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Black rhinos released into wild
For the first time in more than 25 years, captive-bred black rhinos have been released back into the wild. Experts have hailed it as a landmark step for African wildlife conservation.
Black rhinoceroses were once widespread in Africa, but in recent years these huge horned creatures have suffered dramatic declines, thanks to poaching and habitat loss. In particular, Kenya has suffered huge losses, with numbers plummeting from an estimated 20,000 in the 1970s to some 500 today.
Those that remained were confined to sanctuaries. The Kenya Wildlife Service has been working with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to revive rhino numbers. And now they are confident enough to begin releasing these animals back into the wild. The BBC's Karen Allen was there to watch the first batch being returned to their natural habitat - and met some of the people who have made it all happen.
(vid clips at link) For the first time in more than 25 years, captive-bred black rhinos have been released back into the wild. Experts have hailed it as ... more -
MASSACRE OF GIANTS
HELP SAVE THE ELEPHANT - STOP THE BLOODY IVORY TRADE
Elephants. Condemned by CITES. Annihilated by poachers. Hacked to pieces for their ivory.
I write this with a heavy heart. A death knell has sounded for elephants. I was there as the bell tolled, but can scarcely believe it’s true.
Elephants – most intelligent, most sensitive of creatures – have been condemned to a bloody death. Other even more ominous sounds have quickly followed… The deafening crack of an automatic weapon; the mechanical drone of a chain-saw; the rhythmic chopping of an axe. The sickening sound of terrified elephants being brutally killed, then butchered for their tusks.
Unbelievably, ivory is big business once again. A savage new bloodbath is underway by ruthless poachers. The international ivory trade is supposed to be illegal. But China has been given the green light to purchase ‘stockpiled’ ivory. Make no mistake what this means. Poachers have been given the green light to slaughter more elephants
During a recent meeting in Geneva, the CITES¹ Standing Committee, including the UK, voted to allow China to buy ivory from four southern African nations - South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. China can now bid for 108 tonnes of stockpiled tusks.
It is just disastrous. China is the centre of the world’s illegal ivory trade. For example, 790kg of illegal ivory was seized in China earlier this year. Also, just one day after the Standing Committee’s ruling, three Chinese nationals were arrested in Kenya attempting to smuggle ivory. Carved ivory is a thriving business in China and hugely lucrative.
Japan had already been approved by CITES as a licensed buyer in 2006. Now China and Japan will bid against each other for this ‘legal’ ivory. I predict the price of the ivory will go sky-high, stimulating the already massive black market in illegal ivory. So more elephants will die. The incentive to kill elephants and smuggle ivory will be heightened still further.
This new decision is like pouring petrol on an open fire. It is naïve and deadly. Already more than 20,000 elephants are estimated to be illegally killed and dismembered every year by poachers. That’s 55 every day. That’s two every hour.
There were around one million elephants in 1979. Now that number has fallen to 475,000. Small, vulnerable elephant populations in West and Central African countries are most at risk. Large parts of Africa are running red with elephants’ blood.
Pause for a moment. Consider what this means. Elephants… immense, sentient, gentle creatures, who display awareness and understanding, with intricate social lives and complex culture passed through generations. Reduced to massive, bloody corpses for people’s greed. HELP SAVE THE ELEPHANT - STOP THE BLOODY IVORY TRADE ... more -
Worlds Rarest Rhinos Captured On Video
Cameras have captured rare footage of endangered Javan rhinos in the jungles of Indonesia. Pretty cool!
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Rare rhino ruins rrrrr...camera?
The rarest rhinoceros in the world has a lot in common with Bjork. It's cool, calm, and cares for its young. But if you pester it too long, it will attack.
The Javan rhino was spotted by cameras in an Indonesian jungle. There are said to be only 60 or 70 left in the world.
Bjork goes wild
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYyyqIZTvYY The rarest rhinoceros in the world has a lot in common with Bjork. It's cool, calm, and cares for its young. But if you pester it... more -
Rhinos poaching is getting worse in India
Rhino poachers are hitting hard in India's national parks. The demand for their horns is currently valued at $37,000 per kilo. Could increased education help people to understand how much more saving these amazing creatures is worth? Rhino poachers are hitting hard in India's national parks. The demand for their horns is currently valued at $37,000 per kilo. Co... more
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Jungle cam captures rare Borneo rhino on tape
This is like watching the last dinosaur walk the earth. Amazing.
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Rough Day at the Office...?
National Geographic photographer Steve Winter comes a little too close for comfort to a Rhino. As dangerous as this is, I would love the opportunity to be in such a situation. Worst I've ever experienced is a charging white tail deer. National Geographic photographer Steve Winter comes a little too close for comfort to a Rhino. As dangerous as this is, I would love ... more
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Rhino Killings: The Inside Story
A former poacher in Kaziranga reveals why the animal is being increasingly hunted
By Teresa Rehman
Kaziranga, (Assam) : A RARE SUCCESS story in India’s wildlife conservation record, Assam’s Kaziranga National Park, home to the one-horned Asiatic Rhinoceros and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is struggling to come to grips with a spurt in rhino killings. Twenty rhinos were poached last year, 14 of them inside the national park and the rest in areas just outside the sanctuary. The forest department has come up with the usual excuses of being understaffed and under-equipped, but the retrenchment of casual workers in the park by the previous Prafulla Kumar Mahanta regime, leaving scores without livelihood and angry at the government apathy, has also played its damaging part.
One of those dismissed workers was Golap Patgiri. Employed informally by the forest department since 10 years, Patgiri’s monthly earnings of Rs 1,500 suddenly ran dry. “We used to do everything, from patrolling to cutting grass. We assisted the permanent staff in almost everything. I had once caught a poacher red-handed,” he says. Suddenly jobless, Patgiri found himself under pressure to join the ranks of the very people he had once battled: the poachers. A former poacher in Kaziranga reveals why the animal is being increasingly hunted By Teresa Rehman ... more -
Christmas Gift For The Ages
If you're struggling to come up with good Christmas gift ideas this year, maybe you should bid on some rhino poop. I'll take the lump of coal after all. If you're struggling to come up with good Christmas gift ideas this year, maybe you should bid on some rhino poop. I'll take... more
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Children of Rhinos
Reproductive problems could lead to the extinction of Earth's smallest, harriest Rhino species
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