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Another elephant run over by train
JALPAIGURI: Within a week of three elephants being poisoned to death inside Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, an elephant calf was run over by a train in the same forest on Tuesday morning.
The incident took place in the Gulma range area of the sanctuary. The Guwahati-Jhaja Express ran over the seven-year-old calf around 3 am.
P T Bhutia, conservator of Forest (northern circle), Wildlife, will probe the death. The forest department will take action only after receiving his report.
Principal chief conservator of forest S S Bisht, who was in Delhi to attend a meeting, said he would inform the Union environment ministry about the matter.
"We had earlier asked the Centre to intervene. The ministry has already sent a note to the Railway Board. I will again raise the issue before them," Bisht said from Delhi.
The stretch where the calf was run over on Tuesday has seen many jumbo deaths over the years. On an average, as many as four elephants die in this area every year.
The tracks pass through the Mahananda, Chapramari and Jaldapara sanctuaries and the Buxa Tiger Reserve. It cuts across the elephant corridor that stretches from north Bengal and Sankosh in Assam to Mechi in Nepal.
Till 2001, the tracks were metre gauge. The railways then converted it to broad gauge despite vehement protests from environmental organizations.
A PIL was filed in Calcutta High Court, following which a special inspection team - in accordance with a court order - instructed the railways to maintain a slow speed through this area. But the instruction does not seem to have been followed.
With the latest pachyderm death, the number of elephant casualties over the past year has climbed to seven.
There is a parallel railway track bypassing the forest, but several appeals to direct goods trains through that track have fallen on deaf ears.
JALPAIGURI: Within a week of three elephants being poisoned to death inside Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, an elephant calf was run ov... more -
Please help Jenny the Elephant now! | Animal Law Coalition
Please act to stop the Dallas zoo from sending Jenny, the elephant, to a small amusement park in Mexico. There will be NO U.S. Animal Welfare or Anti-Cruelty Laws covering Jenny in Mexico. Several SANCTUARIES will take Jenny! Please X-POST!
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/wildlife/article/548
PLEASE read Jenny's story:
On Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News ran a story entitled "Dallas Zoo's lone elephant to be moved to wildlife refuge in Mexico" about the zoo's controversial decision to dump Jenny, a 31-year-old African elephant, at a safari amusement park in Mexico . Since the death of Jenny's elephant companion, Keke (39), in May, Concerned Citizens for Jenny has urged the zoo to send Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.
The Mexican park offers an unnatural, confining exhibit of only 4.9 acres --a small fraction of the 2,700-acre Elephant Sanctuary, where Jenny would share a spacious, 300-acre natural habitat with three other African elephants.
It is shocking that the Dallas Zoo is moving Jenny to a distant facility in a foreign country where she will not be protected by U.S. animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws, especially when there is a nearby U.S. facility with hundreds of acres that is prepared to take her.
After being torn from her mother's side in Africa at the age of two, she was forced into seven years of brutal training. Jenny has been at the Dallas Zoo for 22 years, where she has had a traumatic and troubled stay. Between 1996 and 2001, the Dallas Zoo medicated her with the tranquilizer Acepromazine because of aggression and self-mutilating behaviors. Federal regulators characterized Jenny's long-term treatment with this psychotropic drug as "highly unconventional."
While African elephants in the wild are known to reproduce into their 50s and live into their 60s, in zoos they commonly die decades short of their natural time. In short, the Dallas Zoo's decision is a matter of life and death for Jenny.
The sanctuaries who will accept Jenny have thousands of acres versus 4.9 acres at the Safari Amusement Park. The 4.9 acres is likely subdivided so Jenny may actually have far less space than that. However, the Elephant Sanctuary in TN ( http://www.elephants.com/) is a state of the art, 2,700 acre elephant refuge. It is the largest natural habitat refuge in the world and has a four star charity rating from Charity Navigator. The PAWS Sanctuary ( http://www.pawsweb.org/) in California has hundreds of acres and is also a state of the art, internationally recognized facility. Both U.S. sanctuaries are excellent and Jenny should be able to retire to one of these.
Please act to stop the Dallas zoo from sending Jenny, the elephant, to a small amusement park in Mexico. There will be NO U.S. Animal ... more -
Elephants at Risk Again
UN PANEL PAVES THE WAY FOR ELEPHANT POACHING AND IVORY LAUNDERING
GENEVA, SWTIZERLAND, July 15, 2008 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The illegal black market in ‘white gold’ seems ready to cause parts of Africa to run red with elephant blood once more after today’s decision by the Standing Committee of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to approve China as a ‘trading partner’ for over 100 tonnes of stockpiled ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Many conservationists and wildlife managers have been left stunned and appalled.
“Unbelievable, naïve and deadly,” stated Will Travers CEO of the Born Free Foundation and President of the Species Survival Network. “It was bad enough when Japan was approved as a trading partner more than a year ago but approving China is, in my view, like pouring petrol on an open fire.”
The reasons why China should not have been approved are numerous:
The lack of comprehensive internal law enforcement and trade controls
The steady stream of illegal ivory shipments destined for China.
The increasing involvement of Chinese nationals based in Africa in ivory trafficking
The continued high levels of elephant poaching (estimated to be running at between 20,000 and 25,000 animals a year)
The rising price of ivory (poached Sumatran ivory tusks have reportedly increased in value by 300% since 2005)
The fragile nature of most African elephant populations (only half a dozen or so African countries have robust and significant elephant herds out of a total of 36 countries that are home to the species)
“Now, in addition to all these challenges and threats, we are faced with the prospect of China and Japan bidding against each other for the ivory stockpiles, driving up the price and heightening still further the incentive to poach and smuggle ivory” said Mr Travers, speaking from Geneva where the Standing Committee of CITES is convened. “Furthermore, it will be shocking to many elephant lovers globally to learn that the decision to approve China as a trading partner was supported by WWF amongst others.
Born Free and the SSN have comprehensive records relating to massive and entrenched levels of elephant poaching over the last 10 years. Together with other conservation groups, SSN has consistently argued against any relaxation in the original ivory trade ban approved by CITES in 1989 following a decade when Africa’s elephant population fell by more than 50% from 1.3 million to 600,000. Today, elephant numbers are estimated to hover at around 475,000 – 500,000. Asian elephant numbers stand at a precarious 30,000-40,000
UN PANEL PAVES THE WAY FOR ELEPHANT POACHING AND IVORY LAUNDERING ... more -
China to buy African ivory stockpile
China has been approved as a buyer for a one-off sale of elephant ivory, with experts now believing the sale could go ahead within months. An international meeting judged that China had put sufficient measures in place to regulate ivory sales and crack down on the illegal domestic trade. The decision is severe blow for conservation organisations which argued that both the sale to and the approval of China, the world's biggest black market for ivory, would be a disaster for Africa's elephants and would lead to more poaching."We are deeply disappointed – the decision plays Russian roulette with wild elephants," said Robbie Marsland, UK director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "Allowing new ivory to be imported into China will stimulate demand and create a smokescreen for illegal ivory to be laundered into the legal market." China narrowly missed out on approval in 2007 but was granted permission by the standing committee of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), a 173-nation agreement charged with ensuring the international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Japan is the only other approved buyer and both can now bid for the stockpile of 108 tonnes of ivory held by Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The ivory has been collected from culls in overpopulated areas and seizures.The issue of ivory sales has long been a contentious one. The international trade in elephant ivory was banned by Cites in 1989, but since then trading has been permitted for certain large elephant populations. China has been approved as a buyer for a one-off sale of elephant ivory, with experts now believing the sale could go ahead within mon... more
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Return of ivory trade: new wave of elephant killing
19 years ago, ivory trade was banned in order to save the African elephant from extinction. Now conservationists warn of a new wave of elephant slaughter in both Africa and Asia as China's massive demand for ivory in the form of trinkets, name seals, carvings and polished tusks boosts the illegal trade.
"This is going to mean a return to the bad old days where elephants are being shot into extinction," said Allan Thornton, of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the group which provided much of the evidence on which the original ivory ban was based in 1989.
A meeting in Geneva next week will decide whether China is allowed to become a legal ivory importer.
19 years ago, ivory trade was banned in order to save the African elephant from extinction. Now conservationists warn of a new wave of... more -
Drowning elephants rescued
Parent and youth elephants were drowning in a local well in India when the village apparently rescued them with..sticks and stones..... Parent and youth elephants were drowning in a local well in India when the village apparently rescued them with..sticks and stones....... more
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South Africa lifts ban on elephant culling
It has been reported that in an effort to control the recent explosion in the South Africa's elephant population, the government has lifted a ban on the culling of wild elephants.
Although the ban has been lifted, the government officials said that culling would be carried out only under strict conditions.
The South African government has decided to lift the ban due to reports were released that warned the country's elephant population has doubled since 1995. It has been reported that in an effort to control the recent explosion in the South Africa's elephant population, the government has l... more -
Elephant on rollerskates.
Hilarious. I don't know how animal rights advocates will feel about this. But I firmly believe that everey elephant has the right to wear roller skates. Hilarious. I don't know how animal rights advocates will feel about this. But I firmly believe that everey elephant has the right to w... more
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Elephant rampage in India kills three.
"At least three people were trampled to death by an elephant when a drunk man teased the animal during a Hindu festival in southern India."
This is footage of the incident. "At least three people were trampled to death by an elephant when a drunk man teased the animal during a Hindu festival in southern In... more -
The oldest tree and an elephant back from extinction
The oldest tree. Sometime around 7542 B.C., a spruce tree started growing on Fulu Mountain in Sweden. It is still growing. Spruce trees can produce exact clones of each other, and while the currently visible part of the tree is not 9,550 years old, scientists found pieces of wood beneath it that are that old with exactly the same genetic makeup as the above-ground part of the tree. The oldest tree. Sometime around 7542 B.C., a spruce tree started growing on Fulu Mountain in Sweden. It is still growing. Spruce tree... more
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Stop China from buying ivory
Despite international ivory trade being banned since 1989, poaching to supply the illegal ivory trade continues, killing around 20,000 elephants each year.
We need your help URGENTLY to protect elephants from the deadly ivory trade!
Last summer, the Convention on International trade in Endangered Species (CITES) agreed to the one-off sale of huge ivory stockpiles from four southern African countries – representing tens of thousands of dead elephants. Japan and China want to buy this ivory to meet the demands of their large ivory markets. China has found itself under international scrutiny for its vast illegal trade in ivory and inadequate controls and enforcement.
Stop China from buying ivory
China is the single major destination for illegal ivory... mostly from elephants illegally slaughtered across Africa. Chinese nationals have been convicted of smuggling illegal ivory in 22 of the 37 African countries where elephants roam.
IFAW believes that if China is allowed to buy this stockpiled ivory it would provide a cover for the laundering of illegal ivory. Prices for ivory in China have increased more than 400% in recent years, making this criminal activity more lucrative.
The UK government plays a part in this decision at an upcoming CITES meeting. We need you to send an email to Joan Ruddock MP, Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste, and urge her to use the UK’s influence to stop China buying the ivory stockpiles.
Despite international ivory trade being banned since 1989, poaching to supply the illegal ivory trade continues, killing around 20,000... more -
The elephant that swam the great ocean
Scientists have just discovered the sea dwelling ancestor of the modern elephant.
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Elephant training (=torture) in Thailand
The traditional way in Thailand to train elephants is to break their spirit completely and totally so that they are mortally afraid of humans. The way this is done is with the "phaajaan."
Baby elephants are captured, put into a pen that does not allow them to move side to side, forward, or sit, and then for 3-7 days everyone in the village takes turns breaking the animal using sticks with nails at the end, ropes and hot irons.
I guess this is what happens before they teach them how to paint...
http://current.com/items/88880053_elephant_paints_self_... The traditional way in Thailand to train elephants is to break their spirit completely and totally so that they are mortally afraid of... more -
Elephant Paints Self Portrait
Elephants are profoundly intelligent and sensitive. We could learn so much from them!
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Elephant paints self portrait
Amazes slack jawed tourists. Now if only he could fly.
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How a camera attached to an elephant's trunk captured amazing jungle views
We revealed the amazing story of how four tiger cubs were captured on special cameras in logs carried by elephants - giving the most intimate insight into their early lives ever recorded.
Now, we show for the first time other creatures of the jungle caught in this extraordinary - and pioneering - way.
Cheeky langur monkeys, a rare sloth bear, spotted deer and a leopard with her cub are just some of the other animals that film-maker John Downer came across in his fascinating experiment.
Does this seem extremely awkward for the elephant to anyone else? We revealed the amazing story of how four tiger cubs were captured on special cameras in logs carried by elephants - giving the most i... more -
Puppeteering on a Larger Scale: 5m High Little Girl
This Marionette show was put on by "Royal de Luxe," a French mechanical marionette street theatre company. They were founded in 1979 by Jean Luc Courcoult.
Apparently, the gist of the story is about a sultan who was tormented in his dreams by visions of a girl who he believed was travelling through time. He couldn't sleep so he built a time-travelling elephant and set off in search of the girl, who, in the course of his nightmares, had been transformed into a marionette 5 meters high.
Very Trippy. This Marionette show was put on by "Royal de Luxe," a French mechanical marionette street theatre company. They were founded in 1979 b... more -
Haunted elephant toy on ebay seems like a bargain
"Leave Seghan a periodic treat to re-empower and re-energize him! He particularly likes chocolate!"
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Elephant's pregnancy sparks row
WHY? THIS is exactly thier excuse in keeping elephants in cptivity in the first place, INCLUDING protection of the life already there. A row has erupted in Australia after Sydney's zoo announced a nine-year-old Asian elephant was pregnant. Are they sure because it's nine years old? A lot of elephants usually are fine doing that in the wild, what do you think?
WHY? THIS is exactly thier excuse in keeping elephants in cptivity in the first place, INCLUDING protection of the life already there.... more
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Elephants
