A beloved, venerable African elephant named Torn Ear was killed in Kenya on February 7 by poachers who shot him with poisoned arrows. Richard Bonham discovered Torn Ear’s fatal injury while observing him at a watering hole. Bonham is the co-founder and the African operations director of the wildlife conservation organization, Big Life Foundation. He...
By Laura Parker President Obama’s new national strategy to combat illegal wildlife trafficking around the globe is intended to be far more sweeping than curbing the poaching of African elephants. It is also aimed at combating organized crime in unstable African countries. Read the full story on our daily news page....
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) recently completed an ambitious project: translocating six forest elephants in Côte d’Ivoire. The elephants—all males—were transferred from small patches of forest just outside the town of Daloa, to Azagny National Park, a 46,000-acre park 250 miles away. The move was considered exceedingly risky: possibly the first-ever forest elephant...
Move over, Banff ground squirrel—there’s a new photo crasher in town. An African bull elephant snuck up behind tourists in an undated photo taken in Wedza, Zimbabwe, in “the photobomb of a lifetime,” according to a statement from Barcroft Media. The five women failed to see the seven-ton animal approach them from behind as they concentrated...
Since 2001, elephant conservationist Melissa Groo has been managing the Save the Elephants listserv, a free news service that disseminates daily news about elephants from around the world. Save The Elephants (STE) is a Kenya-based international conservation organization founded by preeminent scientist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who has been working across Africa on behalf of elephants since...
A few weeks ago a friend of mine discovered that someone he knew was trading or in possession of contraband in the way of ivory and asked me who to contact. I told him to contact the USFWS. Specifically, I suggested emailing or calling the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Division of Management Authority, the...