Elephants In Peril

Slaughter of the African Elephants

Mar. 17, 2013 — New York Times

There is nothing a mother elephant will not do for her infant, but even she cannot protect it from bullets. About a year ago, poachers attacked a family of forest elephants in central Africa. The biologist who witnessed the attack told us that wildlife guards were completely outgunned. In the end, an elephant mother, riddled with bullets and trumpeting with pain and fear, was left to use her enormous body to shield her baby. Her sacrifice was for naught; the baby was also killed.

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Even on Reserves, Scant Protection for Elephants:
Three Stories From One Region

Mar. 16, 2013 — New York Times

Like so many of Africa’s wilderness areas, the Buffalo Springs and Samburu reserves in Kenya are too cramped — smaller than the city of Detroit — for the majestic inhabitants they are supposed to protect. Every savannah elephant that dwells in these reserves also roams far beyond the invisible boundaries, along the well-worn paths of its ancestors in search of food and water.

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All eyes on countries fuelling illegal ivory trade

Feb. 21, 2013 — TRAFFIC Press Release

21st February 2012—The international body that regulates wildlife trade should begin proceedings to impose sanctions on the countries most complicit in the illegal trade of ivory, which causes the deaths of up to 30,000 African elephants each year.

WWF and TRAFFIC are urging the 177 governments gathering in Bangkok early next month under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

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In Conversation with Iain Douglas-Hamilton on landmark Samburu study

Jan. 17, 2013 — National Geographic in A Voice for Elephants

Ivory Poaching Threatens ‘Elephant Memory’

The large number of mature and experienced African elephants being killed illegally for their ivory is exposing younger surviving elephants to a higher risk of mortality from predation and other risks, wildlife conservationists said today.

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Landmark study shows disturbing impacts of poaching

Jan. 16, 2013 — Save the Elephants

Press Release

Embargoed until 9 p.m. GMT (2pm Pacific Time, 5 p.m. Eastern) on January 16, 2013

The devastating impacts of a recent surge in ivory poaching have been chronicled in detail by new research on one of Africa’s best-studied elephant populations.

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Time Running out to Save Elephants from Ivory Trade

Jan. 31, 2013 — A Voice for Elephants blog, National Geographic

An authoritative must-read on the current elephant crisis and the ultimate solution, by Save the Elephants Founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton.

This came out in Swara magazine today, but National Geographic have picked it up and posted it on their blog in a format that's much easier to read online.

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Blood Ivory destined for Sri Lankan temples

Jan. 25, 2013 — Ceylon Today

A decision allegedly by the Presidential Secretariat to release the tusks confiscated by the Customs Department to the Dalada Maligawa has angered environmentalists and the signatories of the Lusaka Agreement as this is in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

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Interview with Blood Ivory writer Bryan Christy

Jan. 24, 2013 — mongabay.com

By some estimates, more than 30,000 elephants were slaughtered across the savannas and forests of Africa and Asia for the ivory trade during 2012. The carnage represents as much as 4 percent of the world's elephant population. Accordingly, some conservationists are warning that elephants face imminent extinction in some of their range countries.

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Ivory smugglers find a home in city (South Africa)

Dec. 13, 2012 — Cape Times

THERE has been a upswing in ivory smuggling through Cape Town in the last few years as the city appears to have become an attractive point to export these illegal goods.

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Wildlife crime profound threat to nations, says report

Dec. 12, 2012 — BBC News

The global illegal trade in wildlife is worth $19bn (£12bn) a year and is threatening the stability of some governments according to new research.

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Cameroon: ECCAS Gets Emergency Combat Strategies for Elephant Massacre

Mar. 24, 2013 — All Africa

Ministers of Defence, Forestry and External Relations of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) have adopted an emergency combat plan for growing poaching of protected and endangered animal species, especially elephant massacre that is disturbingly gaining grounds in the sub-region.

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CITES gets it right at last

Mar. 21, 2013 — Nature

Nature, perhaps the world's foremost scientific journal, hails the new resolve to protect wildlife witnessed at this year's CITES conference.

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Landmark IUCN report on elephants

Mar. 6, 2013 — IUCN

A report by the IUCN African Elephant Specialist Group is out today, showing a 'definite' continental population of 423,549 elephants. If all probable, possible and speculative figures added the total comes to 658,262. The Proportion of Illegally Killed elephants across all four regions of Africa was over 0.5, likely indicating an unsustainable level of elephant mortality.

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Thai PM opens CITES in Bangkok

Mar. 5, 2013 — Save the Elephants

Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra's speech at the opening ceremony for the CITES 16th Conference of the Parties on March 3 in Bangkok, Thailand. She spoke of how the Thai people love and revere elephants as part of their culture; she promised to “work towards amending the national legislation with the goal of putting an end to ivory trade and to be in line with international norms.“

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Tusk tracking will tackle illegal trade

Feb. 27, 2013 — Nature

International treaties meant to protect elephants are not working. Researchers estimate that tens of thousands of African elephants are now being killed by poachers each year, from a total wild population of around 400,000.

“It doesn’t take much math to show we have a serious, urgent problem,” says Samuel Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

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