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Topic: African Big GamePosted By: Gay3
Subject: African Big Game
Date Posted: 22 May 2017 at 10:05pm
Is African Wildlife Headed for Extinction?
Remaining Herds Plagued by Hunting and Reduced Habitat
by Earth Talk
Updated June 18, 2014
Dear EarthTalk: What is the population status of
Africa’s large mammals, such as elephants, lions, rhinos, and hippos?
Are they all headed for extinction? --Elias Corey, Seattle, WA
Overall,
the variety and abundance of wildlife in Africa, as elsewhere around
the world, is shrinking fast as human population grows and encroaches
ever more on once wild and pristine landscapes. While illegal hunting
(known in Africa as “poaching”) still runs rampant despite government
crackdowns, the spread of logging and agriculture contributes even more
to the decline of many species of large mammals.
African Wildlife Killed for Products The
population of the continent’s biggest mammal, the African elephant, has
declined by more than 99 percent since the 1930s, when as many as 10
million of the great creatures roamed free there. At last count,
biologists estimated that only about 600,000 elephants are left in all
of Africa.
Elephant populations are thriving in areas of southern
Africa, thanks to massive government conservation efforts, including a
ban on the ivory trade as part of the 144-nation strong http://www.cites.org/" rel="nofollow - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), which limits trade in wild animals and their parts and accords
varying degrees of protection to more than 33,000 species of plants and
wildlife.
Ban on African Ivory Helps Elephants, Hurts Hippos Africa’s
hippopotamus population is also suffering, partly because of the very
ban on ivory. Bullied out of the ivory trade, many African poachers have
turned to hippo teeth, which measure as long as 24 inches and have
become a valuable substitute for ivory.
A 2003 census of the hippos of Virunga
National Park in the African Republic of Congo, for example, found only
1,300 animals, down from an estimated 29,000 in a previous count three
decades earlier. In neighboring Burundi, another recent census found
that two thirds of that country’s hippo population—some 200 animals—had
disappeared in just a five-year period.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Replies: Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 22 May 2017 at 10:06pm
African Rhinos Hunted Illegally for Their Horns Alone As
for rhinos, only 10,000 individuals exist around the world, down 85
percent since just 1970. Poaching has been the main culprit in the
decimation of these animals, with a single pair of black rhino
horns—coveted by Arabs in oil-rich Yemen who collect them as symbols of
wealth and status—fetching as much as $50,000 on the black market. Of
the two rhino species in Africa, the white rhino is faring slightly
better and has rebounded from near extinction but isn’t quite in the
clear yet. The black rhino, down to only about 2,500 animals, is still
considered critically endangered, however. Where it once roamed across
the entire African continent, the black rhino is barely hanging on in
just a few East African countries.
African Lion Population Cut in Half Since 1950s Lions may be faring a little better, but not much. The nonprofit http://www.awf.org/" rel="nofollow - African Wildlife Foundation
reports that the continent’s lion population has fallen off by half
since the early 1950s when an estimated 40,000 “kings of the jungle”
ruled. Besides contending with habitat loss to ever expanding human
settlement, Africa’s lions have also had to deal with hunting and
poisoning by livestock ranchers.
Wildlife Conservation Efforts Have Limited Impact Although
limited conservation efforts within Africa and internationally are
helping some of these species remain barely viable, fighting extinction
is an uphill battle, especially when expanding human population and
sputtering economies force people to occupy previously wild lands and
generate income by any means necessary. Individuals can help by donating
money and time to organizations committed to saving these magnificent
animals. With the extinction clock ticking fast, there’s no time to
waste.
Lion Conservation — The Facts
The
African lions' numbers are diminishing rapidly due to habitat
destruction, persecution by livestock farmers outside of protected
areas, and human greed.
Trophy hunting not only depletes the
population of the African lion, but threatens its gene pool as well.
Killing the dominant male of a pride (normally the target of a trophy
hunt) sets off a chain of instinctive behaviour in which the subsequent
dominant male kills all the young of the previous male (6-8 estimated
deaths result from each male thst is shot).
In the late 20th
century, wildlife preserves were created to restrict safari hunting, but
the African lion population continues to decline. Their numbers have
declined from 100,000 in the 1980s, halving to 50,000 in 1990, to as few
as 16,000 today.
An ever-expanding human population has led to
competition between herders and lions for land and food. Lions living at
the edge of the preserves sometimes stray from protected areas in
search of easy prey. The Maasai and other ranchers will often kill them
to protect their livestock and source of livelihood.
The retaliatory killing of lions by pastoralists is a serious threat to lion conservation in Maasai Steppe.
Over
the past six years, pastoralist families have lost more than 500 herds
of livestock including cattle, goat, sheep and donkeys due to predation
by lions, while more than 226 lions have been killed in retaliation for
livestock predation.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 22 May 2017 at 10:07pm
While
humans have been poaching African elephants for their tusks for
centuries, the continent is currently in the midst of an elephant
slaughter that is worse than at any previous point in history. Experts
say that poachers are wiping out tens of thousands of elephants a year
which could lead to their extinction in the near future. A ban on the
international sale of ivory went into force in 1990, but rising demand
from Asia, and increasingly insecure political environments in Africa,
have ratcheted up the number of elephants under threat.
Key Milestones in Elephant Conservation
1500s - Estimates put the number of elephants on the African continent around http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/a-short-timeline-of-elephant-poaching-9016055.html?action=gallery" rel="nofollow - 26 million when Europeans first started exploring.
Late 1800s - The mass production of combs, piano keys, brush handles and pool balls fuels an ivory frenzy in Europe. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/history-ivory-trade/?ar_a=1" rel="nofollow - Learn more
Early 1900s - Shooting an African elephant is considered to be a great honor for Europeans on safari. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/history-ivory-trade/?ar_a=1" rel="nofollow - Learn more
1913
- The U.S. is consuming two hundred tons of ivory per year. The African
elephant population has dropped to an estimated 10 million. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/history-ivory-trade/?ar_a=1" rel="nofollow - Learn more
1950s –
Elephant slaughter begins to drastically increase with estimates that
250 elephants are killed every day. The increase correlates with many
African regions gaining independence from colonial rule.
1973 - The http://www.cites.org/" rel="nofollow - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is agreed to on March 3, 1973.
1973 - The http://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/" rel="nofollow - Endangered Species Act is signed into law on December 28, 1973, becoming immediately effective.
1977
- The African elephant is listed on CITES. International trade for
commercial purposes continues; the international African ivory trade is
regulated by CITES. http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/Elephant_Related_Trade_Timeline.pdf" rel="nofollow - Learn more
1978
- The African elephant is listed as threatened under the Endangered
Species Act. A “special rule” allows for the commercial ivory trade to
continue, including for the import and sale of African elephant ivory. http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/Elephant_Related_Trade_Timeline.pdf" rel="nofollow - Learn more
1979 – Elephant population is reported at http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/a-short-timeline-of-elephant-poaching-9016055.html?action=gallery" rel="nofollow - 1.3 million according to the results of the first Pan-Africa elephant survey led by Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton.
1988
- After ten years it becomes clear that the supposedly well-regulated
international trade of African elephant ivory is a failure. The African
elephant population has been cut by more than half in 10 years. http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/Elephant_Related_Trade_Timeline.pdf" rel="nofollow - Learn more
1989 -
CITES agrees to list the African elephant on Appendix I, as a result a
ban on the international sale of ivory goes into effect in early 1990.
1989 - Only 600,000 elephants remain. The http://www.fws.gov/international/laws/aeca_fv.html" rel="nofollow - African Elephant Conservation Act is passed, banning the import of African elephant ivory into the U.S.
1990s - Some elephant populations begin to show signs of recovery, especially in East Africa and in some southern African countries. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/a-short-timeline-of-elephant-poaching-9016055.html?action=gallery&ino=6" rel="nofollow - Kenya’s population grows to more 30,000 by 2007 from an historic low of 16,000.
1997 - Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe submit proposals downlist their populations to Appendix II and to http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/a-short-timeline-of-elephant-poaching-9016055.html?action=gallery&ino=7" rel="nofollow - sell their ivory stockpiles .
CITES approves the sales based on the positive status of these
countries’ national herds. The first “one-off sale” occurs in 1999 to a
single CITES-approved buyer, Japan.
2002 - South
Africa submits a proposal to downlist their populations to Appendix II.
South Africa plus Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe seek another “one-off
sale”. This second one-off sale occurs in 2008 to two CITES-approved
buyers, Japan and China. Conservationists fear that opening up a legal
ivory market in China will lead to increased poaching.
2007 -
The African Elephant Coalition (AEC) countries are successful in
passing a CITES-instituted a 9-year moratorium on new ivory stockpile
sale proposals.
2009-2013 - Empirical research,
MIKE PIKE levels and ETIS ivory seizures demonstrate poaching of
elephants for their tusks and trafficking of ivory is occurring at
alarming levels, surpassing a level at which elephant populations can
naturally reproduce -- populations across the continent go into net
decline.
2011 - Numbers of poached elephants and large-scale ivory seizures are so high that it is labeled annus horibilis for the species.
2012 -
Sudanese Janjaweed poachers travel across the Sahara desert to massacre
several hundreds of elephants in the span of a few days in Bouba Ndjida
National Park, Cameroon -- the scale of the killing is labeled as unprecendented.
2012 - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes a Call to Action to world leaders to stop the epic slaughter of Africa’s elephants.
2012 -
Growth of a consumer class in China increases demand for ivory. The
price reaches $1,000 per pound in Beijing; low wages in Africa drive
poachers to increasing harvesting. CITES recognizes that elephant
poaching has again reached “unsustainable level.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/africa/africas-elephants-are-being-slaughtered-in-poaching-frenzy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&" rel="nofollow - Learn more
2013
- U.S. President Barack Obama passes Executive Order combating Wildlife
Trafficking to attack the issue through a whole government approach.
2014 -
Paul Allen and Elephants Without Borders launch The Great Elephant
Census, the first-ever pan-African aerial census that will provide new,
accurate data about the number and distribution of African elephants,
information that will be critical to their future survival.
2015 - Great
Elephant Census flights over 50% complete, some preliminary individual
country data suggests dramatic drops in populations in some regions, and
a few surprise herds in places where elephants did not previously
exist.
2016 - Great Elephant Census results are announced, elephant populations have dropped 30% in surveyed areas with comparable data.
2016
- CITES passes resolution calling for all countries to close domestic
ivory markets and votes down proposals by Namibia and Zimbabwe to open
legal ivory trade from their countries. CITES rejects proposal for
elephants in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to be uplisted
to Appendix I.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 22 May 2017 at 10:08pm
Lion
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Population decreased42%in 21 years
Regionally extinct in 7African countries
Declared as 'vulnerable' in1996by IUCN
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 22 May 2017 at 10:12pm
This is in response to a remark made by Sneck in De Little Engine thread (yes it's derailed ) where he said:
"Look into how big game hunting actually works, they
are helping to protect the population of these endangered species by
providing the locals with an economic incentive.
Would you rather they continued to poach these animals?"
There doesn't seem to be much evidence of this & time's running out fast
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 22 May 2017 at 10:14pm
Poaching statistics
In just a decade, more than 7,137 African rhinos have been lost to
poaching.Will a recent decline in South African poaching mark a new dawn
for rhinos?
In February 2017, the Department for Environmental Affairs released
poaching statistics for 2016, showing a 10.3% decline in rhino poaching
as compared with the previous year. There’s no reason to celebrate:
1,054 rhinos killed in South Africa alone during 2016 works out nearly
three rhinos being killed every day. And while poaching is down in
Kruger National Park, it is significantly up in other provinces,
particularly KwaZulu-Natal.
Furthermore, there are continuing and worrying signs that poaching
gangs are increasingly moving beyond South Africa’s borders; gaining a
foothold in other African countries – many of which have less resources
available to protect wildlife. We’re certainly not out of the woods yet.
South African poaching explained
South Africa has by far the largest population of rhinos in the world
and is an incredibly important country for rhino conservation. From
2007-2014 the country experienced an exponential rise in rhino poaching –
a growth of over 9,000%. Most illegal activity occurs in Kruger
National Park, a 19,485 km2 of protected habitat on South
Africa’s north-eastern border with Mozambique. Kruger consistently
suffered heavy poaching loses, and so in the last few years the
government and international donors have channelled ever more funding
and resources into securing the Park.
In 2016, figures show a dip in poaching in South Africa for the
second year in a row, indicating that increased protection efforts are
paying off. Although it is encouraging to see South Africa’s poaching
levels fall, the losses are still extremely high. A rise in incidents
outside Kruger National Park also points to the growing sophistication
of poaching gangs that are gaining a wider geographical coverage and –
it would seem - expanding their operations across borders.
The wider African context
The current poaching crisis actually began in Zimbabwe, where the
difficult socio-economic and political climate facilitated rhino
poaching. Once the easy pickings had been had in Zimbabwe, poaching
gangs turned their attention to neighbouring South Africa, which saw
massive increases in poaching from 2009-2014.
In around 2013, the South African crisis spread to other countries in
Africa. First Kenya was hit hard – its worst year for poaching was in
2013, when 59 animals were killed (more than 5% of the national
population). In 2015 both Zimbabwe and Namibia were hit hard: Namibia
lost 80 rhinos to poaching, up from 25 in 2014 and just two in 2012;
while in Zimbabwe at least 50 rhinos were poached in 2015, more than
double the previous year. For Africa as a whole, the total number of
rhinos poached during 2015 was the highest in two decades.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 22 May 2017 at 11:42pm
Sneck is full of it if he believes a set up hunt, like the one mentioned in the other thread, is saving wildlife.
I am all for Botswana,s shoot to kill law on poachers. All the states who want to keep their wild herds, and hence their tourist dollars, should take the same approach.
And I read recently some parks are even removing their Rhino,s horns, and Elephant,s tusks under anathestic, to make them of no value to poachers.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Aurelius
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 9:15am
Why not fight back.
Monkeys are very intelligent, give them guns and teach them to shoot.
Poachers would have no chance with a tree full of armed any monkeys.
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 9:27am
Aurelius wrote:
Why not fight back.
Monkeys are very intelligent, give them guns and teach them to shoot.
Poachers would have no chance with a tree full of armed any monkeys.
-------------
Posted By: Aurelius
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 10:35am
Ha ha.........
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 1:46pm
Seems this famous game hunter wasnt so clever after all. The elephant lifted him and then fell on him when shot by another of his group. And his mate, another hunter, got taken by a croc a few weeks ago.
There is karma after all.
What do these sickos get out of walking out with their high powered rifles , getting the game driven in front of them, and then shooting it and posing for photos with a dead animal ??
And its called sport ??
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 2:03pm
Well-Known South African Game Hunter Dies After Elephant Falls On Him
bySafia Samee Ali
A well-known South African game hunter died
after an elephant ravaged by gunshots collapsed on him at a Zimbabwe
animal reserve on Friday, according to local authorities.
While on a 10-day hunting expedition with
several clients, 51-year-old big game hunter Theunis Botha "unknowingly"
came across a herd of breeding elephants near the Hwange National Park,
park spokesman Simukai Nyasha told the http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_ZIMBABWE_HUNTER_KILLED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-05-22-07-09-06" rel="nofollow - Associated Press .
Botha's group spooked the herd and three
elephant cows immediately charged at them — prompting Botha to open fire
on the animals, according to http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/hunter-dies-after-shot-elephant-falls-on-him-20170521" rel="nofollow - South Africa's News24 .
A fourth cow stormed at the group from the
side, lifting Botha up with its trunk. One of the members of the group
fired shots at the elephant causing the animal to collapse on Botha,
crushing him to death.
Zimbabwe Parks did not immediately return requests for comment by NBC News.
Botha and his wife, Carike, ran Theunis Botha
Big Safari's since 1983 with private hunting ranches in South Africa,
Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, according to the http://www.tbbiggamehounds.co.za/Unique_Safaris/Leopard_hunting_Safari_in_Africa.html" rel="nofollow - company's website .
Botha touted his perfection of "traditional
European Style Driven Monteria hunts in South Africa," which uses
"hounds" to round up big game for hunter clients.
The company displayed several photos and
videos of many of Botha's safari hunts, and billed him as a "passionate
and professional hunting outfitter operation" that gave "clients a
unique exciting African safari experience."
His first client was a Montana man who came to
South Africa to hunt a leopard, and Botha prided himself that the man
"got his cat," according to the company's website.
The company did not return requests for comment by NBC News.
Botha's wife is expected to go Zimbabwe on
Monday to identify her husband's body and return him to South Africa for
funeral services, according to the http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/hunter-dies-after-shot-elephant-falls-on-him-20170521" rel="nofollow - News24 . He is survived by five children.
Botha's death garnered a large share of negative comments on social media from many who are opposed to big game hunting.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 2:07pm
Humanity, in plenty of ways, has had a profoundly negative impact on wildlife. From throwing them https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinandrews/2017/05/21/yes-people-still-throw-animals-into-volcanoes-to-please-the-gods/#adf6fd335024" rel="nofollow - into volcanoes to overzealously http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/sealion-drags-girl/" rel="nofollow - feeding them when we shouldn’t, it’s not surprising that animals sometimes decide that they’ve had enough, and fight back.
Big game hunter Theunis Botha reportedly learned this lesson the hard
way. Stalking around the Zimbabwean village of Gwai, his colleagues
stumbled across a breeding herd of elephants. Spotting the threat, the
elephants then charged at the group, and Botha fired off a shot or two.
Ambushing him from the side, one of the elephants charged towards
him, and lifted him up in the air with her trunk. Another hunter shot
the elephant, hoping that it would drop Botha and flee. The shot proved
to be fatal, however – and as the elephant collapsed, Botha fell beneath
it and was subsequently crushed to death.
Big game hunting is controversial for several obvious reasons. Although some https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talks-hunting/" rel="nofollow - argue
that there are some ecological benefits to carefully managed hunting,
in reality, most of it involves helping to wipe out extremely vulnerable
species, which is undoubtedly a terrible thing to engage in. Sure, http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/national-park-rangers-licence-kill-poachers/" rel="nofollow - poaching is far worse, and habitat destruction does not help, but legal hunting is only http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151715-conservation-trophy-hunting-elephants-tusks-poaching-zimbabwe-namibia/" rel="nofollow - exacerbating things further.
On a very basic level, the fight is unfair: these rather majestic
animals are not expecting humans to sneak up on them, and when they do,
they’re armed with long-distance rifles, cars and sometimes a
helicopter. There’s nothing dignified about killing a harmless animal
for sport, especially when the odds are stacked so heavily against it.
This fatality, if anything, shows that wildlife shouldn’t be
underestimated. If people decide to try and kill them, they’re going to
resist – and sometimes, they’ll score a win, even in death it seems.
Botha, from South Africa, was reportedly a well-known hunter in the
region, and he often ventured to the US to encourage high-income
Americans to join in on the sport. He was often seen hunting with his
dogs.
His demise isn’t the first hunt-related death this year. One of
Botha’s friends, Scott van Zyl, was on the search from some big game
trophies in Zimbabwe back in April when he was attacked and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/18/remains-found-crocodiles-believed-missing-south-african-hunter/" rel="nofollow - eaten alive by crocodiles on the banks of the Limpopo River.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 23 May 2017 at 5:16pm
Ir could only be sport if the animals had guns and could shoot back.
If he was such a clever hunter how come he "stumbled " on a herd of breeding animals by accident ?
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2017 at 2:38pm
More Elephants Are Being Born Tuskless Thanks to Poaching
May 25, 2017
by http://bigthink.com/experts/robby-berman" rel="nofollow - Robby Berman
Natural selection as a means of evolution is generally
thought of as a slow process, and it usually is. That is, unless there’s
some unnaturally strong influence at work. And that’s exactly https://www.inverse.com/article/24539-africa-elephants-tuskless-evolution-natural-selection?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=ScienceDump&utm_campaign=influencer" rel="nofollow - what’s happening
to African elephants. The unnatural influence is humans, or more
specifically, poachers, and it’s causing an increase in the births of
tuskless elephants. Those who do have tusks are becoming less likely to
reproduce since they’re hunted down and killed for their ivory.
Not every elephant has tusks. In a population without
significant poaching going on, from 2% to 6% of females are born without
tusks. Males without them are less common because they’re required
weapons for earning procreation rights, and tuskless males don’t
generally get to reproduce.
In areas where there is poaching, however, the story’s
very different, and the quest for elephant ivory is changing the types
of offspring now being produced. In Gorongosa National Park in
Mozambique, half of the older females have tusks. The situation has
improved since poaching was brought under control there 20 years ago,
but a third of the younger elephants are tuskless nonetheless, a
meaningful increase over the historical norm.
In Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park and the Lupande Game Management Area, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2028.1995.tb00800.x/abstract" rel="nofollow - - tuskelessness increased
from 10·5% in 1969 to 38·2% in 1989 The numbers have improved slightly
since then there as well, but only due to more tusked females migrating
from nearby areas.
There’s been big money in China’s black market for ivory, from a peak of $2,100 USD per kilogram in 2014 to http://www.savetheelephants.org/about-ste/press-media/?detail=dramatic-changes-in-china-s-ivory-trade" rel="nofollow - - $730 per kilogram
in February of 2017. There are several factors in the reduction, most
notably the easing of demand for luxury goods due to the country’s
economic slowdown, the government’s efforts to shut down the ivory
business, and changes in Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward ivory and
its cost to elephants.
But between 2007 and 2014, some 144,000 African elephants
were killed, placing the species perilously close to extinction in some
areas. Researchers warn that over time, African elephants may evolve
into primarily tuskless creatures, as Asian elephant have.
And that, in itself, is a problem. For elephants, tusks perform a http://www.eleaid.com/elephant-information/elephant-tusks/" rel="nofollow - - number of important functions .
They’re weapons for use against predators and other elephants, watering
holes can be dug with them and bark can be stripped from trees, and
they’re useful for pushing away brush and other obstacles in their path.
(Interestingly, elephants, when it comes to tusks, can be “lefties” or
“righties” — there’s evidence that they prefer one tusk over the other.)
So while an elephant without tusks may be safe from
poaching, it’s in a precarious position when it comes to survival,
especially on its own, and being affiliated with a herd that has enough
tusks to take care of the necessary tasks is the only real defense.
“Conservationists say an elephant without tusks is a crippled elephant,” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/elephants-africa-tusks-ivory-poaching-born-without-a7440706.html" rel="nofollow - - says the BBC.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2017 at 9:07pm
I see another hunter bit the dust today.
A bloke from Newcastle , NSW , hunting near Franz Joseph in NZ fell down a crevice and died.
Karma.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: ThreeBears
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 1:47pm
I grew up with one of the good guys. Julian was the younger brother of my mate Michael. He's now co founder and director of GCF. He and his wife dedicate their lives to the giraffe. Not bad for a boy from Moorabbin. Any donations go to a most worthy cause. More effective than "donating" 50K to kill a lion.
Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 4:33pm
A lot of PhD's there doing great work. Just waiting for the right wing goons on TBV to chime in saying academics do not live in the real world and are a waste of time, leave everything to the ordinary man who has "common sense "
------------- Victor Orban 1.74 m, Michael Bloomberg 1.73 m, Emmanual Macron 1.77 m, George Soros 1.8 m
Posted By: JudgeHolden
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 7:50pm
Good stuff TB, I've chipped in. I was going to do the same with RR Martin's wolf sanctuary- 20 large and apparently he'd write you in as a character in the next edition. Given what happens to most on Game of Thrones I thought I might stick with the minimum.
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 8:25pm
60% of direwolves have been wiped out
-------------
Posted By: JudgeHolden
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 8:30pm
I didn't realise the dire wolf was actually an extinct animal. For the religious folk here they must have lived around the same time as Noah and the dinosaurs. What 3 or 4 thousand years ago?
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 8:32pm
Was it North American?
-------------
Posted By: JudgeHolden
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 8:35pm
You know it. And it was the biggest, baddest mofo going around. All the continents were joined back then
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 8:38pm
Were the dinosaurs drowned in the great flood, because there was no room on the Ark for them?
-------------
Posted By: JudgeHolden
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 8:46pm
Ken Ham assures us they were there. Along with about 5 billion other species. What I don't get is, how did they save all the freshwater fish?
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 9:04pm
Ken should know, but if they were on the Ark and survived, where are they hiding?
-------------
Posted By: oneonesit
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 9:20pm
This almost sounds like a one on one conversation. Sorry if I've interrupted - pls continue... !
------------- Refer ALP Election Promises
Posted By: oneonesit
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 9:27pm
Academics never get it right in the "real world". They lack common sense !
------------- Refer ALP Election Promises
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2017 at 9:29pm
Apparently
-------------
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2017 at 1:39pm
oneonesit wrote:
Academics never get it right in the "real world". They lack common sense !
I think thats pretty right.
I saw a mob of horses shot in a N.P. because the academics , ( Pitt Street greeneis, who had never even visited that particular park/region ) claimed they had evidence that the horses were killing native vegetation of a certain species. So approx 12 horses were shot, their stomaches opened and the contents examined .
Just grass. No special species of native vegetation to be found.
On further studies by a couple of prominent equine vets ( done out of their own interest ) it was found that particular vegetation would have poisoned the horses if they had eaten it.
So much for those academics .
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2017 at 1:57pm
How bloody typical Similar to Bunnings headquarters in Melb. decision to drop supplies of rural irrigation products 'cos they weren't selling in the Graeter area of Melb. Knobs the lot of them!
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2017 at 6:20pm
-------------
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 06 Jun 2017 at 11:54pm
I can never understand what a bloke gets out of cutting off an elephant tail ( or any of the other gross things they do and call it hunting ) and posing with it for a picture .
Does it make them feel ????
1. Clever.
2. Powerful.
3. Masculine .
4. Talented.
5. Desirable.
Because if that is the case , most people view them as none of those. They just view them as dick heads with small minds and even smaller bits. He is gripping on that tail as if he thinks its a replica of his no doubt rather small appendage.
Sick, sick people.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2017 at 12:15am
I agree with you AA as usual
it sickens me, cannot watch wildlife documentaries because there is always something about dwindling numbers.
Chinese are the worst for their mad obsession with ivory and natural "health remedies"
I believe 150,000 elephants were killed in 2012, sickens me
------------- Victor Orban 1.74 m, Michael Bloomberg 1.73 m, Emmanual Macron 1.77 m, George Soros 1.8 m
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 07 Jun 2017 at 1:27am
Whale wrote:
I agree with you AA as usual
it sickens me, cannot watch wildlife documentaries because there is always something about dwindling numbers.
Chinese are the worst for their mad obsession with ivory and natural "health remedies"
I believe 150,000 elephants were killed in 2012, sickens me
This Chinese belief of parts of animals being magical sickens me, too, Whale.
These people are supposed to be smart people, but if you look at these sick beliefs they have, they are not very smart at all.
If every single one of us who cares about this just does one small thing to help prevent the needless slaughter, even just write a letter, speak out loud, we can only hope to make some progress.
Look at the plight of the Snowy Brumbies. The greenies were all up for shooting them, not just some but all, but so many ordinary Australians who dont even know which end eats and which end poops , stood up, signed up, spoke up, and said NO.
They have been reprieved and its now looking at them being heritage listed. So at least they wont be shot out.
And there is a wonderful initiative in the Barrington Tops, saving the Tasmanian Devil . Breeding up disease free devils for the future, all done with donations from people, and not the Govnt.
Lets hope more and more people come on board for all the animals, before its too late.
And lets hope Karma visits the likes of the bloke holding the tail, and all those other big brave people who kill animals for fun.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 19 Jun 2017 at 3:43pm
36 year old spanish matador gored to death in France, at a bull fight.
Karma .
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 19 Jun 2017 at 3:47pm
-------------
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 23 Jun 2017 at 9:57pm
Zimbabwe: Bow Hunting - Zimbabwe's Great Wildlife Dilemma
By Andrew Kunambura
A
worsening foreign currency crisis has armed safari operators with the
ammunition they desperately needed to build a case for reintroduction of
the bow hunting sport in Zimbabwe.
The sport,
borrowing from ancient forms of hunting game, came to an abrupt end
following the killing of Cecil the lion in July 2015.
The famous feline was first wounded with an arrow shot by recreational big-game hunter, American dentist Charles Palmer.
The lion was then
killed with a rifle, approximately 40 hours later on 1 July 2015,
triggering a loud global outcry from animal rights groups.
Government reacted by immediately banning bow hunting.
Hunters then
migrated to South Africa, which, however, banned the sport last year,
forcing cash-rich American bow sport hunters to seek a return back to
the Zimbabwean forests.
And for
cash-starved Zimbabwe, the lure of greenbacks is tempting, but
conservationists are refusing to give in and a battle is looming.
Zimbabwe is one of
only four countries in the world where any form of lion hunting is still
permitted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES).
The country also offers opportunities for hunting of big game like elephants and buffalo.
While there is nothing wrong with hunting, it is the undeveloped type of hunting that is raising consternation.
Bow hunting is the
practice of hunting game by archery, in which hunters typically shoot
several arrows to trees while tracking their quarry.
Once an animal happens to stray within range, hunters then set off the arrows.
Quick kills are rare, and animals suffer prolonged, painful deaths when the hunters only injure and fail to kill them.
Local safari
operators cannot, however, wait to cash in on the sport, which they say
has potential to bring in at least $5 million revenue every year.
Conservationists
contend that more effort should be made to preserve Zimbabwe's rich
wildlife diversity which attracts game viewing tourists from all over
the world.
The question being
asked is: Should government prioritise the quick gains of bow hunting
over long term benefits of game viewing tourism?
Like so many hot button issues, the answer to the question depends on who is asked.
On the one hand,
some say nothing could be more natural than hunting, and indeed just
about every animal species has been either predator or prey at some
point in its evolution.
Ironically, hunting
has wiped out many animal species, while at the same time helping to
cull some wild animals that have been allowed to freely reproduce beyond
the environment's carrying capacity.
Using this argument, the country's safari operators may just have a compelling case.
For instance, the
American bow hunters currently knocking on the country's doors are
specifically targeting the buffaloes, elephants and lions, which are
said to be off CITES red list in the country.
Elephants and
buffaloes, for example, still roam the wild in great numbers in
Zimbabwe, and have often posed danger to local communities and destroyed
crops.
On the other hand,
environmental and animal advocates see bow hunting as barbaric, arguing
that it is morally wrong to kill animals just for the fun of it.
Safari Operators
Association of Zimbabwe president, Emmanuel Fundira, is encouraging
government to review the blanket ban on bow hunting as a sport, which he
says would open "an exciting period for the safari industry at a time
when other parts of the economy are in crisis".
He said there was huge earning potential for the country if it allowed bow hunting to resume.
"It is therefore my
fervent hope and belief that the regulators will consider helping us
capture this growing market to the best interest of economic
development," Fundira said.
Bow hunting grew in the 1960s in the United States when conservation lobbyists started discouraging gun hunting.
Mainly limited to hunting for food, the practice was popularised as a sport in the 1980s.
Overall, it was a pastime for older men, but there has been growing interest now among the affluent young generation.
But to the conservationists and animal rights activists, frivolous killing cannot be ethical, let alone be termed a sport.
They have declared
that the role of hunting has always been to obtain protein for some
populations living in areas infested with wild animals.
However, today the
thrill of slaying mighty big mammals like the buffalo, elephant and lion
that can be skinned and their hides hung on the wall of the basements
of living rooms has brought a whole new dimension to the practice of
hunting.
Considering how
desperate the Zimbabwean government is at the moment in its search for
liquidity, there is every reason to believe that conservationists might
lose this fight.
But they will not go down without a fight.
California-based
organisation, Animals Voice's Glenn Kirk said bow hunting "causes
immense suffering to individual wild animals and is gratuitously cruel
because unlike natural predation, hunters kill for pleasure".
He said despite
hunters' claims that hunting keeps wildlife populations in balance,
hunters' license fees are used to "manipulate a few game species into
overpopulation at the expense of a much larger number of non-game
species, resulting in the loss of biological diversity, genetic
integrity and ecological balance".
The same sentiments
were echoed by another American group known as the People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which is vehemently opposed to the
sport.
PETA is the world's largest animal rights group with over 6,5 million members and supporters.
"Hunting might have
been necessary for human survival in prehistoric times, but today most
hunters stalk and kill animals merely for the thrill of it, not out of
necessity. This unnecessary, violent form of 'entertainment' rips animal
families apart and leaves countless animals orphaned or badly injured
when hunters miss their targets," PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said.
Local animal rights
organisation, the Veterinarians for Animal Welfare of Zimbabwe (VAWZ),
said it was opposed to bow hunting because of the pain it inflicts on
animals.
"Hunting is often
called a sport as a way to pass off a cruel, needless killing spree as a
socially acceptable, wholesome activity. However, sports involve
competition between two consenting parties and the mediation of a
referee. And no sport ends with the deliberate death of one unwilling
participant," said VAWZ animal welfare officer, Mel Hood.
While the country's
safari operators argue that controlled hunting was necessary to keep
herds and pride populations within healthy sizes, conservationists argue
that nature had its own way of delicately balancing ecosystems thereby
naturally ensuring the survival of most species.
While natural
predators help maintain this balance by killing only the sickest and
weakest individuals, hunters strive to kill animals they would like to
hang over the fireplace. And these usually are the largest, most robust
animals, which are, however, critical in keeping the gene pool strong.
"If communities
decide that buffalo herds must be managed, it is wrong to reduce the
taking of animal life to a recreational activity for bow hunting
enthusiasts. Instead, a truly humane solution must be found, whether
that solution is to hire professional sharpshooters to observe the herd,
taking the old and infirm, or to implement an immune-contraception
program for the herd," says Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals general manager, Mark Beru.
As a signatory to
the International Convention on Biodiversity a multilateral treaty
signed at the United Nations Rio Earth summit of 1992 -- Zimbabwe, which
has a commitment to the sustainable use of its natural resources, finds
itself in a tight corner over bow hunting.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2017 at 1:17am
Killing for fun is sick.
Dont we all agree , to kill a human , just for the fun of it, is sick, and done by a sicko ??
So why does anyone think its any different when killing animals.
Killing for fun is a sick and sorry occupation.
Those people who take part in it are sickos, shielded by wealth, to make it look good.
Big gun, small d**k , and small self esteem.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: max manewer
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2017 at 12:10pm
I see that the son of Cecil the Lion, shot by that crazy yank dentist in Africa, has himself been dispatched by another one of these deplorable trophy hunters. As the Great Oscar Wilde said of fox hunters......" the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible."
Posted By: maccamax
Date Posted: 21 Jul 2017 at 4:33pm
Hunters are Brave
When the Rabbit doesn't have the gun.
Posted By: ThreeBears
Date Posted: 01 Aug 2017 at 6:23pm
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke ( of Walmart and Asda fame ) has announced a new app TV channel for diehard hunting fans.
------------- Victor Orban 1.74 m, Michael Bloomberg 1.73 m, Emmanual Macron 1.77 m, George Soros 1.8 m
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 01 Aug 2017 at 7:12pm
'They' may as well get what they can out of the wildlife, while there's still some left
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2017 at 4:00pm
Every forward step seems to be countered by 5 backwards
Op-Ed: South Africa opens the door to the sale of wildlife parts
By Don Pinnock
There’s a thin line between the marketing of, and
the genuine conservation of, wildlife. In the past few weeks that line
was definitively crossed by the South African Department of
Environmental Affairs. By DON PINNOCK.
Ignoring
the findings of environmental organisations, its contractual compliance
with CITES, a worldwide online petition and its own strategic plan for
rhinos, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA)
is about to open the door to the commodification of rhino horn. This
follows the permitting of 800 lion skeletons a year to be exported for
fake tiger-bone wine and regulations for the hunting of leopards as soon
as the present year-long moratorium is lifted.
There
is also an ongoing political spat concerning the “donation” of
R100-million worth of animals from North West Province Parks to private
individuals. The result of these moves means a good deal of money for
well-placed individuals in the wildlife business.
Let’s
start with rhinos. Last year, following the findings of a committee of
inquiry into the feasibility of South Africa trading in rhino horn, the
government announced that it was not in favour of this trade. Its
position was reinforced at the CITES CoP17 meeting in Gauteng late last
year where it was clear that a large majority of member states were
against legalising the trade. The voting was 100 against, 26 in favour,
with 17 abstentions on a proposal by Swaziland.
Last
year the South African ban on rhino horn trade was challenged by
private sector rhino breeders, who won on a technicality. The
Environment Minister, Edna Molewa, took the result on appeal to the
Constitutional Court and there it languished.
Photo by Don Pinnock.
Then,
on February 8, the South African government did a complete about-turn,
announcing new draft regulations to permit legal internal trade in rhino
horn and setting out conditions favourable for its export. If passed,
each person will be able to buy, own, sell or export two rhino horns.
The new regulations will render Molewa’s appeal redundant and is a total
capitulation to the breeders. The public have 30 days from date of the
gazette to make representations or objections.
But
if it’s a capitulation, it’s been carefully framed. It brackets both
black and white rhinos, though they have a different conservation
status, and would permit the sale of two horns per person and their
export by locals or foreigners as long as the conduit is OR Tambo
Airport. It requires a freight agent and a raft of DNA, microchip and
document checking which the DEA has no hope of administering. It will
simply open the gate on wholesale laundering of poached horn by
syndicates well versed in getting greedy officials onside.
You’d
imagine the proposal would be related to hunting trophies, but though
trophies are passingly mentioned, the proposal deals almost exclusively
with horn as a commodity in itself and even discusses horn shavings,
which have nothing to do with trophies.
Molewa
seems unsure about how to explain the swerve to horn trade. She
scheduled a briefing about it in Cape Town last week, changed it to
Gauteng, then cancelled it altogether.
Photo by Don Pinnock.
DEA biodiversity director Thea Carroll confused the matter even further. She told Chris Barron of the Sunday Times
that the department’s decision was that a commercial trade in rhino
horn “will not be introduced”. But a few questions further she said the
DEA’s position was “to allow for domestic trade in rhino horn and to
regulate that trade in rhino horn”. Excuse me?
The public is left with a number of questions:
Who did the minister consult in drawing up the draft regulations and how did she arrive at a figure of two horns per person?
How will an already stretched and under-funded regulatory and policing force cope with monitoring internal trade?
How will she ensure that the horns will not enter the illegal international markets?
And
is this the first step towards South Africa putting forward a proposal
for full international trade in rhino horn at the next CITES conference
in 2019?
According to environmentalist Ian Michler, “There
is no realistic way of ensuring that the two horns per person do not
end up being traded. The follow-up regarding trophy horns taken to other
countries has been pathetic.
“I
don’t think any country, including the US, has ever systematically
followed up on trophy hunters who have exported legally hunted horn out
of South Africa to check that they still have them and have not sold
them on. We should demand that the Minister present evidence of this
follow-up and not just say that it’s happened.”
There’s
another problem with the proposal. It includes black rhinos in its
scope, but these are listed as Appendix 1 by CITES so they (or parts of
them) may not be traded internationally. But the DEA regulations would
permit sale of their horns internally which, realistically, means
exporters are sure to cheat because only a DNA test can tell the
difference.
All
this is hot on the heels of another startling proposal by the DEA: the
sale of lion bones for the manufacture of fake tiger-bone wine. In a
move clearly supporting the canned lion hunting industry, the DEA plans
to permit the annual export of 800 skeletons for this purpose. It’s a
lifeline to an increasingly discredited lion hunting industry that’s
hurting following a US ban on the import of trophies from the country.
The
move has come under fire from a wide array of local and international
environmental organisations and follows an ongoing controversy about
South Africa’s lion breeding industry that promotes cub petting, lion
walks, canned lion hunting and the supply of lion body parts.
“The
decision is misguided and shameful,” said Audrey Delsink, Africa’s
director of the Humaine Society International. “Breeding captive lions
is not only cruel and contrary to the global shift against captive
wildlife, but is a potential threat to wild lions.”
Pippa Hankinson, the producer of the film http://www.bloodlions.org/" rel="nofollow - - Blood Lions, said the
quota appears to lack the requisite scientific basis and was arrived at
without consideration of proper welfare or conservation protocols.
There was no formal document to support how the quota of 800 skeletons was arrived at or how it would be enforced.
“South
Africa [is showing] complete disregard for the overwhelming response by
key global conservation leaders calling for the termination of captive
lion breeding,” she said.
According to Michelle Pickover of the http://emsfoundation.ca/" rel="nofollow - - EMS Foundation, there
should be a moratorium on issuing any wildlife export permits because
of the country’s extremely poor legislative and enforcement issues.
“The
DEA does not know how the lion industry operates, who the breeders or
bone traders are, how many lions are in the industry and how many
‘facilities’ there are.
“They leave this totally up to the industry itself. So it’s in essence secret and self-policed. There is also no transparency and this situation is worsened by massive corruption.”
For
the DEA to think that farmed wildlife sale has no impact on those truly
wild, it would have to ignore the fact that stimulating what are almost
limitless Asian markets through the sale of limited goods soon bleeds
into illegal procurement through poaching.
The
leopard issue is more nuanced but equally worrying. There was
celebration among environmental conservationists and no doubt grumbling
among many farmers and hunters when the DEA accepted the negative
non-detrimental finding (meaning it found it detrimental) to hunt
leopards this year. But this was followed by legislation detailing how,
when and where to hunt them as soon as the ban is lifted.
It’s
worth stepping back from this legislative flurry and asking what’s
going on here? A government department tasked with the protection of the
environment appears to be engaged in assisting wealthy people to sell
it bit by bit. Its reasoning appears to be its increasingly
market-driven interpretation of sustainability, assisted, no doubt, by
an industry keen to sell its wares. The core of the problem is an
ambiguity in the definition in the Constitution.
While
the Constitution states that citizens and future generations have the
right to an environment protected from environmental degredation, it
also promotes the “ecologically sustainable development and use of
natural resources”.
The
former implies sustainable habitat protection in and of itself, the
latter implies sustainablity for human use. With regard to protection of
a natural geographical area or to a wild species, they are not
compatible.
Sustainable
habitat protection recognises that life is a set of relationships that,
over time, is self-regulating and that these relationships – in place
and over time – are what it’s important to sustain as part or the fabric
of life on this planet. This is the logic of true conservation, of wild
parks left as much as possible to their own internal logic with minimal
human interference.
Sustainable
use is about the maximum you can crop without collapsing a system,
species or herd. It’s essentially a farming concept applied to wildlife.
The
DEA’s logic on the use of rhinos, lions, leopards or essentially
anything under its protection is that these species only matter to the
extent that they are useful to humans.
By
this ethic, individual animals have no moral worth other than in terms
of the money we can gain from their lives and their death.
Sustainability is only about ensuring there will be species in the
future that we can exploit.
Between
legislative direction and eventual outcome, of course, lies the shadow.
Sustainable use of high-value objects is soon undermined by a
combination of oversight ineptitude, huge profits and a sophisticated
criminal underworld alert to any gaps or weaknesses.
Poached
rhino horn will soon sidle into legitimate sales, legitimate trophies
will rematerialise in the East as high-priced products, lion skeleton
quotas will be overtopped, CITES permits will be forged, officials will
be bribed, leopard skins will become Shembe cloaks or floor mats in
wealthy pads, and ivory poachers will benefit from shifty transit
systems spiriting wildlife parts out of the country. All under the
unbrella of sustainable use.
The
question we are left with is why our environmental protection agency
has increasingly shifted over into a market-enabling one. There are
those who would seek the cause in brown envelopes passed beneath the
table, but I suspect it’s a genuine belief by the DEA of the second
interpretation of the constitutional imperative – sustainablity for
human use.
But
if this is so, it needs to think deeply about who makes money out of
rhino horn, lion skin or leopard pelt sales and vastly expensive hunts.
It is certainly not “the people” defined in the Constitution. The
biologist Ed Wilson warned us that “in the end, success or failure will
come down to an ethical decision, one on which those now living will be
judged for generations to come”.
That
judgement, he added, may not be a positive one: “We have created a Star
Wars civilisation with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions and
godlike technology. We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the
mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and to the rest of
life.”
It’s
now too late for concerned citizens to stop the lion bone regulations,
but there are a few days left to object to the sale of rhino horn. It
seems a good call. DM
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2017 at 6:40pm
Nothing would surprise me about those countries. There is so much corruption in the Govnt, if there is money to be made they will do anything.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2017 at 6:48pm
so sickening, those people will do anything for money, is Trump involved
------------- Victor Orban 1.74 m, Michael Bloomberg 1.73 m, Emmanual Macron 1.77 m, George Soros 1.8 m
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2017 at 7:19pm
Passing Through wrote:
-------------
Posted By: maccamax
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2017 at 7:34pm
Aurelius wrote:
Ha ha.........
HUNTING IS A GREAT SPORT, WHEN THE RABBIT HASN'T GOT THE GUN.
Posted By: Tlazolteotl
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2017 at 8:05pm
I thought Viagra would kill the rhino horn demand from the midget-dicks. Boy was I wrong.
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2017 at 2:10pm
http://www.bbc.com/news/correspondents/markeaston" rel="nofollow - By Mark Easton
Drifting down the Zambezi in Zimbabwe, I overheard two American men swapping hunting stories.
"First shot got him in the shoulder," a
white man in his late sixties explained to his friend. "Second hit him
right in the side of the head!" Pointing at his temple, he passed his
phone with a picture. The animal in question was a dead crocodile.
Crocodiles are easy to find on this part
of the Zambezi: lying in the sun on the banks of the river, boats can
float just a few feet away. And given that they are motionless for most
of the time, not hard to shoot, I imagine.
The second American showed his pal a
picture of a Cape Buffalo he had killed, and planned to have shoulder
mounted. He complained he couldn't afford the $19,000 (£14,500) Zimbabwe
demands for the licence to kill an elephant. His buffalo cost him
$8,000 (£6,100).
"Are they saying an elephant is worth
more than two buffalo?" he lamented. "I saw hundreds of elephants today.
Far too many. You have to see it here to realise. In California they
are saying these animals are endangered!"
The first man's wife then talked of the
thrill she gets at the kill, discussing how different calibres of bullet
explode the vital organs of African wildlife. I left to look at the
hippos watching from the river.
But, curiously, I have felt obliged to consider the ethics of big game hunting at home in London in the last few months.
I'm an Arsenal fan, and it recently emerged that my team's owner,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40773618" rel="nofollow - American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke, had launched a TV channel in the UK featuring lion and elephant hunting
.
High profile supporters
The corporate values of family brand
Arsenal do not sit easily with pay-to-view videos of hunters shooting
animals for fun, and after a couple of days of hostile publicity,
Kroenke ordered his channel to stop showing the killing of some big
game.
But both sides in the hunting debate claim they are the true guardians of animal welfare.
Supporters of African trophy hunting,
including some in very high places - two of President Trump's sons are
avid big game hunters - argue that a ban on hunting would harm wildlife
and local people.
It would stop much needed revenue
reaching some of Africa's poorest communities, discourage conservation
and cut funds for wildlife management that would make it easier for
poachers to operate, they say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-34017235/why-big-game-hunting-is-big-business-in-south-africa" rel="nofollow - Why big game hunting is big business in South Africa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-33722688" rel="nofollow - What Cecil the lion means to Zimbabwe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-33699347" rel="nofollow - When is it hunting and when is it poaching?
Opponents counter that little of the profit
from trophy hunting money ends up in the communities where it takes
place. They say poachers use legal hunting as cover for their illegal
activities, and argue that there are more efficient and humane ways to
support the welfare of southern Africa's animals and people.
I was travelling in Zimbabwe and
neighbouring Botswana last month - two countries with opposing policies
towards big game hunters. Hunting is still big business in Zimbabwe, as
the rich Americans on the Zambezi demonstrate, but
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-37230700" rel="nofollow - since 2014 it has been completely banned in Botswana
.
Majestic animals
The difference in approach between
Botswana and its neighbours - South Africa, Namibia and Zambia also
allow trophy hunting - was brought dramatically home to me in the
country's glorious Chobe National Park.
In the late afternoon, I watched a herd
of around 600 Cape Buffalo snake its way down to the Chobe River that
marks the boundary with Namibia. It was mesmerising to see these
majestic animals following each other, nose to tail, across the water.
Then my guide pointed out two vehicles on the
horizon, across the river. "Hunters," he explained, simply. Through the
binoculars we could see six men with rifles. Apparently oblivious to
the risk, the buffalo continued to cross the border towards them. Later,
shots would be heard.
In a move interpreted as a direct
challenge to the wildlife policies of other southern African nations,
Botswana's President Ian Khama is marching his country towards a new
model of African tourism: "low impact/high value".
Botswana believes that by protecting its
animals and minimising humankind's footprint on the natural world, it
can turn the country into an exclusive tourist destination that brings
in far more than it loses from the ban on hunting.
Hostile environment
Botswana is home to more than a third of
Africa's dwindling elephant population, and - since the hunting ban -
these intelligent animals have increasingly sought refuge there.
The concentration of elephants is a huge
draw for tourists but, as predicted by opponents of the ban, it is also a
huge temptation for less scrupulous hunters and poachers.
Botswana's answer is to make the country a hostile environment for those who want to harm the wildlife.
Military bases have been moved to the
borders of the national parks. Armed patrols on foot and in the air are
ready, if necessary, to kill people coming to kill animals. Some
poachers have been shot dead.
The hunting ban doesn't just apply to rich trophy hunters.
It also limits or outlaws the shooting of
game by local people for food or to protect crops and livestock. The
Botswana government believes if there is any legal shooting of animals,
the big poaching syndicates and illegal hunting operations will use that
as cover for their activities.
In Mabele village, close to the Namibian
border, I watched a man mixing an extraordinary cocktail: crushed
tabasco chillies, elephant dung and engine oil. With a flourish he set
the contents on fire and stood back to admire his handiwork.
"That is supposed to stop an elephant trampling my crops," Chibeya Longwani told me, pointing at the ash in the tin.
Compensation
He spread it along the sides of his
field, beside plastic chairs, broken electric fans and beer crates, as
instructed by the Ministry of Agriculture.
"They said that bees stop elephants too,"
Mr Longwani said. "But they don't have the boxes at the moment." His
frustration was obvious.
As well as advice on deterring elephants,
farmers can claim compensation from the government if wild game does
damage property. But if they kill the animals, they are likely to get
nothing.
To police the new approach, the Department of
Wildlife and National Parks has recruited an army of Special Wildlife
Scouts, operating in rural villages. Their job, for example, includes
ensuring families don't take more than the five guinea fowl they are
allowed each day, and that farmers are honest in their compensation
claims.
It is a nationwide exercise in social
engineering - trying to change the ancient relationship between the
rural population and the wild animals around them. The government
believes the long-term rewards justify the rules. Many farmers remain
unconvinced.
For those tourists coming to Botswana
with cameras rather than guns though, the policies have created an
utterly captivating wild landscape teeming with amazing African animals
and birds. And "elite travellers" are prepared to pay big money for the
privilege of seeing it.
Anti-poaching initiatives
During the high season, a single room in
one of the most exclusive lodges on the Okovango Delta can cost more
than $5,000 (£3,830) a night, equivalent to the price of a Namibian
licence to shoot a single leopard.
Many tourist lodge operators work in
partnership with local villages. I encountered one lodge where 10% of
the business turnover will soon go to the community nearby. Villagers
often have a direct say in development plans.
International tourism is expected to bring in
$210m (£160m) to Botswana this year, rising to $370m (£280) by 2021 -
more than trophy hunters spend across the whole of southern Africa.
Many in Zimbabwe, by contrast, see
hunting as an inextricable part of Africa's cultural heritage, believing
that, if done sustainably and responsibly, it can be a valuable
addition to the region's economy and wildlife management.
The walking guides who take tourists into
the bush there aren't allowed to operate until they have passed a state
exam that includes shooting an elephant and a buffalo. I asked one
guide how he had felt about doing it. "It depends if you like hunting,"
was his enigmatic reply.
The Zimbabwean government argues that 75%
of proceeds from trophy hunting goes towards wildlife preservation and
anti-poaching initiatives.
Toxic impact
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/wildlife-african-elephants-population-decrease-great-elephant-census/" rel="nofollow - The recent Great Elephant Census project
suggests Zimbabwe's elephant population has fallen 11% in a decade,
with poaching and illegal hunting threatening to wipe out whole herds in
parts of the country.
The
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34508269" rel="nofollow - killing of Cecil the lion by an American trophy hunter just outside Zimbabwe's protected Hwange National Park area in 2015
made headline news around the world.
The furore prompted
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32750891/airlines-ban-wildlife-hunting-trophies-on-board" rel="nofollow - a number of airlines to ban the transport of "trophies" from Africa
, another sign of how toxic hunting has become for international brands.
Three years after introducing its hunting
ban, Botswana is so far holding firm, despite huge pressure from other
southern African nations.
It is a critical time for the policy. Any stumble, and the hunters are waiting on the horizon.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: max manewer
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2017 at 2:22pm
These hunters are suffering from FITH Syndrome, imo.
Posted By: maccamax
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2017 at 11:33am
I used to feel sorry for the big cats until I saw a Buffalo being eaten alive by a pride of Lions. That's natures way I expect but so is Humans knocking a few off as practice for North Koreas masses when the time comes. Most of Australia wouldn't know how to aim a gun so we are easy prey for any invader. ( unlike WW2 , The population were good marksmen)
Posted By: max manewer
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2017 at 1:08pm
maccamax wrote:
Most of Australia wouldn't know how to aim a gun so we are easy prey for any invader. ( unlike WW2 , The population were good marksmen)
Not in Darwin, in Feb '42 apparently. The seeming imminence of a Jap invasion caused a civilian bug-out which left only a few looters in town, and a smattering of servicemen with precious little arms and ammunition, guarding the beaches. No weekend hunters in sight !
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 21 Sep 2017 at 2:14am
I know in Botswana, at every border post they have huge posters everywhere , saying that our wildlife is our future. Our wildlife is our road to prosperity. As we travelled around we used to see all these high wire fences topped by barbed. Private game reserves. Some for hunting. Potted lion our guide called it. They just breed the animal and then the hunter comes in and shoots it. SICK. No sport,,,just sit and wait until the lion,,or whatever ,,walks past about 50 mtrs away, and blast it. What do they get out of that ?? Others were for game viewing only. Our guide had been a hunter guide as a young bloke. He is now into conservation. I ask him about Cecil. He said the hunter in charge deliberatley lured Cecil out of the park,,,he set his rich American up just to wait for Cecil to come into view, while he went and lured him out with a food trail. Corruption in those countries is just so bad its disgusting. Anything that will get the rich richer is a go-er. We were told the money we think goes to helping kids, when we donate, those kids would be lucky if they ever saw $1 in $50. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. As to poachers. OMG. I thought they crawled in thru fences at night. Not so. They drive in like ordinary tourists,,,guns in the boot,,,they go out looking around like tourists, and pick their animal and go back at night, shoot it, take the bit they want in the car boot, and drive out of the park the next day. If they waste time on a de horned rhino, they kill it anyway, so they dont waste time on it again !!!! When we were in Etosha there was a huge search going on , of all cars, at the gates , with sniffer dogs. Our guide said there must have been some sort of tip off or hint or something, and they believed poachers were moving in. In Chobe there was a huge army camp on the river bank just near the big population of elephants. They told us they guard the elephants at all time and they shoot to kill, no questions ask. Lets hope Botswana hold strong. Without the wildlife, tourists wont go to that dry dusty dreary place, so they better wise up.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2018 at 10:49pm
More than one alleged poacher thought to be killed by lions
Three poachers are known to have entered the Sibuya Game Reserve, owner says
At least two alleged poachers, maybe even three, were
killed by a pride of lions on the Sibuya Game Reserve outside
Kenton-on-Sea this week.
This was revealed by reserve owner Nick Fox following the discovery
of human remains in the lion camp on the reserve earlier this week.
A hunting rifle with a silencer attached and a long axe and wire cutters were recovered at the scene by police.
What we did see is the rifle on the ground as well as
food, mainly bread, scattered everywhere. Human remains were also
clearly visible.
Fox said he suspected more than one person was attacked by the lions – based on the evidence found on the scene.
“Judging from the shoes and items found on the scene, I suspect it is
about two or maybe three (alleged poachers) who were killed. The
remains were scattered over a very wide area making it difficult to comb
the scene and get all the evidence,” he said.
Fox added that he suspected alleged poachers had entered the reserve on Sunday night or early Monday morning.
Fox said the discovery was made after the Anti-Poaching Unit Dog started barking while on patrol.
“The dogs' reaction was then followed by a commotion coming from the
pride of lions. On Tuesday afternoon we were then alerted to a skull
that was seen near the lions,” he said.
“I went to investigate together with the anti-poaching unit. Because
it was too dangerous to get out of the car, we could not examine the
scene as the lions were close-by. What we did see is the rifle on the
ground as well as food, mainly bread, scattered everywhere. Human
remains were also clearly visible.”
Fox said police were alerted but, due to bad lighting
and the lions being active, a decision was made to dart and tranquilise
the lions on Wednesday morning.
“It was a pride of six lions that we darted in order to give police
time to comb the scene. The evidence was covered over a very wide area
and obviously, due to the tranquiliser only lasting a certain period, we
had limited time.”
Fox said that the rifle, fitted with a silencer, as well as an axe was found on the scene.
“They were obviously poachers. The axe that was found on the scene is
what is used to by these poachers to hack off the horn after they kill
the animal. Judging by the number of shoes and evidence on the scene, I
estimate at least two or maybe three were killed.”
Asked if he was happy that the rhinos were safe, Fox said that he was extremely happy.
“It is huge relief that they did not get to the rhino. We had a poaching around this exact same time two years ago,” he said.
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said that investigators and
specialists combed the scene and managed to retrieve remains which were
taken by the department of health for forensic testing Wednesday
morning.
“The firearm has been taken by police and will be sent to the
ballistics laboratory to establish if it has been used in any other
poaching or crimes.”
In June 2016, two white rhinos were killed and a third died later from injuries sustained in the poaching incident.
This year alone, nine rhinos – all shot with a high-calibre hunting
rifle – were killed by poachers on Eastern Cape reserves.Last week,
Bella, a rhino at the Kragga Kamma Game Park, was killed just a week
after she was dehorned.
The Sibuya reserve is situated fairly close to Port Alfred, where three rhinos were killed in May.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: djebel
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2018 at 10:50pm
Always good to read the animals getting one or two back for the team.
------------- reductio ad absurdum
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 05 Jul 2018 at 11:24pm
Go the lions
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2018 at 6:20pm
Giraffes just silently went to the list of endangered animals facing extinction
Giraffes
have been widely overlooked in conservation practices for a little too
long. They just made their entry into the Red List of endangered
species.
India Today Web Desk
New Delhi
December 11, 2018
UPDATED: December 15, 2018 16:00 IST
Two
subspecies of giraffes were recently added to the list of “critically
endangered” species for the first time ever, as per the latest report by
IUCN.
Two
subspecies of giraffes were recently added to the list of "critically
endangered" species for the first time ever, as per at the latest report by
the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which
administers the world's official endangered species list.
The
IUCN reported on Saturday that they have moved the giraffe from the
list of 'Least Concern' to that of 'Vulnerable' status in their Red List
of Threatened Species report.
The next slots after
'vulnerable' are 'endangered', 'critically endangered', 'extinct in the
wild', and 'extinct'. Thus, if we do nothing about it, giraffes could
become extinct in the wild in the medium-term future.
Which giraffe species are facing extinction?
There
are nine subspecies of giraffes. Five of them are declining in numbers,
two are improving, and one is stable, reports the New York Times.
Two
subspecies of the world's tallest land animal -- the Kordofan giraffe
and the Nubian giraffe - were added to the list of "critically
endangered. These giraffe subspecies are found mainly across East,
Central, and West Africa.
Another subspecies living in the Horn of Africa -- called the reticulated giraffe - was listed as "endangered".
Giraffe subspecies which got a status upgrade
Even
though the Kordofan giraffe and the Nubian giraffe are now critically
endangered, the West African and the Rothschild's giraffe species have
seen an increase in their numbers, leading to an upgrade in their
conservation status.
The smallest
subspecies of West African giraffes grew from just 50 in the 1990s to
400 today, thanks to immense work by the Niger government and
conservationists.
Giraffes are overlooked in conservation practice
Giraffes
have never been considered to be at any big threat of disappearing, but
the truth is -- they have been steadily decreasing in number over the
years.
However, this new classification came as a surprise even to
some conservationists, as observing them often in zoos or in movies
makes us believe "they will be fine" and we barely guess that they could
be in danger. The cries for help have centred on rhinos, elephants and
the illegal trade of pangolins for the last decade.
The dwindling populations of giraffe species -- some as low as 400 --
happened so quietly that barely anyone got an idea of the tallest land
animals reaching so close to disappearing off the face of Earth. They
are shockingly more endangered than any gorilla.
As
per a report by The Guardian by Damian Carrington, the number of
giraffes has dropped from 157,000 in 1985 to 97,500 in just the last 31
years. That's a decline of almost 40 per cent.
Giraffes have already disappeared from seven countries
-- Eritrea, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Malawi, Mauritania, and
Senegal. They have been in danger for the last century in Africa.
Cause behind giraffes becoming endangered
As
with the endangerment or extinction of any animal or plant species now,
humans are at the root of it. Increased urbanisation, poaching, illegal
hunting practices, and civil unrest in parts of Africa prove to be an
increasing danger for giraffes.
The
top cause for concern is that the world's tallest land animals are
losing their habitat primarily because of land being taken over for
agriculture, mining or construction. Stopping this is a huge task as it
essentially means hampering the economy and livelihood of people and
stopping land development.
Other than poaching or
villagers eating its meat for food scarcity, they are also shockingly
killed just for their tails as they are seen as a status symbol in some
cultures and can be used as a dowry, as per National Geographic reports
by Jani Actman.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: Isaac soloman
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2018 at 8:41pm
i cant stand to hear about this.
i look away.
just let china go ahead a nd kill the lot, and be done with it.
lets not forget what they have done to the sharks, for shark fin soup
which is very hush hush nowadays.
need to find an attractive use for cane toads that the chinese have to have.
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2018 at 9:10pm
I also see on the news Japan is going to be hunting whales again this coming year. Thankfully not in the southern oceans around us, but anywhere is horrible.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Isaac soloman
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2019 at 2:01pm
Posted By: Isaac soloman
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2019 at 2:02pm
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2019 at 9:40pm
Arnt people just Christmas puddings ? Look at that rhino. Thats so bad. And even worse to think the so called modern country , powerful country, ( with their people hacking our security systems, )( China ) think that horn is going to make them root like a rabbit. How dark ages stuff is that ?? God help us if they get power in our part of the world. They will probably go all out on the wombats, because they will believe wombats eats roots and leaves
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Baghdad Bob
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 11:17am
With the Sydney test commencing today and the support of the community of the Jan McGrath Foundation I am still unable to get out of my mind around ,one hand ,Glen McGrath's killing an elephant for sport, and then setting up a foundation to respect of his late wife's battle with cancer.
Posted By: maccamax
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 1:26pm
I save the antelope , Giraffe's , Buffalo , elephants and other grass eating animals.
I only shoot The big cats & hyenas.
Posted By: Gay3
Date Posted: 03 Jan 2019 at 2:13pm
I'm pretty sure all the big cats are now on the endangered list with some ranked as critical, along with the African Hunting dog so I'm afraid you're restricted to the hyenas macca The way I see it, only a few will care if the wild population in its' entirety is wiped out Those making ludicrous profits from their trade will soon find an equally viable venture & their end of the line customers may actually discover the merit of alternative health treatments.
------------- Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 06 Jan 2019 at 10:40pm
The chinese who pay huge amounts for rhino horn, causing so much killing of the animals, are complete idiots. The horn is just keratin, same as their finger nails.
Come in suckers !!!!!
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2019 at 9:37am
See the picture today of the creep who shot the 2 police in Glenn Innes, NSW ? A big game hunter, posing with a dead giraffe, like he has really done something clever !! OMG, how sick is that .
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2019 at 10:44am
acacia alba wrote:
The chinese who pay huge amounts for rhino horn, causing so much killing of the animals, are complete idiots. The horn is just keratin, same as their finger nails.
Come in suckers !!!!!
I accept most things the Chinese do but not their primitive, savage ridiculous attitude to animal therapies, sick bastards
------------- Victor Orban 1.74 m, Michael Bloomberg 1.73 m, Emmanual Macron 1.77 m, George Soros 1.8 m
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2019 at 11:33am
-------------
Posted By: Whale
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2019 at 11:39am
I understand sick people of all races hunt big game but it is an industry in China and supplying them is by far the largest source of wildlife slaughter
Shark fin soup too, sharks are not cuddly animals but the unbelievably cruel fate they suffer
------------- Victor Orban 1.74 m, Michael Bloomberg 1.73 m, Emmanual Macron 1.77 m, George Soros 1.8 m
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2019 at 11:42am
Big guns = little willies.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: Passing Through
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2019 at 11:45am
Mushroom shaped apparently.
-------------
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2019 at 3:16pm
what would you expect of fungus ? it lives in the dark and feeds off rotten mulch.
------------- animals before people.
Posted By: TIGER
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2019 at 11:07am
Glen McGrath loves elephant hunting
Sad world we live in
------------- EAD
Posted By: maccamax
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2019 at 11:15am
I love to see those big cats slaughtered , They are out killing every day. Almost as bad as Humans , who rear little lambs like pets and then eat them.
Posted By: TIGER
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2019 at 11:30am
Hyenas are the biggest pest
------------- EAD
Posted By: acacia alba
Date Posted: 26 Jan 2019 at 12:29am