Orphaned baby rhino scared to sleep alone at night after mother killed by poachers

By Nick Visser  10 June 2014 (The Huffington Post) – At least  442 rhinos have been slaughtered in South Africa this year, hunted for their horns that can often be worth more than their weight in gold. Despite ongoing attempts to save this endangered species, poachers are killing these animals in record numbers, leaving many […]

Half of world’s forest species at risk – FAO publishes first global study of forest genetic resources

4 June 2014 (PhysOrg) – Half of the world’s forest species are at risk from climate change and farming, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, as it called for “urgent action” to manage them better. In its first global study of forest genetic resources, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said woodland was shrinking […]

Little has changed 1 year after slaying of Costa Rica conservationist Jairo Mora

By Lindsay Fendt31 May 2014 MOÍN, Limón (Tico Times) – It was February, and leatherback sea turtles had just starting arriving to nest on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast when Marielos Morice and I made our drive down the uneven dirt path along Moín Beach. When the road turned to sand, Morice looked up and yelled […]

Ivory’s curse: The militarization and professionalization of poaching in Africa – 35,000 to 50,000 elephants slaughtered each year

21 April 2014 (Born Free USA) – It has been a quarter century since Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) placed all African elephants on Appendix I, thus eliminating commercial trade in elephant ivory. This uniform global prohibition on ivory commercialization demonstrably reduced elephant poaching, helped elephant populations to stabilize, […]

Mountain Bull, legendary Kenyan elephant, found slaughtered by poachers – ‘He was killed while being tracked night and day with modern technology and within the confines of a fenced national park and World Heritage site’

By M. Sanjayan16 May 2014 (CBS News) – Mountain Bull, the magnificent six-ton elephant, featured prominently in our reporting on the poaching crisis in Africa for CBS Evening News and CBS Sunday morning, has been discovered dead. Perhaps he had been living on borrowed time, but the manner and place of his death is shocking […]

Prosecutors file murder charges against turtle egg poachers who allegedly murdered Jairo Mora

By Lindsay Fendt  5 May 2014 (Tico Times) – On Monday, after more than nine months in preventive detention, the seven men suspected of participating in the killing of Costa Rican sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora last May were formally charged with murder and a host of other offenses. All seven men — with the […]

Video: Trailer for 6 – Documenting the sixth mass extinction

25 April 2014 (Oceanic Preservation Society) – Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, Oscar®-winner Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) assembles a team of artists and activists intent on showing the world never-before-seen images that expose issues of endangered species and mass extinction. Whether infiltrating notorious black markets with guerilla-style tactics or exploring the scientific causes affecting changes to the […]

Land grabs threaten last elephant bastions

By Richard Lardner20 April 2014 WASHINGTON (AP) – Political and military elites are seizing protected areas in one of Africa’s last bastions for elephants, putting broad swaths of Zimbabwe at risk of becoming fronts for ivory poaching, according to a non-profit research group’s report that examines government collusion in wildlife trafficking. Zimbabwe has maintained robust […]

Death to the Greenies! The message is clear: ‘Get in the way of our profits and we will kill you’

By Captain Paul Watson 16 April 2014 (Facebook) – Being a wildlife conservationist or an environmentalist is now considered one of the planet’s most dangerous occupations. We face very dangerous and powerful vested interests each day. They outnumber us and they are financially and politically connected. They are ruthless and they will deal harshly with […]

Graph of the Day: Annual species offtake rate for one bushmeat market in West Africa

Estimated annual offtake rates for Friday/Sunday bushmeat market days at the Daobly market in the Ivorian town of Taï along the Cavally River. The annual offtake was calculated by doubling the average of the observed Friday offtake, and doubling again to account for the similar volume of primates traded at Sunday markets. This value was […]

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