De Beers moves 200 elephants from South Africa to Mozambique 23 July 2018   Diamond producer De Beers says it has started an operation to move 200 elephants from its game reserve in South Africa to Mozambique. The elephant population at the private Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve was too high, and risked causing extensive damage to the ecosystem, the firm said. The relocation of the 200 animals would boost elephant numbers in neighbouring Mozambique, it added. Elephants in Mozambique are threatened with extinction because of poaching. Mozambique suffers...

Conservation: Elephant poaching on the increase in Botswana Last week, the carcass of a 40-year old elephant bull was found in Ngamiland, northern Botswana, partly covered with still green Mopane bushes and half of its skull hacked away by poachers to remove its tusks. The bull was killed during full moon two days earlier. Elephant poaching “This recent incident brings the total number of poached elephant carcasses since our elephant survey began to 55. Thirty-three of the poached carcasses we suspect were killed in the last three months, while the remaining 22 are fresh and thought...

Burma Elephant Poaching Dips in 2018 After Years on Rise   By SALAI THANT ZIN 3 August 2018 PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region — More than 100 wild elephants were poached in forest reserves across the country over the past four years, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation’s Forest Department. U Pyae Phyo Aung, head of the Forest Department in Irrawaddy Region’s Ngapudaw Township, said poachers killed a total 115 of the pachyderms over the period: seven in 2014, 20 in 2015, 18 in 2016, 59 in 2017, and 11 from January through May. “Elephant...

Don’t let jumbos disappear THURSDAY AUGUST 9 2018 An elephant sprays water using its trunk after quenching its thirst at Ol Jogi conservancy in Laikipia County on June 23, 2013. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP   The steep increase in the number of protected animals that are hunted down and killed for their parts has drawn focus to the wild and prompted official measures to combat poaching — efforts that have been intensified of late. In Kenya, the causes of species loss have varied through time and include hunting, pollution, invasive species, habitat loss and climate change. These...

Rhino poop gives villagers in India a conservation incentive by Moushumi Basu on 11 July 2018 Elrhino company uses the fiber from rhino dung, along with other locally available products, to produce high-end paper products. The founders of the company aim to help preserve India’s greater one-horned rhinos by giving villagers a financial incentive to help protect the species. The company employs local residents to collect rhino waste, to work in the paper factory, and to produce decorations for its paper products. The illicit demand for their horns and other...

A new lust for elephant skin jewelry could decimate Myanmar’s giants Aug 8, 2018 6:20 PM EDT The poaching of African elephants, where they are murdered for their ivory tusks, is well-documented. But halfway around world in Myanmar, their cousins are 10 times more endangered and facing a new serious threat. Poachers are taking the skin of Asian elephants and turning it into ruby red jewelry. The NewsHour’s Nsikan Akpan reports. Read the Full Transcript William Brangham: There’s a new crisis unfolding in the nation of Myanmar. It’s the poaching of Asian elephants. As...

Stuck in-between a “Corridor and a Camp” How Myanmar's persecution of Rohingya refugees has also put elephants and other wildlife in peril   Abida Rahman Chowdhury It is the Bangladesh-Myanmar border; the calm of the forest is broken by piercing sounds of gunfire and screams. Everywhere, people are on the run and she too trudges on, heavy, weary steps one at a time, trying to find refuge. She eventually makes it to the forests of Bangladesh only to be stuck indefinitely. I am talking about an Asian Elephant or possibly a herd of Asian Elephants that...

Botswana considers lifting elephant hunting ban By Newsday - July 17, 2018 GABORONE — Botswana, home to the world’s largest elephant population, may lift a ban on hunting for sport in the face of what the government says is growing conflict between humans and wildlife, a move sure to provoke protest from animal welfare groups. Reuters Conservationists estimate the land-locked southern African country to have around 130 000 elephants, close to a third of the continent’s population, but the government says the number is closer to 230 000, causing problems for small-scale...