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How to Steal a Tuk Tuk in Thailand
The first episode of Jet Set Zero: Thailand has all the answers!-
- Mulcahey
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- 14 days ago
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Tucson Zoo Problem Involves Two Beautiful Elephants and Bob Barker
Los Angeles Times...
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Tucson zoo fight involves elephants, Bob Barker
January 18, 2012 | 3:52 pm
PHOTO:
Elephant herd at San Diego Zoo's Safari Park
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Connie is an Asian elephant, Shaba an African one. Nonetheless, they formed a bond, paling around together for three decades at Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo.
So when zoo officials announced plans last year to move Connie to the San Diego Zoo –- without her buddy Shaba -– animal activists were enraged.
The Tucson zoo was planning to bring in a herd of African elephants from San Diego, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Because zoo accreditation standards demand that new herds not mix African and Asian elephants, "due to multiple species differences and possible disease transmission issues," Connie would join other Asian elephants in San Diego.
But local activists Tracy Toland and Jessica Shuman considered the separation cruel. It “defies everything we know about elephants: their intelligence, profoundly deep social bonds (females remain with their mothers for life) and the capacity for deep emotion,” they wrote in the Daily Star.
The women launched a campaign to keep Connie, 44, and Shaba, 31, together and added some celebrity sizzle to the debate. At their behest, former “Price Is Right” host and well-known animal advocate Bob Barker recently offered to contribute $500,000 to send the elephants to a California sanctuary if others could raise matching funds.
This week, Tucson zoo officials reversed course, announcing that Connie and Shaba could both move to San Diego, the Daily Star said. Turns out, San Diego’s Asian elephant herd already has an African member, so Connie and Shaba’s cross-species kinship will fit right in.
.Los Angeles Times... . Tucson zoo fight involves elephants, Bob Barker January... more-
- EthicalVegan
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- 22 days ago
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Dramatic Rescue of Mother and Baby Elephant | Sinking Elephants Pulled from Mud
CNN...
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Dramatic rescue of mother and baby elephant
By Dominique van Heerden, CNN
updated 4:20 PM EST, Thu November 10, 2011
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(CNN) -- Most conservationists would agree that you should not interfere with mother nature. But there are exceptions to every rule.
Staff and tourists at Kapani Safari Lodge in Zambia were caught by surprise when a mother and baby elephant became trapped in mud.
Saying they couldn't just "stand by and watch them slowly die," what ensued was a dramatic rescue.
Together with the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) and the local wildlife authority, the team devised a plan to get the elephants out. The rest of the herd initially tried to help the screaming mother and baby escape, but they were stuck too deep.
Team managers from the conservation society slipped a rope around the baby and after a few attempts managed to pull her out of the muddy pit. The team says it took a lot of coaxing to get her out and on her feet though, adding that she "was terribly frightened and wouldn't leave her mum's side".
Getting the adult elephant out of the mud was a far more challenging task -- by the time the baby had been rescued, its mother was dehydrated and exhausted. But the SLCS team eventually pulled her out too, using a tractor and rope.
Staff at Kapani Lodge say it was "heart-warming to see how many local people joined in the efforts to free the two elephants... it was the happiest possible ending."
.CNN... . Dramatic rescue of mother and baby elephant By Dominique van... more-
- EthicalVegan
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Sadness: Bella (the Dog) Has Died... Tarra (the Elephant) Has Lost Her Best Friend of Eight Years
[My note: I hate this particular news article, but so far, it's the only thing I can find about the sad ending to Bella and Tarra's beautiful, inspiring friendship. Hope this hits your heart, too.]
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From Hufffington Post...
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Bella The Dog Dies; Tarra The Elephant Mourns At Tennessee Sanctuary (VIDEO)
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First Posted: 11/4/11 01:23 PM ET Updated: 11/4/11 01:24 PM ET
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Tragedy struck a pair of unlikely friends who had captured the hearts of caretakers and animal lovers.
Tarra the elephant and Bella the dog began their friendship at The Elephant Sanctuary In Tennessee about eight years ago, according to CBS. Last week, Bella was believed to have been attacked by coyotes and died, leaving Tarra to mourn the loss of her best friend.
Bella and Tarra played and ate together, and often had sleepovers in a barn, according to the Leavenworth Times.
Sanctuary caretakers believe Tarra found Bella's body after the attack and carried her to the spot they often spent time together.
"The idea that she couldn't leave that body and brought it back home is just heartbreaking, but so inspiring," Robert Atikinson, CEO of the Elephant Sanctuary, told Nashville's WKRN News 2.
Once, when Bella suffered a severe spinal cord injury, Tarra patiently waited for her friend's recovery. CBS detailed the moments in a 2010 story:
For three weeks the elephant held vigil: 2,700 acres to roam free, and Tarra just stood in the corner, beside a gate, right outside that sanctuary office...
Then one day, sanctuary co-founder Scott Blais carried Bella onto the balcony so she and Tarra could at least see each other.
"Bella's tail started wagging. And we had no choice but bring Bella down to see Tarra," Blais says.
Bella was first spotted at the sanctuary in the fall of 2003, and died on October 26, 2011. The Elephant Sanctuary set up a tribute page in honor of the deceased canine.
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[My new note: I've since added a bit more, including something from The Elephant Sanctuary, as well as more videos and photos. The most touching addition is a commentary done by Steve Hartman last night on CBS.]
.[My note: I hate this particular news article, but so far, it's the only thing I... more-
- EthicalVegan
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- 3 months ago
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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Animal Rights Activism Lawsuit Against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
http://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/article-0-07af1e86000005dc-547_634x387.jpg
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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Animal Rights Activism Lawsuit Against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hiBq32WYajbxiTSP-kaKE4Z4zzOw?docId=deda6c3aa956465db3fb5cb0be82b3cb
AP | The Associated Press...
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Appeals court upholds dismissal of elephant suit
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press – 15 hours ago
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by animal rights activists that claims the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus abuses its elephants.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington agreed with a lower court judge that the Animal Protection Institute and a former Ringling employee Tom Ryder did not have the legal standing to sue the circus. The lower court found that Ryder was "essentially a paid plaintiff" because he received at least $190,000 from the animal rights activists pursuing the case.
The lawsuit claimed the circus is violating the elephants' protection under the Endangered Species Act with the use of bullhooks for training and prolonged chaining during train rides between shows.
Feld Entertainment Inc. argued the elephants are not hurt and that the instruments are necessary to keep the animals under control and protect public safety. The Vienna, Va.-based company runs the circus and has an elephant sanctuary in Florida.
Feld attorney John Simpson said the appellate ruling supports the company's $20 million racketeering lawsuit against Ryder, animal rights groups and their attorneys that claims they committed bribery, obstruction of justice and other illegal acts in filing the elephant suit. Simpson said the purpose of the company's suit is to keep animal rights groups from using the federal court system to pursue "radical agendas."
"Feld Entertainment is the target today and some other businesses are going to be targets tomorrow," Simpson said in a telephone interview. "And at some point it has to stop."
The Animal Protection Institute declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. But they are asking a judge to dismiss Feld's racketeering suit, calling it "a transparent effort to stifle any criticism of FEI's elephant treatment practices" and to bankrupt and punish the animal rights groups.http://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/article-0-07af1e86000005dc-547_634x38... more-
- EthicalVegan
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- 3 months ago
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Elephant Rides Should Be a Thing of the Past
Los Angeles Times...
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Editorial
Elephant rides should be a thing of the past
Elephant rides are a tradition at the L.A. County Fair, but it's one tradition the fair should abandon, both for the animals' and the public's sake.
PHOTO: Rosie, an Asian elephant, cooled herself off with water during a break from giving rides at the Los Angeles County Fair. (Los Angeles Times)
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September 7, 2011
The Los Angeles County Fair is steeped in traditions, from its Ferris wheel to fried everything. But elephant rides are one tradition the fair should do without.
The Humane Society of the U.S., the country's most influential animal welfare organization, is against them, saying that elephants are typically trained for rides and other performance activities through the use of bullhooks and electric prods. The Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums "strongly encourages" its member organizations to discontinue rides in the interest of safety.
The elephants at the fair are supplied by the Perris, Calif.-based outfitter Have Trunk Will Travel, a member in good standing of the association. But its founders, Kari and Gary Johnson, are accustomed to controversy following in their elephants' footsteps. Officials of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who asked the fair to cancel the rides, circulated a video from Animal Defenders International that purportedly shows trainers from Have Trunk Will Travel using bullhooks and electric prods to get elephants to perform.
In a statement, the Johnsons said the video was six years old and heavily edited. "We stand by our care and training methods," said the statement. Kari Johnson confirmed that the trainers use bullhooks — "the pointed end is to push them away, the curved end is to pull them toward you." But she defended the company's care of its six Asian elephants, saying they are well treated on a 10-acre ranch and noting that the outfitter is involved in research on and conservation of the endangered species.
What's more, the company has supplied Asian elephants to the fair off and on for 20 years without incident or evidence of inhumane treatment on the grounds, according to fair spokesperson Leslie Galerne-Smith.
In our view, the video is beside the point here. Zoos, including the L.A. Zoo, are spending millions to create elaborate habitats for elephants, which are the world's largest land mammals. Some zoos have reevaluated whether their facilities can sufficiently accommodate the needs of pachyderms. Some are also instituting a policy of almost no unprotected contact between keepers and elephants, which is considered more humane and safer for all. At a time when the management of captive elephants is focusing on conservation and the animals' well-being, hoisting people onto their backs seems out of step.
The animal welfare groups, the elephant supplier and the fair officials all say they care deeply about elephant conservation. If that's true, there ought to be a way to allow people — including fairgoers — a chance to see and learn about these stately creatures of the wild without riding them.
.Los Angeles Times... . Editorial Elephant rides should be a thing of the... more-
- EthicalVegan
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- 5 months ago
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Los Angeles Considers Putting L.A. Zoo Operations into Private Hands | Why Not Create a Sanctuary, Instead?
L.A. considers putting zoo operations in private hands
Officials say the change would save nearly $20 million over five years and prevent possible closure. Critics question the savings and say the move could mean less transparency in animal welfare.
Los Angeles Zoo
Photo: Zoo patrons view a pair of Masai giraffes at the Los Angeles Zoo. Two potential private operators have expressed interest in running the zoo. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times
July 28, 2011
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Someone else may soon be tending to the misty artificial rain forest at the Los Angeles Zoo where Bruno, a 300-pound orangutan with a wispy orange beard and a hulking frame, makes his home.
The city opened the zoo and botanical gardens in 1966, but officials are now considering a proposal to turn over management to a private operator. That means the gardeners, plumbers and other city employees who help run the zoo could be transferred to other departments and replaced with private workers.
Like any issue involving labor — or animals — the fight over the fate of the zoo has caused a considerable stir.
City officials say the change would save nearly $20 million over the next five years and rescue the zoo from possible budget reductions or even closure. But opponents of the plan question the savings and warn that privatization could mean steeper ticket prices for the zoo's 1.5 million annual visitors and less transparency when it comes to animal welfare.
The zoo plan is only the latest example of a shift in how budget-strapped officials think about "core services" and City Hall's basic obligations to taxpayers. They are also considering proposals to privatize the Los Angeles Convention Center, an animal shelter in the San Fernando Valley and several arts facilities.
Such public-private partnerships are common in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History are two county facilities operated by nonprofit organizations.
"It's not a revolutionary idea," said Miguel Santana, L.A.'s chief administrative officer, who came to City Hall from the county in 2009. "This model has worked across the country as a way of ensuring services are maintained in an era of declining revenues."
According to a draft proposal for the zoo plan, which the City Council's Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee will consider Thursday, Bruno and the rest of the animals would remain the property of the city, along with the zoo's Griffith Park grounds.
All current staff would remain employees of the city, but those who do not hold zoo-specific jobs might be transferred to other city departments. Future hires would be employees of the new operator.
Two potential operators have already stepped forward.
One is the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., or GLAZA, a nonprofit headquartered on the zoo's campus that raises money for the institution, manages its memberships and operates its concessions. In 2010-11, it raised about $13 million for the zoo, according to GLAZA President Connie Morgan
The other party is Parques Reunidos, a Madrid-based theme park operator that runs 70 amusement parks, water parks and zoos worldwide.
Dave Towne, a former consultant for the L.A. Zoo, said that if a private company takes over, the face of the zoo may change. "Any private, for-profit operation is going to Disney-fy it," he said. "That's just what they do."
Towne, former director of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, oversaw the transition of that zoo's management to a nonprofit 10 years ago. He said private operators run the majority of the nation's major zoos and are often more successful at marketing and fundraising than cities, in part because they are less encumbered by bureaucracy.
Animal activists fear that could result in a lack of transparency. Catherine Doyle, of In Defense of Animals, said that if the zoo is privatized, "it will become even more secretive and insular."
She and others have long accused the zoo's management of not being forthcoming about animal care, and have asked that the operator be required to answer to a city-appointed animal welfare commission.
Adriana Hawkins, a zoo gardener for six years, says everyone will suffer if longtime employees are reassigned. The zoo will lose expertise, she said, and the employees will lose jobs they love.
"I don't want to go down to the harbor; I don't want to spend my life on the freeway," Hawkins said. "I have a passion for the zoo."
Santana and others have said that privatizing the zoo will allow it to flourish. A report he commissioned said that under private management, the zoo would be able to reap up to $3.8 million more each year in revenue, thanks to new opportunities for corporate sponsorship, fundraising and special events.
But City Councilman Richard Alarcon said that's all the more reason to keep control of the zoo. "If a private corporation can make it profitable, why can't we?" he said.
It costs $26 million a year to run the zoo and pay the salaries, benefits and pensions of more than 200 employees. The city contributes about $14.6 million; the rest of the budget comes from ticket sales and donations.
Officials say if the city does not privatize management, that figure could grow as high as $19.4 million by 2015. But even if it does complete a deal, the city will still contribute about $13.8 million to the zoo in 2015, according to the proposal.
The savings may be small in the short term, but Santana insists that it adds up. Next year, he and other officials will have to find a way to close a $200-million budget deficit.
.L.A. considers putting zoo operations in private hands Officials say the change... more-
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Article: The impact o population growth on wildlife
Ten thousand years ago, the mass, the weight, all of the humans on the earth, plus all our pets, plus all the livestock we keep to feed ourselves, was 0.1% of 1% - one tenth of one percent - of the mass, the weight, of all the mammals on the earth. The rest of the mammals - elephants and tigers and rhinos and whales and kangaroos etc - made up 99.9% of the mass of all the mammals on the earth.
By 200 years ago, humans, our pets and our livestock had increased from 0.1% to 10-12% of the mass of the mammals of the earth.
Now, we, our pets and our livestock make up 96% - 98% of the mass of the mammals of the earth. The poor old elephants and tigers and rhinos and whales and kangaroos and all the rest of the mammals have gone from 99.9% to just 2 - 4%.Ten thousand years ago, the mass, the weight, all of the humans on the earth, plus all... more-
- frankpatton
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- 7 months ago
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Victory in the Campaign to Ban Circus Animals
The Independent | London...
Victory in the campaign to ban circus animals
Government concedes defeat after bribes and intimidation fail to deter rebels
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Friday, 24 June 2011
MPs of all parties unanimously backed a ban on circus animals
MPs voted to ban wild animals in circuses last night after David Cameron's attempts to bully Conservative backbenchers into voting against the measure backfired and ended in a humiliating public defeat. In a decision hailed by campaigners as an "historic victory for animal welfare and protection", MPs of all parties unanimously backed a ban and the Government signalled that it would introduce one, ending forever the days of lions, tigers, elephants and other wild animals in the big top.
In an act of desperation, Conservative whips had warned they would impose the most serious parliamentary voting sanction, a three-line whip, to bring recalcitrant backbenchers to heel and get them to support the Government's alternative proposal of a licensing system. But in a victory for The Independent's campaign for a ban and for the long campaigns waged by animal welfare organisations, Downing Street backed down when it became apparent that it would lose the vote despite what backbenchers described as "desperate" measures. One of the three MPs who brought the cross-party motion for a ban disclosed that he had first been offered a government job – and then threatened that the Prime Minister would look "very dimly" on his recalcitrance – unless he amended or withdrew the motion. Mark Pritchard, a Conservative backbencher, stood firm and insisted that the measure be voted upon.
As astonished MPs listened, Mr Pritchard said: "Well I have a message for the whips and for the Prime Minister of our country – and I didn't pick a fight with the Prime Minister – I may just be a little council house lad from a very poor background but that background gave me a backbone. It gives me a thick skin and I'm not going to be cowed by the whips of the Prime Minister on an issue I feel passionately about and have conviction about.
"There may be some other people with backbones on this side and they will speak later, but we need a generation of politicians with a bit of spine, not jelly. And I will not be bullied by any of the whips."
MPs from all sides of the House including the Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster, Labour's Nia Griffiths and the Green leader Caroline Lucas attacked the Government's position, saying that both public and parliamentary opinion was in support of a ban.
The motion was to "direct" the Government to introduce a ban.
Shortly before the vote, the Animal Welfare minister, Jim Paice, said: "If at the end of this debate the House were to approve this motion then of course we will have to respect that."
Animal welfare groups were ecstatic. The RSPCA said: "This is a win for democracy as well as animal welfare." It said it hoped the Government would quickly and formally announce a ban.
Animal Defenders International, the group which shot undercover footage of the beating by a Romanian groom of Anne the elephant at Bobby Roberts Circus, said: "This debate and vote has exposed the Government and demonstrated just how out of touch they have been with their peers, the public, and animal welfare groups."
Mary Creagh, the shadow Environment Secretary, said: "The public will be absolutely delighted that MPs from all parties have stood up to the Tory-led Government on this issue to achieve such a fantastic result. The vote brings to an end 48 hours of chaos and confusion from the Government about their position on a ban. It is extraordinary that David Cameron used such bully-boy tactics to threaten his own MPs and tried to impose a three-line whip on the vote."
The Government had initially planned to ban wild animals from circuses but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was forced to do a U-turn, and instead proposed a licensing system, after Mr Cameron, a keen hunter and shooter, blocked the move.
Mr Paice blamed a court challenge to a ban in Austria for the decision, but there was no court challenge and he was forced to admit during an emergency debate, called because of the misinformation, that he had misled the Commons. The Government's subsequent claim that a ban could be challenged under the Human Rights Act or the EU Services Directive was challenged by lawyers and the European Commission.
The Government and MPs came under intense pressure from voters. More than 32,000 signed The Independent's online petition calling for the Government to change its mind, and supporters of the protest group 38 Degrees, which had forced Defra to abandon plans for its forests sell-off, deluged MPs' offices with hundreds of emails, letters and phone calls.
During the debate, MPs said the issue was emblematic of wider animal welfare issues. But the most astonishing contribution came from Mr Pritchard who had secured the backbench debate, which should have had a free vote. He said: "On Monday if I offered to amend my motion or drop my motion or not call a vote on this motion – and we're not talking about a major defence issue or an economic issue or an issue of public-sector reform, we're talking about a ban on wild animals in circuses – I was offered reward and incentive. If I didn't call for a ban – I was offered a job. Not as a minister, it was a pretty trivial job.
"Then it was ratcheted up to last night and I was threatened. I had a call from the Prime Minister's Office directly and I was told unless I withdrew this motion that the Prime Minister himself would look upon it 'very dimly indeed'."
He told MPs: "It remains a mystery why the Government has mounted such a concerted operation to stop there being a vote on this motion."The Independent | London... Victory in the campaign to ban circus animals... more-
- EthicalVegan
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- 8 months ago
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"Kill All the Elephants" | Uneasy Truce Between Maasai and Nature
Uneasy truce between Maasai and nature
From David McKenzie, CNN
June 15, 2011 12:57 p.m. EDT
Maasai learn to be wildlife guardians
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Around 80% of Africa's elephants live outside of protected parks in the wild
The Maasai people are a pastoral tribe living along the border of Kenya and Tanzania
Some Maasai have turned to farming, bringing them into conflict with local elephants
The Maasailand Preservation Trust is trying to teach locals to live peacefully with the wildlife
Maasailand, Kenya (CNN) -- For tourists visiting Kenya, elephants represent the majesty of nature -- but for those living on the land the animals are often seen as pests.
At the foot of Chyulu Hills in Kenya, an area famous for its wildlife and the Maasai people that call it home, getting the balance right between the two has always been a delicate task. As more people farm in the region the strain on wildlife increases.
Around 80% of Africa's elephants live outside of protected parks in the wild. One conservation group has turned to local communities in an attempt to find solutions to everyday problems so man and beast can live peacefully.
"You know, that elephant that we are seeing down there now, the chances are that last night he was out raiding a field -- or if you go out and see a lion I guarantee you within the last week he has probably killed something belonging to one of the landowners here," explained Richard Bonham, conservationist and founder of the Maasailand Preservation Trust.
The Maasai people are a pastoral tribe living along the border of Kenya and Tanzania. Their long-preserved culture and traditional way of life has made them one of the area's most famous tourist attractions.
But conflict between the Maasai tribe and the region's elephants is on the rise and can lead to tragedy.
If this elephant problem doesn't get any better then we should just kill all the elephants.
--Reuben Silati, Maasai elder
One of the locals, Ndiari Ole Lemungur, was walking in a group near his homestead at night when he heard something moving.
"We were really scared ... at first we didn't know what was happening. But when we realized that it was an elephant two of us ran away and two stayed behind," he said.
He explained that one boy hid and narrowly escaped but another member of the tribe, Onetu, couldn't get away and was trampled to death.
"My son was young," said Onetu's father, Maasai elder Reuben Silati. "He had a long future ahead of him and I was hoping that he would take care of my homestead when I was gone. I am getting older every day and my son should have been the one to help me."
Silati called the trust and rangers tracked down and killed the elephant within hours. But this was not an isolated incident. As domestic animal and human populations grow conflict between animals and humans is more likely.
"If this elephant problem doesn't get any better then we should just kill all the elephants, because there is no need to live with them," Silati continued.
The Maasai have also taken up farming, something that is completely unlike these semi-nomadic people. But frequent droughts, put down to climate change, have led them to start growing food.
Kipareu Olesayiore is a Maasai farmer. He's begun growing melons and peas using irrigation. The practice has helped him supplement his income and survive the droughts.
Yes, you can choose to kill all the wildlife, but then what happens 10 years down line?
--Antony Kasanga, Maasailand Preservation Trust
But farms eat into wild habitats and the melons are candy for the elephants.
"You chase them (elephants) out of the farms and if you follow them a little bit they will attack you," said Olesayiore. "They have been here for three years, but this year is by far the worst."
Olesayiore has started putting up flashlights and solar lamps to try to stop the elephant raids but the method isn't very effective. He says that from time to time foreigners come and tell him to protect the animals.
"I will work with foreigners coming in, I will listen to their ideas, but sometimes I wont listen because there isn't much wildlife left where they come from, is there?" he said.
But the Maasailand Preservation Trust has been working with the Maasai community to use arguments that make sense to the people that need to understand them.
"When I was a young boy I used to just think wildlife is a nuisance; there is no value," said Maasai Antony Kasanga, who now works for the trust.
"Yes, you can choose to kill all the wildlife, but then what happens 10 years down the line? You have a kid and in 20 years time he says 'Daddy, I want to go see a lion.' Where do you take him?" he continued.
Kasanga works with the farmers; he doesn't preach to them but instead gives out solutions.
He hands out thunder flashes to scare the elephants away and if their cattle are killed by lions the trust gives them compensation.
The organization has also started the only primary school in the area and gives out scholarships to help educate the next generation.
Its efforts to engage with the local communities and win their hearts and minds may be the best hope for securing free ranging wildlife in Africa.
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http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/06/15/t1larg.maasai.cnn.jpgUneasy truce between Maasai and nature From David McKenzie, CNN June 15, 2011 12:57... more-
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Found Challenge
Johanness Haasbroek, founder of Elephant Human Relations Aid, a Namibian non-profit organization aimed to facilitate the peaceful co-habitation among subsistence farmers, community members and desert adapted elephants living in the region, shares future challenges.Johanness Haasbroek, founder of Elephant Human Relations Aid, a Namibian non-profit... more-
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- 10 months ago
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Found Solution
Neil Bone, a South-African native, has moved to Namibia, Africa, to help the Earth through Elephant Human Relation Aid, a non-profit organization aimed to facilitate the peaceful co-habitation among subsistence farmers, community members and desert adapted elephants living in the region.Neil Bone, a South-African native, has moved to Namibia, Africa, to help the Earth... more-
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ABUSED ELEPHANT Retires after 54 YEARS of SUB-STANDARD CARE in the ENTERTAINMENT industry
A day this elephant will never forget: Anne's retirement begins as campaign to build haven for circus animals is launched
The Daily Mail
4/5/2011
By JANE FRYER
Anne’s first steps are faltering as, slowly, she shuffles forwards, back legs dragging painfully on the concrete floor, her head bobbing nervously up and down, and breath coming in loud, whooshing blasts. Everything about her looks tired and creaky and sore, from her arthritic joints to her dry, wrinkled skin.
Her dark brown eyes are weepy, her huge yellow toenails chipped and gnarled. Her tail finishes in a sad, knobbly stump — the feathery end chewed off decades ago.
But as she edges further across the lush green grass of her new enclosure, towards a flock of pink flamingos and a herd of eland basking in the spring sunshine, she seems to savour every second.
Every few paces she stops to feel the sun on her back, curl a tuft of grass in her trunk, or have a satisfying scratch against a fallen log.
And, presumably, to revel in her sudden good fortune.
Because, thanks to the Daily Mail — and, more importantly, to the unfailing support of our readers — Britain’s last (and oldest) working circus elephant has finally hung up her undignified feather headdress.
After 54 years of performing and relentless touring, Anne has begun her long overdue retirement in a tranquil, 13-acre enclosure in the beautifully landscaped grounds of Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire.
It couldn’t be more of a contrast to the home where she has lived for the past half century — a corrugated metal compound, littered with animal droppings, owned by the Bobby Roberts Super Circus.
Over the past year, she was shackled by one foot, stabbed with a pitchfork and kicked in her painfully arthritic leg by a monstrous Romanian groom called Nicolae, who has now fled the country.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373415/A-day-Anne-elephant-forget-retirement-begins-Longleat.htmlA day this elephant will never forget: Anne's retirement begins as campaign to... more -
Shooting An Elephant: Why GoDaddy's CEO Was Wrong
TIME Magazine (Blog).......
Shooting an Elephant: Why GoDaddy's CEO Was Wrong
Posted by Bryan Walsh Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 6:36 pm
UPDATE, 3 p.m. Thursday:
We all shoot vacation videos, but most of us choose to keep them to ourselves — or, at worst, share them with our Facebook friends. Bob Parsons, CEO of the Internet-hosting firm GoDaddy.com, which you know from its lame Super Bowl ads and absolutely nothing else — likes bigger exposure. Parsons recently posted a video of his trip to Zimbabwe, where he shot an elephant. See below:
Now, there are so many things wrong with this video that it's hard to know where to start. First: Is it really appropriate to score a scene of hungry villagers tearing apart a dead elephant to the tune of AC/DC's "Hells Bells"? And I can't be the only one who found it creepy that Parsons outfitted nearly everyone in the area with bright orange GoDaddy baseball caps. Not to mention the fact that this all took place in Zimbabwe, a broken country oppressed by the tyrannical Robert Mugabe, where 64% of the population lives under the poverty line and nearly 100% live in fear. This is one step up from taking a spring break in North Korea.
But of course the biggest criticism comes from animal-rights advocates who view Parsons' video — which shows him shooting and killing an elephant, then standing proudly over its corpse — as, well, showing poor taste. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) singled out Parsons for particular abuse:
I am writing to present you with PETA's first-ever scummiest CEO of the year award (your certificate is on the way). You deserve the award for your egregious disregard for the life of the elephant you shot and killed for your personal enjoyment. Such behavior only shows a poverty of understanding and a deep insecurity, perhaps in your own masculinity. Nonlethal methods are available to protect crops from elephants left hungry because of their disappearing habitat.
Parsons defended himself on his blog, arguing that his target was a "problem elephant" that had been destroying the crops of a nearby village:
I stand by my decision to help African villagers. I believe elephant management is beneficial. I have the support of the people who really matter in this situation, the families of Zimbabwe — people who need help to survive. I have the support of tribal leaders and the government.
Parsons isn't totally wrong — there is such a thing as "problem elephants," and human-elephant conflict is a real issue that needs to be dealt with in parts of Africa. From the World Wildlife Fund (WWF):
Not only are elephants being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas, but farmers plant crops that elephants like to eat. As a result, elephants frequently raid and destroy crops. They can be very dangerous too.
While many people in the West regard elephants with affection and admiration, the animals often inspire fear and anger in those who share their land.
Elephants eat up to 450kg of food per day. They are messy eaters, uprooting and scattering as much as is eaten. A single elephant makes light work of a hectare of crops in a very short time.
But that doesn't mean the best way to deal with this conflict is for rich foreigners like Parsons to make like Hemingway. There are sensible, nonlethal solutions, including using chili- or tobacco-based deterrents to keep elephants out of farmers' fields, or the simple method of growing crops that elephants don't like. WWF has more in this issue brief.
It's worth remembering that people bear at least as much responsibility as elephants do for any conflict, as the continuing growth of the human population puts more and more pressure on elephants. The African elephant is hardly thriving — the International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists it as vulnerable. It's been a long time since shooting an elephant could be considered fashionable.
Read more: http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/03/30/shooting-an-elephant%e2%80%94why-godaddys-ceo-was-wrong/#ixzz1ID1PrQXTTIME Magazine (Blog)....... Shooting an Elephant: Why GoDaddy's CEO Was... more-
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Elephants under threat in Africa
Elephant culling has been reintroduced as a method of controlling populations in some parts of Africa. The question we pose is why are humans so quick to reach for the final solution. Why is castration or vasectomy not an option? We castrate dogs, horses, cats, and various other animals even pedophiles are offered the option in some countries.
So why not elephants?Elephant culling has been reintroduced as a method of controlling populations in some... more-
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Woolly mammoth could be reality in four years
Woolly mammoth, an extinct species of mammoth elephants, could become a reality in roughly four years time, according to professor Akira Iritani from the Kyoto University in Japan.Woolly mammoth, an extinct species of mammoth elephants, could become a reality in... more-
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Elephants Need a Helping Hand Too (NSFW)(VIDEO) - The Daily Blender
Wow, elephants really DO come in buckets. Just another day giving an elephant a little help in giving his best...
Remind me not to order a vanilla milkshake in Thailand.Wow, elephants really DO come in buckets. Just another day giving an elephant a little... more-
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Elephants on drunken rampage kill three people
Binge-drinking elephants, drunk on local hooch, have killed three people and destroyed 60 homes in a four-day rampage in east India.
Yesterday they were reported by local officials to be sleeping off hangovers as shocked communities tried to clear the wreckage left by the 70-strong herd in remote villages on the borders of the states of Orissa and West Bengal.
With a local festival approaching, villagers had stockpiled the fermented-rice based drink which is stored in earthenware vessels and, according to Bijay Kumar Panda, a local administrator, the elephants found and drank it.
They then staggered through the surrounding area and began "to fall asleep hither and thither, throwing life completely haywire".
According to the Pioneer newspaper, the "jumbos" are known "for their love of local country-made brews" which they "gulp down and make merry at the expense of the villagers".
Elephant experts say such incidents are becoming more common. With pristine forest increasingly rare, especially in the area where this latest incident occurred, Indian elephants no longer avoid contact with humans, said Dr Amirtharaj Williams, Asian rhino and elephant programme co-ordinator for the World Wildlife Fund. "These herds are effectively semi-urbanised. There are elephants who are getting a taste for food that humans prepare because it is tastier, stronger-smelling and often more nutritious and that includes rice- or molasses-based drinks. Some go looking for it."
Around 400 people are killed each year by elephants in India and nearly a million hectares of farmland damaged.
Around 100 elephants are killed by villagers each year.
India's booming population and economic growth have placed the historic grazing lands of elephants under enormous pressure. To avoid exhausting fodder in one area, the herds migrate. Attempts to create safe corridors for the animals' travel have foundered on bureaucratic sloth and lack of enforcement.
In September seven elephants were killed by a speeding goods train.
Latest estimates put India's elephant population at around 21,000 – the largest in Asia. About half of these are found in north-eastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.Binge-drinking elephants, drunk on local hooch, have killed three people and destroyed... more-
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Surviving Floods, Droughts, and Poachers' Bullets to Save the Elephants | Photos
Photo: For four decades Iain Douglas-Hamilton has been an advocate for elephants, the endangered giants of Africa. Save the Elephants cofounder Iain Douglas-Hamilton has been named the 2010 recipient of the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation. Four decades ago, he pioneered the first in-depth scientific study of elephant social behavior, which revealed their matriarchal society.
The Indianapolis Prize
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The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
Save the Elephants cofounder Iain Douglas-Hamilton has been named the 2010 recipient of the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation. Four decades ago, he pioneered the first in-depth scientific study of elephant social behavior, which revealed their matriarchal society.
(The Indianapolis Prize)
By Yvonne Zipp, / Correspondent
November 1, 2010 at 9:38 am EDT
When Iain Douglas-Hamilton first started studying elephants in Africa, he had to invent ways of tracking the giant mammals. Over the course of 40-some years in the field, the zoologist learned how to fly airplanes and use radio collars and other high-tech means to follow their movements.
He also learned how to get out of the way – fast. "I learned how to climb trees very quickly," says Dr. Douglas-Hamilton, winner of the 2010 Indianapolis Prize, the largest prize ($100,000) given for animal conservation in the world.
As cofounder of the nonprofit group Save the Elephants, he also has learned to be an activist, author, and politician.
When Douglas-Hamilton left Tanzania, in East Africa, in 1970 to study at Oxford University in Britain, he left behind "an elephants' paradise," he recalls.
But when he returned in 1972, the country's national parks looked more like a war zone. Douglas-Hamilton often found more dead elephants than live ones.
"Never in all our wildest dreams did the small group of scientists who worked in Tanzania's national parks [in the 1960s] imagine that men armed with automatic weapons would one day stride through the national parks. It was just not in our thinking," he says of the heavily armed poachers who had moved in.
The soft-spoken conservationist now lives in Kenya with his wife, Oria, who co-founded Save the Elephants. Together they have written two books, "Battle for the Elephants" and "Among the Elephants."
During the height of the ivory poaching, Douglas-Hamilton rode in small planes wearing one flak jacket and sitting on another as he helped park rangers in Uganda bring back elephants from the brink of extinction. He's been repeatedly shot at and has survived plane crashes, droughts, floods, malaria, and once, being squashed by a rhinoceros.
He campaigned for years for a worldwide ban on ivory sales, which finally took effect in 1989.
His long-term commitment to saving elephants across Africa impressed the prize jury, says Michael Crowther, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo, which administers the prize. Douglas-Hamilton pioneered the first scientific study of elephant social behavior, Mr. Crowther says.
Among his discoveries: Elephants have a matriarchal society and travel in families.
"He has been creative, committed, and consistent," Crowther says. "And he's been courageous – politically courageous and physically courageous."
"He shows bravery ... [and his work is so important," says Laurie Marker, a finalist for the Indianapolis Prize who founded the Cheetah Conservation Fund, based in Namibia. When CCF expanded into Kenya, it began working with Save the Elephants in Samburu National Reserve, in Kenya's Great Rift Valley.
Douglas-Hamilton has given practical assistance to CCF, from making introductions to sharing researchers and resources, Dr. Marker says.
Despite the ivory poaching ban, the future of African elephants is far from secure. Douglas-Hamilton describes the conditions in the Congo, for example, as "catastrophic" – and not just for elephants.
In 2009, he worked to save a rare herd of desert elephants in Mali from the worst drought in more than a decade.
There have been other successes, particularly in East and Southern Africa, whose elephant populations have rebounded since the ivory ban. At this year's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting in Doha, Qatar, conservationists, including Douglas-Hamilton, defeated an effort by the governments of Tanzania and Zambia to downgrade the status of their elephants so that they could sell off their stockpiles of ivory.
"If there's to be a future for elephants, there has to be an accommodation about how they're going to live in juxtaposition with people," says Douglas-Hamilton, who considers the rapid expansion of human populations one of the largest challenges facing all wildlife. "This is where science and research comes in. It has to be linked to community development."
Elephants "need space," he says, including protected corridors so that they can travel from one protected area to another. (Such corridors would also benefit other large mammals, such as zebras, wild dogs, lions, and giraffes.)
Douglas-Hamilton has proposed the idea of a mobile national park, where the protected land would follow elephants as they travel. No country has yet adopted it.
"I know we're dealing with poor people who have immediate needs," he says. "But we have to escape from the tyranny of poverty in order to have the luxury of long-term planning. If we don't, the poverty is not going to get any better and the environment is going to deteriorate."
He's also thrilled that young African-born conservationists now are joining the effort to save the continent's elephants.
Even after decades of research, Douglas-Hamilton still enjoys the company of these gentle giants, the largest of land mammals.
"I love to sit with them and be with them," he says. "I have the greatest joy just to be with elephants at peace."Photo: For four decades Iain Douglas-Hamilton has been an advocate for elephants, the... more-
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Lion movie highlights trophy shooting in SAfrica
;_ylt=AkcLm5W.4n_zZaE9v2PwZT5g.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTRjaW1nNTB1BGFzc2V0Ay9zL2FwX3RyYXZlbC8yMDEwMTAxNC9hcF90cl9nZS9hZl90cmF2ZWxfc291dGhfYWZyaWNhX2xpb25fc2xhdWdodGVyBGNjb2RlA21wX2VjXzhfMTAEY3BvcwM4BHBvcwM4BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDbGlvbm1vdmllaGln
BROEDERSTROOM, South Africa – Lions raised in captivity in South Africa are set loose in enclosed areas where hunters, many from the United States, gun them down. The toll: about 1,000 lions each year.
Kevin Richardson hopes a new movie "White Lion," which opens in a few U.S. cities on Friday, will give people second-thoughts about participating in such hunts.
"I just can't understand how anyone would want to shoot a lion that is clearly confined to a finite space with absolutely no hope in hell of ever escaping the so-called hunter," said Richardson, a self-taught "Lion Whisperer" and first-time film producer. "Canned lion hunting, in my opinion, is likened to fishing with dynamite in a pond and then calling yourself a fisherman."
"White Lion" is about a rare white lion, who as a cub is cast out of his pride because of his color. He is near starvation when he befriends an older lion who teaches him the ways of the wild. John Kani, a Tony Award-winning actor and playwright, is the storyteller. A young man helps the lion, whose name is Letsatsi, because his Shangaan tribal tradition says a white lion is God's messenger and must be protected. Tension builds as Gisani becomes a tracker on a game farm where he and a foreign hunter encounter Letsatsi.
Trophy hunting is big business in South Africa, worth $91.2 million a year, according to the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa. Foreign tourists pay up to $40,000 to shoot a lion.
The government promotes hunting as a revenue source and calls it a "sustainable utilization of natural resources." Provincial governments sell permits allowing hunters to kill rhinos, elephants — even giraffes. Hunters killed 1,050 lions in 2008, the last year for which figures are available, according to the South African Predator Breeders Association.
The hunters' association says 16,394 foreign hunters — more than half from the United States — killed more than 46,000 animals in the year ending September 2007.
Almost all lions hunted under permit in South Africa are bred in captivity. But a new report by Animal Rights Africa says animals that wander out of the huge Kruger National Park into neighboring private reserves have become fair game.
About 3,600 lions were kept in breeding facilities in 2009, to be sold to zoos, safari farms and for hunting on game farms, said Albi Modise, spokesman for South Africa's Department of Environment.
Animal Rights Africa says trophy hunting is incompatible with South Africa's push into ecotourism, noting that ad campaigns promoting tourism and game viewing showcase the same species that are offered up to be hunted. The government in 2007 introduced legislation that would reduce the financial incentive to breed lions for the hunt but the Predator Breeders Association challenged the laws and earlier this year won an appeal.
Richardson, the movie's producer, first befriended a pair of lion cubs at the Lion Park outside Johannesburg 12 years ago, when the cubs were 6 months and he was 23. He began shortening his hours as a therapist in postoperative rehabilitation to play with his new friends. Soon, park owner Rodney Fuhr offered him a part-time job which became full time.
Today, Richardson cares for 39 lions at his 800-hectare (2,000-acre) Kingdom of the White Lion in Broederstroom, an hour and a half drive from Johannesburg, where the film was shot to include tawny gold lions as well as those born white because of a recessive gene.
Lions are nocturnal and spend most of the day sleeping, so filming was limited to a couple of hours in the morning and perhaps another couple in the afternoon — if the cats were willing. Letsatsi was portrayed by several different lions over the four years it took to make the movie. A cuddly cub filmed in the summer of 2006 might be sprouting a mohawk-style tuft of hair the following year, the precursor to a mane.
Richardson said he breaks every rule in the book in handling lions. On a recent morning, the lions welcomed Richardson with rumbling purrs. One shut his eyes in ecstasy and rolled onto his back as Richardson scratched his chin. Another licked Richardson's hand, the tongue as rough as sandpaper. Too many licks can cause bleeding.
Two 400-pound (180-kilogram) lions wrestled him to the ground and a lioness jumped on his back, covering Richardson for a tense minute. He emerged from a tangle of furry blond limbs, face red. One lion threw a casual paw on Richardson's shoulder.
"Ugh, no claws you naughty boy!" he admonished, slapping away a paw larger than his face.
He's been attacked by his lions twice. Once during filming, a lion named Thor grabbed Richardson's arm and pinned him against the cage holding the camera crews, who looked on terrified and unable to help.
"I thought: There goes my arm, and it's my own fault. I was provoking him to get a fight sequence that we needed," Richardson said. The lion stared him in the eyes for what seemed five minutes but couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, before releasing him, he recalled.
"Lions are 99 percent chill and 1 percent lethal," Richardson said.;_ylt=AkcLm5W.4n_zZaE9v2PwZT5g.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTRjaW1nNTB1BGFzc2V0Ay9zL2FwX3RyYXZlbC8yMDE... more
