South African rangers are kicking ass and taking names: 119 poachers arrested!

From News 24
Poachers shot in Kruger Park
Thanks to Louwtjie for the link!

A poacher was shot dead and another wounded in the Kruger National Park, SABC News reported on Thursday. The men were allegedly found armed inside the park on Wednesday by rangers who were patrolling, Sanparks CEO David Mabunda said. A shoot-out ensued and one of the men was killed. His accomplice escaped, but was arrested later while he was being treated at a hospital. A rifle, cellphone and ammunition was found on the dead man, SABC News reported.

Since the beginning of the year, 232 rhino had been poached throughout South Africa, 104 of them from the Kruger National Park.

One-hundred-and-nineteen alleged poachers had been arrested, 45 of them in the park.

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also from News 24
Twenty-one people have been arrested in connection with rhino poaching in South Africa in the past three weeks.

Eleven people, including two veterinarians, a pilot and a game farmer, all allegedly part of a rhino poaching syndicate, were arrested in Limpopo last month. National police spokesperson Colonel Vishnu Naidoo said it was believed they had been involved in several hundred incidents of rhino poaching, rhino killing, selling of the horns and disposing of the rhino carcasses over the past few years. They allegedly operated around Polokwane, Modimolle and Musina.

Veterinarian Karl Toet and his colleague Manie du Plessis were said to be the two alleged masterminds behind the syndicate.

R1m bail
All 11 were released on bail ranging from R20 000 to R1m. Another two men were arrested in Limpopo in connection with dehorning rhinos and the buying and selling of horns. It was alleged that Jan Karel Pieter Els, 37, bought 36 rhino horns from Tom Fourie, 51, who allegedly dehorned the rhinos. The men had appeared in the Musina Magistrate's Court. Els was released on R30 000 bail and Fourie on R5 000 bail. A few days later three men were arrested inside the Kruger National Park by game rangers.

The game rangers came across the men walking around the park with rifles and allegedly in possession of two rhino horns while a carcass was found nearby. They appeared in the White River Magistrate's Court and were granted R7 500 bail each.

Highest level in 15 years
Police were investigating the possibility that the men were part of a syndicate responsible for other poaching incidents in the area. Last week five people believed to be rhino poachers were arrested in Ophathe Game Reserve near Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal. The arrests were the result of months of investigating by a team of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff and police. The group was expected to appear in the Ulundi Magistrate's Court this week.

The Ophathe Game Reserve had been plagued by rhino poaching with three rhinos killed and their horns removed in the past ten days. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said the recent poaching of rhinos in the game reserve had bought the number of poached rhinos to 17 in KwaZulu-Natal this year.

South Africa has lost 210 rhinos to poaching since January, compared to 122 for all of last year. Black-market demand for rhino horns had risen sharply as economic growth had spread through east and south-east Asia, where the horn was believed to have medicinal properties.

Wildlife monitoring group Traffic said the surge in demand, combined with endemic poverty in many rhino habitats, had helped to push rhino poaching to the highest levels in 15 years.

CI's 25-15 petition - consider signing!

Conservation International is proposing the 25-15 petition with its goal of protecting and effectively managing at least 25 percent of Earth's land and inland waters and 15 percent of marine ecosystems by 2020.

Currently, only 13.9 percent of the world's terrestrial areas are under formal protection. Less than 1 percent of the oceans are protected.

This October, world leaders will gather in Nagoya, Japan, for negotiations on the global Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The attendees of this meeting have the power to take binding action to preserve life around the world.

CI will collect your names and take them to Nagoya, Japan to demonstrate that people around the world – like you – support the protection of ecosystems and their biodiversity, essential to the future of all life on Earth.

Read more and please consider signing HERE

Remote camera traps tiger then illegal bulldozer then another tiger

From WWF

Jakarta, Indonesia — A video camera trap installed by WWF and partners has captured footage linking the destruction of a crucial Sumatran tiger forest to the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia’s Riau Province.

Videos and photos captured in May and June 2010 – released to the public for the first time today – caught a male Sumatran tiger walking straight to a camera and sniffing it.

A week later, the heat-activated-video camera trap documented a bulldozer clearing trees for an illegal palm oil plantation in the same exact location. The next day, the camera recorded a Sumatran tiger walking through the devastated landscape.



Bukit Batabuh, where the film was taken, was classified as a protected area by Riau Province in 1994, and categorized as a limited production forest based on Indonesia’s 1986 Land Use Consensus, meaning no company can legally exploit the forest.

Clearing forest most likely illegal
“Because of its status, both as a protected area and limited production forest, the area cannot be developed as a palm oil plantation, therefore any forest clearence —including bulldozing activities to clear the path — strongly indicates this excavation was illegal,” said Ian Kosasih, WWF-Indonesia’s Director of Forest and Species Program. “The law should be enforced in this matter.”

“And to stop illegal activities such as this, the palm oil industry should not source its material from farmers or producers who develop their plantations illegally.”

Since mid-2009, WWF has installed video camera traps in Bukit Batabuh to study Sumatran tiger distribution, habits, and threats they are facing. The wildlife corridor connects Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve and Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, making it a crucial area for tiger conservation.

This area is an important habitat for Sumatran tigers

“These video camera traps show that Bukit Batabuh area is an important habitat for the Sumatran tiger in Riau, functioning as a wildlife corridor between Bukit Tigapuluh and Rimbang Baling Tiger Priority Landscape, hence it becomes a priority area for tiger conservation,” explained M. Awriya Ibrahim M.Sc Director of Investigation and Forest Protection, Ministry of Forestry.

“Forest clearance in this area threatens this endangered species because it reduces natural habitat and consequently increases human-tiger conflicts, an unfortunate consequence for both sides. Therefore, we encourage all stakeholders—namely provincial and district level government, business sectors, and communities—to support protection for this landscape. The Ministry of Forestry is investigating this matter and will take strong measure in law enforcement, if this activity is proven violating the law.”

Previous footage documents tigress and cubs only 200 metres from this location
The location where the tiger and bulldozer were documented by video in May 2010 is only 200 meters away from a video camera trap which captured a tigress and her cubs passing by in October 2009. ( Watch video)

Indonesia has adopted protection for critical tiger habitats as part of its commitment to the Conservation Strategy and Action Plan for Sumatran Tiger 2007, and the National Tiger Recovery Plan, delivered at the Pre-Tiger Summit Partners’ Dialogue Meeting in Bali, in July 2010.

During the Bali meeting, which was attended by government delegates from all13 tiger range countries, a strategic plan to achieve an overarching goal of doubling wild tiger populations by 2022 was discussed. The plan is expected to be ratified by heads of government at the Tiger Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, scheduled for 21-24 Nov. 2010.

“The Indonesian government’s commitment to improve protection for its biodiversity—including an ecosystem-based land-use planning delivered in international fora like the Pre-Tiger Summit Partners’ Dialogue Meeting in Bali last July, and upcoming Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October —should be supported by stakeholders in provincial or district levels especially on the issue of overlapping land-use planning,” explained Chairul Saleh, General Secretary of the Sumatra Land Use Forum (ForTRUST).

Saleh said sufficient prey and protection for the remaining wild Sumatran tiger populations will allow the species to procreate and provide it with an intact home range and habitat that will minimize incidents of human-tiger conflict.

“Bearing this in mind, a revision of Riau’s Provincial Land Use Planning—based on sustainable development principles adhering to ecosystem preservation and accomodating the tiger’s habitat—is crucial.”

Land clearing practices for palm oil plantations in the area have been going on for some time, pushing the tiger to have close contact with humans. Workers have testified that they frequently find tiger tracks in palm oil plantations.

The deforestation rate in Riau pushed WWF to intensify tiger population surveys in the province. Aside from vast deforestation, the population declines are exacerbated by illegal poaching. In March, WWF’s Tiger Patrol Unit and Riau’s Nature Conservation Agency confiscated more than 110 tiger snares in Bukit Betabuh.

Tigers everywhere are losing habitat
There are as few as 400 Sumatran tigers left in Indonesia, or about 12 percent of the estimated global tiger population of 3,200 tigers. With its significant percentage of the global tiger population, Indonesia has a prominent role in tiger conservation efforts. The tiger population is threatened by loss and fragmented habitat, decreasing prey populations, illegal poaching and trading of the tiger and its body parts, as well as human-tiger conflicts.

Take action now and sign the Tiger Pledge on the WWF Action Centre.

For more information please contact:

M. Awriya Ibrahim M.Sc of Directorate-General Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia +62 21 5730138

Karmila Parakkasi, WWF-Indonesia’s Sumatran tiger research team leader, m + 62 8117510735

Desmarita Murni, WWF-Indonesia’s Communications Manager, m +62 811793458, dmurni@wwf.or.id

The video of Sumatran tiger and forest clearing activities in Sumatra’s Bukit Batabuh (referenced in the above text) can be downloaded from http://gvn.panda.org/?r=356&k=11fca67902
- The link includes copyright information, a shot list, and a description.

Talking Elephant in South Korea?

From the Huffington Post:

In this video from CBS, an elephant named Kosik is attracting visitors and scientists alike with his unique ability to vocalize various Korean words...

...Dr. Daniel Mietchen, a biological scientist from the University of Jena in Germany, has come to South Korea with other researchers from the university to study the exceptional elephant. They believe Kosik may reveal that elephants are capable of learning language, though they doubt that he actually grasps the meaning of the words he speaks.

Mietchen says Kosik is the only living elephant capable of this feat that they know of, though other elephants have exhibited the ability to mimic the sounds of trucks and other elephants.

Bansky directs dark, socially conscious, Simpsons opener

British artist & activist Bansky directed the opening sequence of the Simpsons recently and its pretty dark. But kudos for him and the Simpsons for showcasing some uncomfortable aspects of our consumerist culture. -MA (via TreeHugger)

From newslite.tv

The extended opening sequence, used in the episode MoneyBart, is said to have been inspired by reports the hit Fox show outsources animation to a company in South Korea.

Banksy has claimed his storyboard led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the Simpsons animation department.

"This is what you get when you outsource," joked The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean.

Dolphin FAIL

Kassiisi Proidge Project - short and long term development and education planning

Check out the Kassiisi Porridge Project operating in two schools in Western Uganda. The project provides over 1500 school children with a mug of porridge every day (the mugs are paid for by the community) since many of these children are going to school, and spending the day, on an empty stomach. The project has also recently acquired several acres of farm land so that feeding the children can become a self-sustaining project. Furthermore, the project also has a partnership with the Jane Goodall Instititute's Roots & Shoots to plant trees to prevent forest loss. Seems like all the bases are covered to me!
Do you remember what is was like being a teenager? I recall pervasive hunger and sleepiness, these kids are going to school and aren't eating at all! Please consider supporting the Kassiisi Porridge Project by donating here - MA

From the Kassiisi Porridge Project website:
Why Porridge?

We decided that a daily meal of porridge would be the best choice, both nutritionally and economically.

Whilst most of the children are currently receiving maize flour porridge, we are supporting the trialling of an innovative school food, developed by Florence Muranga, Professor of Nutrition at Makerere University, in Kampala. The study is being carried out by her PhD student, Miriam Kanyago.
Three groups will be fed banana flour porridge - each with different nutrients added - with those eating maize flour porridge as a control group.
A range of data will then be looked at to demonstrate the impact of the different foods on variables such as the children's health, their level of absenteeism and their school achievement.

also, banana porridge is:

o easily stored

o can be quickly reconstituted – and is therefore an instant porridge

o makes an ideal base for enriching with minerals, protein and vitamins

o an indigenous plant, a local staple, and its production will generate income for the community.

Thanks to Adrian B for the link!