Baraza

Category: Amazing facts | Date: Mar 26 2008 | By: admin

I just read this on BBC online and just had to share it.

“Bruno was the first bear to be spotted in the wild in Germany for 170 years but was finally shot dead in June 2006″.

So… the first bear to be spotted in 3 human generations is FINALLY shot dead. What the hell? I thought I was reading rubbish, it’s not April Fools yet is it?….It gets better…

“Museum director Michael Apel said it was “unfortunate Bruno was shot” but it was a chance to attract people who otherwise would not come.”

UNFORTUNATE? THIS IS THE FIRST BEAR IN 170 YEARS SHOT DEAD TO ATTRACT PEOPLE???

It gets even better

The bear is displayed being disturbed by people while stealing honey from bee hives to show his potential danger.

“I think he looks very lively,” Mr Apel told the BBC News website as the finishing touches were put to the display at the Museum of Man and Nature.

The first bear in 170 years is shot dead STUFFED and put on display to attract people, … and NOW HE LOOKS ……LIVELY!!!???

Taxidermist Dieter Schoen, who spent 1,400 hours stuffing the bear, said the display was “supposed to show Bruno neither as beast nor teddy bear”.

1400 hours to stuff a bear… what an important piece of information!

“Bruno had been part of an Italian programme to bring bears back to the Alps but he ventured into Austria and Germany.

The two-year-old bear captured the imagination, inspiring a hunting game on the internet’.

It sounds to me like this bear was doomed from the start. He obviously didn’t read the signs, was an illegal immigrant and he rubbed the Germans up the wrong way creating political friction in this volatile region (this story reads like the Congo)… and damn it this guy was a thief too….read this ….

“But he began roaming close to villages and once appeared outside a police station at a lakeside resort. He upset farmers, breaking into bee hives and eating 30 sheep, four rabbits and a guinea pig.”

So he had to die according to the authorities, but at least we learned a few things ….Apels words of wisdom are “….we should inform the general public about the management problems. If you want bears to return, you have to consider how to remove him from areas where people live” hmm…. I wonder why we didn’t consider this earlier, before we spent 1 Million Euros. Yes folks, Bruno was part of an EU-funded €1 million conservation project in Italy. How many mountain gorillas could you save with that money in Africa?

For more about Bruno go here

Is it just me or does this story really stink? Makes me so mad. Has anyone out there heard anything more idiotic recently? I’m ashamed to be a conservationist with people like these running around and throwing 1 million Euros down the potty.

“Meanwhile, Bruno’s brother JJ2 is at large in the Italian Alps. Bruno’s mother - who is blamed for his savage behaviour - has another three cubs.” Who the heck writes this stuff for BBC?

Tags: 122, 703, 704, 706, 712

16 responses so far

Category: Amazing facts | Date: Mar 24 2008 | By: admin

It is my last day in Washington DC and time to update you all. Here it all is in pictures.

Directors and friends met for two days and discussed WildlifeDirect progress at Stony Brook University in Long Island at the Turkana Basin Institute. We worked throughout lunch to get the business finished.

Easter Monday is not a holiday in DC though you’d never know from the festival atmosphere. This dog was decorated for Easter and brought out with the hundreds of spectators to see the elephants paraded through the streets.

Ten elephants and tens of horses, cars and circus performers paraded down the streets of the capital. The police were out in force, keeping the public from getting too close, and especially those pesky PETA people and others who are protesting the use of elephants in circuses.

The elephants dutifuly walked in single file, stopped when instructed, rolled their trunks on demand and the crowd got their photo opportunities on a lovely sunny but chilly day. I found this quote here and wish that everyone could read it

“The idea that it is funny to see wild animals coerced into acting like clumsy humans, or thrilling to see powerful beasts reduced to cringing cowards by a whipcracking trainer is primitive and medieval. It stems from the old idea that we are superior to other species and have the right to hold dominion over them.”

—Dr. Desmond Morris, anthropologist, animal behaviorist, author

Seeing elephants in Washington DC is so amazing, they look so calm, so graceful, …. one could easily forget the suffering that these animals have endured in their training. These particular elephants belong to the the famous, or should I say infamous Ringling Brothers. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Animal Welfare Institute — have taken the Ringling Brothers to court arguing that circus life is inherently cruel to the elephants. The case has been going since 2000 and the result, if in favour of elephants will be a watershed for them.

As I watched in awe with the others on the street, little red packages were thrown at me by clowns and scantily clad circus girls ….. they were clowns noses. On the red nose was written ‘Ringling bro’s the greatest show in the world’ . I wondered what the elephants thought about their lives in chains entertaining people across America. Its more like the ‘greatest shame in the world”

The day ended as every day should, relaxed and in lovely company. I met up with some of our most avid readers on the gorilla blog and discovered to my great pleasure that their friendship was started on WildlifeDirect. Now I know even more about the power of community building on the internet. Thank you Lisa, Sheryl and Christine for a lovely evening.

Tags: 23, 6, 785, 796

9 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 20 2008 | By: admin

For those who have been visiting WildlifeDirect.org in recent months you will have noticed a tremendous growth in blogs - from 17 in August last year to 63 today, and from 2 countries to 17 countries in Africa and beyond. We have seen a massive rise in visitation from less than 20,000 per month last June to 70,000 per month today. We have raised $25,000 in February for 30 blogs. We are feeling mighty proud of this achievement and the truth is that this is all thanks to you, our supporters.

Many of our visitors ask how they can help. I hope that this post will be attractive to some of you.

1. We need experienced bloggers to help us in networking more effectively. We need to spread the word and promote the work of our bloggers to get more attention and interest. This can be done from anywhere in the world with good internet access.

2. We are appealing to anyone who is interested in training to help with the production of training materials in a variety of languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Kiswahili for our bloggers. We are thinking of producing a blogging manual for WildlifeDirect bloggers. This can e done anywhere in the world.

3. As you know, all funds raised on blogs are earmarked entirely for those blogs. WildlifeDirect costs are raised separately. We need help in raising funds for the core team to support the bloggers in the field. Ideas for foundations, organizations, companies or other sources of funds would be much appreciated.

4. We are interested in expanding further through Africa, Asia and South America. If you know of any potential projects, connect us.. put us in touch.

5. We have heard that university students may be interested in participating in WildlifeDirect through conservation groups. We would be very interested in coordinating with anyone who is willing to raise awareness about WildlifeDirect and our blogs through universities or other institutions. Later this year (September) we will be holding some events in New York, Atlanta, and Washington DC and I could potentially meet with organized groups at these times.

I am in the United states until mid April and would be very interested in following up directly with those interested. Please write to paula@wildlifedirect.org or leave a comment on this blog.

I look forward to hearing from you! Paula Kahumbu, Consevation Partnerships Director

Tags: 266, 33, 698, 722

6 responses so far

Category: WildlifeDirect news | Date: Mar 19 2008 | By: admin

The last few days have really had us all on our feet at WildlifeDirect. There have been a lot of atrocities committed against Kenya’s wildlife who unfortunately are being used as a scapegoat for a much deeper rooted problem in Kenya: land.

Last week we found out through one of our partner organisations, the Lion Guardians that three lions were tragically killed. Such inhumane acts are becoming more and more common and whilst they are often the result of retaliation due to Pastoralists losing their livestock to an opportunistic carnivore, there is really no justification for taking revenge on an animal that is only following its basic nature. Reuters were quick to pick up the story and once a media house like them picks it, it often travels far and wide across the globe.

When this came out, we quickly got word that up to 14 elephants had been speared since february this year and 4 had died all within the same Amboseli region. We spoke with world renowned elephant specialist, Dr. Cynthia Moss who post a guest blog on Dr. Richard Leakey’s WildlifeDirect blog. It was only a matter of time before the media turned their panoptical gaze to this blog as well and in less than 48 hours the story had appeared on several leading papers and National Geographic had put a story on these unfortunate incidences.

With all the debate about the reintroduction of culling of elephants in South Africa, Dr. Leakey, renowned for bringing an end to elephant poaching in Kenya over twenty years ago most certainly had a thing or two to say about the highly controversial issue. I think much to everyone’s suprise, he stated that whilst he felt culling to be a repugnant practice, he also felt South Africa had little choice given the current circumstances. Once again, yet anothermajor media house, BBC picked up on his blog and ran it in their Green Room and it also made front page of the BBC Africa news section. And before I had time to read the article, several comments were flying into my inbox from all sorts of different angles. People have strong opinions about lots of things and the beauty of the internet is that you can voice them and it doesn’t necessarily have to lead to a physical fight!

Day 3: I get a phone call from the German Press Agency asking if we have any more information on the arrest of the Provincial Director of South Kivu and Chief of World Heritage of Kahuzi Biega National Parc who has been charged with the murder of ten gorillas mid last year. I had in fact not heard about this but information was at my fingertips through skype, gtalk and emailing. Yes, it was true and this was a huge breakthrough against corruption in the ICCN which work to protect thewildlife and environment in one of the most complicated areas in the world, DR Congo. Soon the blogs were up and more journalists calling and asking for statements. What was critical was to get accurate information for the journalists to report. I love the internet! I spoke to my colleague whom I can barely reach on phone using skype and was able to provide the BBC with reliable information right from the ground. Not even an hour later, the news was out on their front page!

It’s 7pm in Nairobi where the rains are just beginning. I am fortunate enough to have a roof under my head and so much more, and blessed to have the ability to reach the world through an online social network that continuously helps to bring about change…so let’s hope we can bring justice and equality to all living creatures once and for all…

Tags: 260, 33, 330, 6, 704, 729, 749, 774, 784, 792

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 19 2008 | By: admin

Dear friends,

We have a and exciting blog about Jaguars that I want to draw attention to. Fernando Lima is a researcher from IPÊ – Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas. He works at “The Leap of the Cat – Ocelot Conservation in Pontal do Paranapanema” with Dr. Laury Cullen Jr., research coordinator for IPÊ. The project is integrated in a large conservation context promoted by IPÊ and more specifically in the Landscape Detectives Program Approach. This approach use jaguars and ocelots as “detectives” that tell us by their movements between fragments in the landscape where are important areas to promote corridors implementation and stepping stones to wildlife. They heard about the Wildlife Direct through their director Dr. Claudio Padua (a good friend of mine and one of my most admired conservation heroes) who recognized that their work would fit very well at the WildlifeDirect .

Last September Fernando and Laury started an expedition, funded by themselves, called “The Jaguar Corridor Expedition” during ten days in the sailboat Pasárgada along the Upper Paraná River. The original idea was to associate their passion by the earlier naturalists and explorers from the nineteenth century and the necessity of evaluate status, threats, conservation opportunities and potential partnerships along this important corridor of biodiversity. The expedition had more impact that they could expect and was covered in regional and national media.

A website “O Eco” (The Eco), one of the most respectable website about environment in Brazil gave them the opportunity to publish daily reports of the expedition and this started a relationship between researchers and the general public. The diary illustrates the scientific the funny funny and the dangerous moments of the adventure exploring the Jaguar Corridor.

For Portuguese readers, these days reports are available here.

We are very excited and honored that the Jaguar detectives have joined the WildlifeDirect family and we hope you visit and support their work.

Filming Wild is a blog about efforts to educate African children through environmental films. This new blog features the work of The African Environmental Film Foundation (AEFF). Tanya Trevor Saunders, and husband Ian Saunders work work for AEFF which makes educational films about environmental and conservation issues, for the people of Africa, in their own languages, for free distribution across the continent. Funds raised on their blog will contribute to the distribution of the films to schools and community centers around Africa.

Paula

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 19 2008 | By: admin

Dear all,

We have just seen this headline story on the BBC home page that says an ICCN ranger has been arrested for the killings of gorillas last year which was carried on the cover of Newsweek last August. It looks like the ICCN are taking the case very seriously and we look forward to a conviction. I have asked our team in Congo will give us further details on the Manioc valley blog. The team from ICCN may also comment on this on their gorilla protection blog. We are hoping that the trial will finally get to the bottom of the reason why someone would arrange for the executions of critically endangered mountain gorillas in this magical place of Virungas.

Read the full BBC article and ICCN story on gorilla blog here

Tags: 19, 23, 33, 81, 82

3 responses so far

Category: National Parks and protected areas, elephants | Date: Mar 15 2008 | By: admin

I was sent this extract by Samira, my sister in law, who lives in Mozambique.  It made my blood boil.  I don’t know who the author is, but the story speaks for itself.

Emmanuel.

A family holiday should not encompass the sights that we saw in Zimbabwe this last December.  We decided to go north-west of Hwange National Park to Kazuma Pans after bitter disappointment in Hwange’s poorly maintained campsites with no electricity or running water, the relative exorbitant park fees, rangers openly drying game meat even in the public toilets and seeing nothing more than a few very skittish animals fleeing from the sounds of our vehicles.  Sometimes the animals fled so fast that we were uncertain as to what it was we had seen “Was that a cheetah or a baboon?” one of the kids would ask.  No one was certain.

One of the Hwange Wardens, however, tried to discourage us saying “You’ll never make it, the road is treacherous, I got stuck 7 times on that road only yesterdayŠ.. anyway, there are no animals there, go up to Zambezi National Park, it’s better”.  According to an old brochure, it states that “Kazuma Pans is a 30 000 hectare sanctuary for animals outside of the private hunting concessions” and so we thought it would offer more than what we had seen thus far and decided to go regardless of his warning.

Well the road to Kazuma fell short of his description.  We wondered what the Warden was trying to do ­ chase us out of the area or cover something up.

Kazuma Pans is like no other park we’ve visited in Africa with massive expansive pans filled with newly sprouted bright green grasses with patches of water and the occasional palm tree.  One can see for a kilometre or two across the pans and it is a birders paradise with various storks, ducks and birds of prey including Crested Eagles.  Yet at night, it is eerily silent with no animal sounds at all, except for the rain frogs.  No people and strangely no animals.  We felt like the last people on earth.

We decided to drive across the pans to other side on a morning game drive. The only significant sighting was a herd of some 400 buffalo grazing on the pan but as we approached they took fright and they heavily galloped off with their little tails curled up.

We came across an elephant skull and skeleton that had been blanched white in the scorching sun.  The magnitude of the skull, the length of a rib and size of the femur bones was astounding and something none of us, especially the children, had ever seen close up before.  Maybe this sighting was rather unusual.  Don’t elephants cover up their dead?

We continued down the road, but within a short period you could smell the sweet stench of a carcass.  Another elephant.  This time it was more recent with most of the skin still intact, but again no tusks.  The positioning of the twisted body looked peculiar with its head wrenched away from its body, its mouth gaping open as if calling out in pain.  It was horrific and the children became quiet as the adults looked knowingly at each other.  This elephant did not die naturally.  For then we saw the bullet hole in this once majestic giant.

It was time to move on.  As we turned the next corner, we all gasped as before us is a scene from “The Killing Fields”.  In this green field of bush with young sprouting Mopani trees were twenty plus elephant carcasses and bones scattered everywhere.  Lots of bones.  Carcasses with beautiful yellow butterflies sitting on them.  Added to the sweet decaying smell was an oily odour.  The bones are blackened as if they have been burnt with diesel. Perhaps it is to discourage scavengers or else to hide the evidence.  That distinct smell haunted us all for days after.  Just how many dead elephants were there in this field?  Who did this?  The children stayed in the cars looking forlorn with tears falling and only a few of us had the courage to walk through the field. I had mistakenly taken a tail for an infant’s trunk.  Where were the babies as there was no evidence of them?  What had happened here?  Were only the adult elephants taken out and the remainder of the herd fled?  Who did this? Who would allow this to happen?

This killing field is no more than a few hundred metres from Kazuma Hunting Lodge.  Kazuma Hunting Lodge?  But there is not supposed to be any hunting in Kazuma.  Well that’s changed.  The Lodge was unoccupied as the hunting season is over for the year.  In the middle of the lodge is a thatched structure incorporating the reception, lounge and bar with two elephant skulls at the entrance.

Behind the bar, we found the visitors book.  The vast majority are Americans boosting of their successes:
“Shot the big four in 10 days”

“An 80 pounder on the first day”

“We came to the place of the elephants.  Secured a 65 pounder, 43″ sable and a 7′ 6″ leopard was the icing on the cake.  Hope to be back soon”.

“Meals prepared from our game were superbŠ We wish we could bring all our new friends home with us.  I guess we will have to be happy with Jim’s leopard, eland, kudu, sable, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, hyena and baboon”.

The last recorded hunt was in August 2007 with three hunters from Utah, Minneapolis and San Diego.

I feel deeply saddened at the trophy hunters’ brazen bragging and their evident lack of understanding, but it was this entry that turned my sadness to rage:

“169 elephants in 8 days.  Nowhere comes close”.

 
Not a wonder then that we did not see any game and the few buffalos ran away.

Rob and Barry Styles of Buffalo Range Safaris are frequently mentioned as the professional hunters.  The brothers have been linked with Mugabe cronies and it appears that the Zimbabwe Government has sanctioned these activities for financial gain from the American trophy hunters’ fees as they plunder the last remaining game from Zimbabwe’s national parks.

Zimbabwe has long had game watchers and game hunters together in the same vicinity.  However, the game hunters have now claimed this land and game watchers are no longer welcome.  This is not “the place of the elephants” for we never saw a single live elephant.  It is an elephant graveyard.  We won’t be back soon.

I guess the game is over.

25 responses so far

Category: Climate change, Gorillas, National Parks and protected areas | Date: Mar 13 2008 | By: admin

I was recently asked about my opinion regarding the use of armed forces in conservation. Afterwards I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The question was something like this

“Do you advocate for the use of arms by wildlife conservation personnel”

“Of course I do!” I shot (easy, next question)

I reminded the interviewer that over 150 Congo rangers have lost their lives in the line of duty. Rangers in Congo face poachers and rebels all the time. Their jobs are extremely dangerous. How could you send a ranger un-armed into rebel infiltrated regions? It would be suicide.

I don’t know what it’s like in USA, Australia or Europe, but in most parts of Africa, poachers are armed with AK47’s to hunt elephants, rhinos, hippos and other big game. Sometimes they are only after meat, often they are going for valuable trophies. It’s a no brainer. Of course the rangers must be armed to defend themselves and yes, sometimes the poachers get shot and sometimes they die.

But the next part of the conversation made me wonder if I’d been too quick to answer. Maybe I’m not seeing things clearly, from all angles. Is it right to send armed men out into the wilderness or does this up the ante?

The interviewer turned to a topic that I found particularly hard to digest. The concept that we Africans are doing such a bad job in conservation that a number of charismatic species in Africa may be on the brink of extinction because of the threats posed by poachers. :

“African rangers, armed or not, were obviously not effective to stop the killings of gorillas” that’s what I thought he was implying.

“What do you think about the possibilities of employing foreign paid mercenaries to come in and clean up?”

“What?” My mind spins. “What on earth would mercenaries do in Africa?” I asked

“Well, protect the wildlife against armed militias like in Congo, don’t you think they could save the last mountain gorillas?”

My brain was screaming but I kept a cool voice

“No, not at all, in fact any organization that thinks sending mercenaries to Africa is a solution, obviously does not have a clue about the situation on the ground”.

I turned the image upside down.

“Imagine African mercenaries deployed in USA to save the last few wolves. Would THAT be acceptable? Of course not” – or at least I don’t think so.

At WildlifeDirect we come across some weird people and weird thoughts all the time. Here are some hair brained ideas – or are they?

There’s a plan afoot to create a mountain gorilla sanctuary in Hawaii where they claim it “is a vital step towards saving the species from imminent extinction”.

David Attenborough is involved in a 50 million dollar project to save Britains butterflies - I love him but isn’t Britain going to be too warm for these species in a few years?

A doomsday ark is being built on the moon - or is at least planned.

A doomsday vault of frozen seeds has been built in a mountain side in Norway

I find it s rather depressing, all this doomsday talk and planning. Should we really be investing so much in doomsday scenarios? Shouldn’t we be doing our damnest now - investing in the natural ranges where these species occur?

Is there really NO reason for hope?

Before you leave a comment, check this out … http://www.breathingearth.net/

Tags: 122, 33, 447, 728, 771, 772, 83

6 responses so far

Category: Lions | Date: Mar 13 2008 | By: admin

I am typing this in the car on the way home (I have a little gizmo that connects to my computer). I’ve never done this before (posting literally on the road)  but then rarely have I felt so compelled  – this is an emergency. We just heard from the lion guardians that lions are being speared in Amboseli – one of Kenya’s premier protected areas. But it’s not just lions, I have heard from good authority that it’s not just lions that are being targeted. Eleven elephants have also been speared to death and we’re trying to find out from Joyce Poole and the Amboseli Elephant Program if this is true.

This is not about human conflict, it’s not about hunger. It has that stinking whiff of rotten politics.

I’ve tried consulting with my colleagues at Kenya Wildlife Service, on the record they are not aware of any ‘reports’. Of course, you can be ‘ignorant’ of issues so long as there’s no typed report on your desk.

But off the record they have admitted that lions and elephants are being killed in Amboseli. They are worried, really worried and they talked about it at a big conference recently. The tourism crisis is cutting deep, it’s affecting everyone. Wildlife compensation schemes that depended on tourism have all but collapsed. Communities that are no longer benefiting, are retaliating. The government authorities held a meeting last week to talk about the serious situation facing lions.

It’s very serious. Kenya’s lion population has crashed from 10,000 in the 1970’s to fewer than 2,000 today. So, where is the response, where are the arrests, where are the convictions. Where is the justice? We are furious. What does it take to wake up the nation? Lions and elephants are probably the greatest tourist attraction to Kenya. Without them we have little hope of recovering the tourism numbers we once took for granted.

I just wish the authorities could be honest and transparent about what is happening, stop being afraid of the truth, and getting into the mindset that we, the public, the lovers of wildlife, the world at large, can help.

Ok..I have to stop now and send this post , we’re coming up to a police check!

Tags: 330, 452, 6, 82

12 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 12 2008 | By: admin

The good news is that the donation buttons now work fine. The bad news is that Paypal sometimes rejects some credit cards.

For those who are still having problems making donations online to Wildlifedirect through the donate button, please note that you can make your donation in form of a check to the address below. In order to ensure that you get your tax certificate, please do your check to the following and indicate on the check which blog and item the donation is for.

Check to WildlifeDirect Inc.

US address:
WildlifeDirect Inc.
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Washington, DC
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We hope this solves the problems we’ve been experiencing and we look forward to more of your generous support for the blog of your choice. Rememeber, funds are transferred to the field net only of bank transfer fees, WildlifeDirect does not deduct any fees for overheads

Tags: 23, 309, 779

6 responses so far