibitions there, in train stations and elsewhere, to sensitise the public on the high price there is to pay for that trophy, that mythical cure," he said.

Ethiopa establishes Taskforce to Safeguard Protected Wildlife Areas

A national taskforce has been established by the Ethiopian Wild Life Conservative Authority (EWCA) in collaboration with Population, Health and Environment Ethiopia Consortium (PHEEC), to safeguard protected natural environments and wildlife.

The taskforce will take corrective measures up on receiving reports about violations of conservation and management rules. It will also mobilize technical and financial resources necessary for effective park management and monitor the effectiveness of the regional level taskforces at implementing proposed action plans.

First Elephant Poached in Kruger for 10 years

And so it begins...

It was only a matter of time before poachers would decide to move in on South Africa's large elephant population. This comes only days after Envoronment Minister Edna Molewa said there was no ivory poaching problem in South Africa.

Well there is now.

Poaching in Cameroon

Cameroon said its soldiers have shot and killed five suspected poachers who had been killing elephants in the West Africa country. The military said some of those killed were Janjaweed militiamen from Sudan.
The heavily armed poachers were caught operating in the Waza National Park.

A spokesperson for Cameroon's military, Colonel Didier Badjeck, said soldiers who have been patrolling to protect the wildlife responded, and in the ensuing gun battle, five of the poachers were killed.

He said the rapid intervention battalion of the Cameroon army had been deployed in the park with expert shooters and logistics. To aid them, air and land patrols were organized. Ten horses, more than 2,000 bullets and 88 elephant tusks were seized and handed to the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife.
More than 1,000 elephants live in the park, which located in far northern Cameroon, near borders with Nigeria and Chad.

Last year, 100 elephants were killed in Cameroon, an improvement over 2012 when 300 of the animals were felled by poachers' bullets.

Unbelievable statement by SA Environment Minister

Addressing a crowd at a ceremony to sign an anti-poaching agreement between South Africa and Mozambique in the Kruger National Park earlier this month, Edna Molewa, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, mentioned in a speech signifying her departments move toward a possible trade in rhino horn, that “we do think that it could (win the war on rhino poaching)… just taking it from the lessons we have learnt from ivory. We did an ivory once-off sale and elephant poaching has not been a problem since.”


Technically this statement isn't a crime but it damn well ought to be.

China pledges $100 million to combat poaching in Africa

China, a notorious source of demand for a massive illegal wildlife trade, is stepping up its game to save wildlife with a massive $100 million donation to combat poaching in Africa. The Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, has pledged $100 million to combat poaching in Africa during a visit to the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The funds will surely be helpful to curb supply of wildlife products in Africa, but meanwhile campaigns are working to stem demand from Chinese consumers, who value exotic animal products in traditional medicine and ivory ornaments.

Zimbabwe: Elephant Conservationist gives up in the face of illegal land takeover in Hwange NP

The fallout over an 'illegal' land claim in the Hwange National Park has seen one of the country's top elephant conservationists close down a key elephant conservation project.

The Zimbabwe 'Presidential Elephant Conservation Project' was founded and has been run by Sharon Pincott since 2001, with the aim of protecting the Presidential Elephant Herd, a unique herd of wild elephants that are meant to be protected by Presidential decree. In 2011 Pincott successfully lobbied Robert Mugabe to re-pledge his support for the elephant herd. This was in the face of land invasions, poaching and other threats to Zimbabwe's elephant population.

Sharon Pincott announced on Monday that she is stopping her work. The announcement has followed a worsening fight caused by the takeover of a piece of land in the Hwange National Park, which serves as the herd's home range.

The land in the Kanondo area has been claimed by a woman who insists she has an inheritance claim to the land, despite a 2013 directive by Zimbabwe's Cabinet that offer letters for the land be withdrawn. In what has been described as a case that "so reeks of incompetence and lack of care, of ignorance, of greed, of covering butts, of back-handers, and of the corruption that this country is supposedly, right now, trying to stamp out," the Cabinet directive of 2013 has been ignored. Instead, the Kanondo land claimant has forged ahead with the building of a safari lodge.

Concern has been raised amid reports that she is the sister of a known Zimbabwean hunting safari operator named Rodger Madangure.

Sounds like they're all going to die.